I would like to come back to Little Crow. We were not sure if it was the Mdwakanton Dakota Little Crow.
The drawing below was made by Francis Blackwell Mayer (1827 – 1899) who travelled to Minnesota Territory in May 1851 and observed the signing of the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux.
The text on the drawing (at the bottom left) says:
"Chatan wah ko-wa manee –
The hawk that chases walking
alias Little Crow or Petite Corbeau
Traverse de Sioux camp. July 2, 1851"
The drawing can be found in Mayer's 5-6 sketch books in Archive.org:
archive.org/details/Ayer_Art_Mayer_Drawings_1_67/mode/1up In a book ("With pen and pencil on the frontier in 1851; the diary and sketches of Frank Blackwell", Bertha L. Heilbron, The Minnesota Historical Society, 1932), which is based on Mayer's diary, Mayer says:
" In company with Dr. Williamson I visited the chief "Little Crow" to whom I was introduced as a friend of [Seth] Eastman (p. 125) ... the chief is a man of some forty five years of age ... he declined sitting to me until he was dressed in a manner more becoming his rank ... his headdress was peculiarly rich, a tiara or diadem of rich work rested on his forehead & a profusion of weasel tails fell from this to his back & shoulders [p. 149] ... two small buffalo horns emerged on either side from this mass of whiteness & ribbons & a singular ornament of strings of buckskin tied in knots & colored gaily ..."
![](https://i.ibb.co/gz93CGd/Santee-Little-Crow-1851-by-Mayer.jpg)
On page 126 we also find an explanation for Little Crow's arm injury. Little Crow had succeeded his father as leader. During one of Little Crow's absences around 1848, his brother tried to usurp the position. When Little Crow returned, he shot Little Crow through both forearms. The brother was killed a short time later.
Is the brother's name known?