In 1858, Little Crow led a delegation of Dakota leaders to Washington, D.C., where they were pressured by the U.S. government to give up their remaining holdings north of the upper Minnesota River.

[2] That summer, severe economic hardship, starvation, and tensions with government Indian agents, fur traders, and a fast-growing population of European and American settlers led to unrest among the Dakota, particularly the younger generation of hunters.

[3][2] Little Crow met significant opposition from many Dakota, particularly farmers and Christian converts, who preferred to maintain peace with the United States, objected to the killing of civilians, and wanted to free the captives.

Although the demands of the American Civil War slowed the U.S. military response, the volunteer army under Sibley defeated Little Crow's forces decisively at the Battle of Wood Lake on September 23, 1862.

Some have suggested that it was a mistranslation of "Sparrowhawk"[5] or "Charging Hawk,"[6] while others have explained that the men were known to carry the skin or wings of a crow on their backs or dangling from their belts as a totem.

While his gravestone lists his birth year as 1818,[9] historian Gary Clayton Anderson concludes that it seems most likely that he was born in 1810, based on mission school records and the fact that Taoyateduta served as a warrior in the Dakota Sioux contingent enlisted by the United States in the Black Hawk War of 1832.

Over the years, Kaposia most likely had many locations on the east side of the Mississippi River, but is thought to have been in the area between Wakan Tipi and the Pigs Eye wetlands, just below present-day Indian Mounds Park, around the time of Taoyateduta's birth.

In addition, he attended church at the Lac qui Parle Mission and showed an interest in learning about Christianity, although he did not give up his native religion or customs.

Taoyateduta was a shrewd entrepreneur who was good with numbers; he was fond of gambling and apparently had a system for winning poker, "a skill for which he had few equals, white or Indian.

He had organized a large group of friends and relatives to accompany him, including Mdewakantons such as his cousin Lorenzo Lawrence, a "full-blood" Dakota whose family were Christian converts; several Wahpetons; and three of his wives.

Once he arrived, he discovered that Little Crow had persuaded the village elders to accept missionaries because of Williamson's medical background, which would have many benefits, including securing vaccinations for smallpox.

His Mdewakanton relatives from Lac qui Parle who had moved with him to Kaposia, such as Lorenzo Lawrence, had also lobbied for schools, even though the villagers themselves had opposed education in the past.

[2]: 50  The 1837 land cession treaty signed with the United States had specified that US$5,000 a year would be set aside in an educational fund for the Mdewakanton Dakota controlled by the government, instead of being paid out in annuities.

Wowinape was two or three years old when he first entered the boarding school in 1849, but Little Crow temporarily withdrew him, explaining that some villagers had threatened to poison his son if he were permitted to stay with the missionaries.

Sibley, McLeod and others attempted to patrol the rivers, and eventually got the army involved in stopping any Dakota canoes that might be carrying "contraband," as the activity had been made illegal by statute.

By trading and gambling for furs, and sometimes hunting, Little Crow and the men of Kaposia found additional ways to contribute to the village economy rather than relying solely on the farming program and the annuities they were entitled to according to the 1837 land cession treaty signed between the Dakota and the United States.

[2]: 52–53 In 1851, Little Crow played a pivotal role in negotiating the Treaty of Mendota, which stated that the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute bands would receive US$1,410,000, most of which would be held in trust and paid in annuities, for ceding their lands to the U.S.

In 1858, he led the Mdewakanton-Wahpekute delegation to Washington, D.C., where Little Crow and other leaders were pressured into giving up the northern half of their remaining holdings along the Minnesota River, as part of a further land cession treaty.

[19] Little Crow was present at Traverse des Sioux and signed the Mendota treaty,[20] by which the bands agreed to move to land set aside along the Minnesota River to the west of their traditional territory.

In the spring of 1862, Little Crow lost the election for speaker of the tribe to Traveling Hail, due to mistrust over his role in negotiating the 1858 treaty and his refusal to endorse the farming program.

Due to the poor harvest the previous year, limited hunting, and the refusal of traders and Indian agents to provide food on credit, many Dakota were starving.

Even after the summer harvest started to alleviate the crisis, the failure of the federal government to deliver annuities on time led to widespread anger and distrust, particularly among non-farmers.

[22] He visited President James Buchanan in Washington, D.C., replaced his native clothing with trousers and jackets with brass buttons, joined the Episcopal Church, and took up farming.

[24] Lieutenant Timothy J. Sheehan, realizing that peace would not be restored until there was a distribution of food, called for reinforcements from Captain John S. Marsh back at Fort Ridgely.

At the council, Little Crow pointed out that Dakota were owed money to buy the food, suggested that Galbraith "make some arrangement" whereby the traders would extend credit, and warned that "When men are hungry, they help themselves.

[24] The tense situation was defused following the arrival of Captain John S. Marsh, who instructed agent Galbraith to open his warehouse and told his men to arrest any traders who incited further anger and unrest among the Dakota.

[25]: 81  Fearing punishment, the hunters fled back to Rice Creek Village, where they told their story to Cut Nose, Little Six (Shakopee III) and Red Middle Voice, who were supportive of going to war to drive the settlers out of the region.

Under Taoyateduta's leadership, the Dakota had some success in the ambush of a small detachment of US troops under Captain Marsh at Redwood ferry, an attack on a burial party in the Battle of Birch Coulee, and killing many unprepared settlers.

[29] Deciding that the tribe must adopt a mobile existence, having been deprived of its territory in the War, Little Crow led a raiding party to steal horses from his former land in Minnesota.

Chief Little Crow appears as one of major supporting characters in the final volume of Złoto Gór Czarnych (Gold of the Black Hills), a trilogy of novels told from the perspective of the Santee Dakota tribe, by Polish author Alfred Szklarski and his wife Krystyna Szklarska.