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Little Crow rifle auctioned
by Mark Steil, Minnesota Public Radio
November 14, 2003

Little Crow's rifle? The gun comes with a letter from the family which owned it for decades. The letter says the rifle was owned by the Minnesota Dakota chief. (Photo courtesy of Northeast Auctioneers)

Auctioneers will sell a relic from Minnesota's past Saturday in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It's a rifle believed once owned by Dakota Indian chief Little Crow. He was a central figure in the Dakota Conflict of 1862. The rifle is one of the few items belonging to Little Crow still around.

	Brass stars are inlaid on the stock

Worthington, Minn. — The gun is a fancy looking muzzle loader. It has brass stars inlaid along the walnut stock. It's owned by antiques dealer James Aplan of Piedmont, South Dakota. Aplan has bought and sold thousands of guns in his life. He calls the Little Crow weapon a "chief's grade gun".

"When you wanted to get favor from the chief you gave him a really fancy gun," says Aplan. And a chief's grade gun is usually a gun that's highly decorated with inlays of silver or brass or even shell, sometimes."

He says Little Crow was a commanding figure, the type of leader who received gifts like a fancy rifle. Aplan bought the gun in Wyoming. The rifle came with a letter from the family which owned the gun for decades.

"This is handwritten in pencil. It says 'The old rifle was owned by Little Crow, an Indian chief in Minnesota'," Aplan says.

The letter tells how the gun was passed on to various family members through the years. Aplan says proving that Little Crow actually owned the gun is very difficult. He says the letter is strong evidence, but not definitive.

"Of course we can't guarantee it. We're passing the story on. We bought it that way and we're selling it that way," says Aplan.

One reason collectors are so interested in the rifle is because Little Crow himself was such an interesting figure.

	Little Crow

He was born in a village located near the "Dayton's Bluff" area of St. Paul. He was leader of the Mdewakanton Dakota during a period when white settlerment pushed the Indians west. He traveled to Washington D.C. twice for treaty negotiations and other business. By 1862 broken government promises over money and food were causing starvation among the Minnesota River Dakota.

Mark Diedrich of Rochester is writing a book about Little Crow. He says the pivotal moment in Little Crow's life came in August of 1862 near present day Redwood Falls. A group of Dakota warriors told him they were ready to launch a war. Diedrich says Little Crow answered with a speech.

"He knew it was hopeless, that they were so vastly outnumbered. But when it came right down to the end of the speech he said 'but if you've choosen to die, then I will die with you'," says Diedrich.

Little Crow lead the Dakota in a war which lasted about six weeks. The Indians were defeated and exiled from the state. Little Crow was killed a year later near Hutchinson. Some of his bones were exhibited in Minnesota museums but were eventually buried in a graveyard near Flandreau, South Dakota. One of Little Crow's great grandaughters still lives in Flandreau. Helen Gilbert says she may bid on the rifle at the Sioux Falls auction.

	More inlay on the gun

"It's a very personal mission for me now. To find out the authenticity of this rifle. And if it is his, to get it returned," says Gilbert.

No one will speculate what the rifle will bring at the auction. It's one of two known Little Crow guns. Elroy Ubl of New Ulm owns the other. It's a double barreled musket. Ubl bought the gun from a family which had owned it since the 1850's. Ubl says at that time the family lived near Little Crow's village in Minnesota.

"Family members traded provisions to Little Crow for the gun in 1858. That's the year that Little Crow went to Washington D.C. And it's thought he traded it for provisions to feed his family while he was gone," says Ubl.

The trip to Washington was a defining moment for Little Crow. He saw firsthand the strength of the United States. It was an economic power that touched everyone, including the Dakota Indians. It was common for them to acquire goods pouring out of the nation's factories. Among them was a rifle with stars on it. It's a reminder of a painful historical chapter which uprooted and forever changed the Dakota.

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