Dakota - The most powerful tribe of the Sioux Indians, commonly known as the Sioux; but Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota were names used in several of their dialects.

The Dakota were divided into four main tribes; the Eastern Dakota, the Santee, the Teton, and the Yankton.  The main body of the Dakota was the Teton, which, in turn was divided into: the Blackfeet, Brulè, Hunkpapa, Miniconjou, Oglala, Sans Arc, and Two-Kettle.  Of these seven divisions the Oglala was the most prominent.

The Dakota has become the representative Indian of America.  Artists, in painting or drawing an Indian, usually show him as a Dakota in full eagle headdress, fringed shirt, and elaborate beaded moccasins.  The Dakota's profile has appeared on the U. S. penny and the nickel.

Associated with the Dakota are the circles of white tepees - and the Dakota gave the white man the word tipi, meaning dwelling - the read peace pipe, painted buffalo robes, and decorated war ponies.  The Dakota was a handsome and picturesque Indian.  He usually was tall with small hands and feet, but with a lithe athletic body and strong features with high cheekbones and beaked nose.

William Frederick Cody, the great "Buffalo Bill," had fought the Dakota and admired and respected them.  He made them famous as the Indians of his wild west shows.  people, unfamiliar with Indians, thought all of them were like Buffalo Bill's.

The Dakota were excellent fighters and were almost continually at war with the white man or their Indian neighbors.  They fought with the  British in the War of 1812, but their most serious outbreak against the Americans occurred in Minnesota under Chief Little Crow in 1862, when about 900 settlers and 100 soldiers were killed.

There was another Sioux uprising after the discovery of gold in the Black Hills.  Contrary to the provisions of the treaty the Indians had with the Government, gold prospectors flocked into Dakota territory.

The trouble led up to the great Custer battle on the Little Big Horn River, after which the Indians were relentlessly pursued by the United States troops.  Finally, in 1890, Sitting Bull led his men in the Ghost Dance troubles - after which there was peace.

The name of this famous tribe has been given to states, to a river, to counties in Minnesota and nebraska, and to cities, towns, and places in Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana, and Iowa.  The name appears as Lacota in  Florida and Michigan, and as Lakota in Iowa, North Dakota, and Virginia.

Related Information within this Site
[ American Horse ][ Assiniboin ][ Blackfeet Sioux ][ Camp ][ Cody ]
[ Confederation ][ Costume ][ Crazy Horse ][ Custer's Last Stand ]
[ Gall ][ Ghost Dance ][ Headdress ][ Hole-in-the-Day ][ Indian Scouts ]
[ Little Crow ][ Rain-in -the-Face ][ Red Cloud ][ Sitting Bull ]
[ Southern Sioux ][ Spotted Tail ][ Young-Man-Afraid-of-his-Horses ]