10 Of the Fiercest Native American Indian Chiefs and Their Historical Battles

9 Little Crow

Little Crow was born around 1810 into the Mdewakanton Dakota Sioux tribe. He out-dueled his brother claiming top position and became the tribe’s chief. In a war bearing his name- Little Crow’s War, commonly known the Dakota War of 1862, he clashed several times with the U.S. forces. Little crow began attacking settlers in southern Minnesota after becoming upset with the U.S. not honoring the treaties. These attacks continued until his defeat that had him flee to Canada. In 1863 he was shot dead by a settler in Minnesota.

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8 Black Hawk

In the Midwest, a war chief of the Sauk tribe named Black Hawk earned a fearsome reputation after scalping his first Indian as a young teen and conducting numerous raids on other tribes in his adult years. Although he clashed with American forces in the War of 1812, he later signed a treaty with them. However, in 1832, in an attempt to resettle on his tribe’s ancestral homeland that had been ceded by the treaty to the U.S, a violent dispute broke out. This alarmed the white settlers in the region who sent out militiamen to confront Black Hawk. His warriors easily defeated the militia group and ended up starting the Black Hawk War. The U.S. was victorious forcing Black Hawk and his followers to flee to Wisconsin. There he fought several battles until he finally surrendered. In 1838, Black died in his village in Iowa, aged 71.

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7 Tecumseh

Upon becoming the chief of the Shawnee tribe in 1808, Tecumseh, with the help of his younger brother Tenskwatawa successfully built an Indian confederation in Ohio. Tecumseh was against the signing of unfair peace treaties by other tribes and urged them to stop doing so. In 1810, he led several hundred men and confronted Territory Governor General William Henry Harrison at his home in Indiana. But, the intervention of U.S. soldiers drove Tecumseh and his men away. The following year, Governor General Harrison and his troops routed Tecumseh and his followers in the Battle of Tippecanoe at Alabama. In the War of 1812 Tecumseh allied with the British. He played an active part in many battles including the capture of Detroit. In 1813 he was eventually killed in battle in Ontario, Canada.

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