Little Hawk

Family

Little Hawk was born about 1836. His father was the holy man variously called Makes the Song or Crazy Horse I. Makes The Song was also the father of Worm (Crazy Horse II), who became the father of the famous Crazy Horse III. Little Hawk was born to a different mother from Worm; her name was Good Haired Otter. In the Lakota extended family scheme, Crazy Horse was thus a brother of Little Hawk.

His wife in the census records is always listed as Sunk-ska-win White Horse Woman (sometimes by misreading as 'White House'). In the Pine Ridge Agency allotment records she is noted as a sister of Iron Hawk. White Horse Woman stated that she was married to Little Hawk for thirty years before his death, which indicates that she was probably not the mother of Little Hawk's children born before 1870, which would be Made an Enemy, Hard to Kill, Yellow Wolf, and Iron Tail. White Horse was the mother of Little Hawk's children born after 1870 – including Chase in Morning, Many Cartridges, and Luke Little Hawk (also known as Hairless).

Name

One of Little Hawk's nephews (younger brother of Crazy Horse 3), whom he gave his name and took the name Long Face, was killed in 1871 around the age 29 on a war expedition south of the Platte River. 'Long Face' then took back his name Little Hawk. This naming custom sometimes leads to confusion in attributing deeds to family members

Life

Through the 1860s and 1870s, Little Hawk had participated in the fights alongside his famous nephew – just four years younger - Crazy Horse. According to official data, he was one of the participants in The Battle of the Little Big Horn. Committed by political and personal imperatives to preserve his people's hunting grounds, and reluctant to follow Sitting Bull (Lakota: Tatanka Yotanka) into Canadian exile, Little Hawk chose to fight alongside his nephew against the U.S. troops.

According to General George Crook's notes, Little Hawk " ... appeared to rank next to Crazy Horse in importance, was much like his superior in size and build, but his face was more kindly in expression and he was more fluent in speech; he did most of the talking."

Crazy Horse arrived at Fort Robinson near the Red Cloud agency on May 6, 1877; together with Little Hawk, He Dog, Little Big Man, Iron Crow, they met in a solemn ceremony

with First Lieutenant William P. Clark as the first step in their formal surrender. Some who witnessed the surrender caught the glint of silver on Little Hawk's neck. The

shimmering came from a peace medal stamped with the image of President James Monroe. According to John G. Bourke's On the Border with Crook, when Little Hawk and Crazy Horse surrendered in 1877 Bourke noticed "...Little Hawk wore pendent at his neck the silver medal given to his father at the Peace Conference on the North Platte, in 1817 it bore the effigy of President Monroe." However, other accounts note that Little Hawk mentioned that the peace medal had been presented to his grandfather and that his grandfather had passed it along to him. After sixty years' wear, the symbol of friendship had become a mere decoration.

The last of the Northern Oglala tiyóšpaye was the Hunkpatila, Crazy Horse's own band. The Hunkpatila was an offshoot of They Even Fear His Horses agency band, and the chief had sincerely attempted to integrate his Northern kinsmen into the smooth running of reservation life. Since the death of Crazy Horse, Hunkpatila leadership devolved to his father's half-brother Little Hawk, whose loyalties to his nephew's memory deeply conflicted with the interest of Commission of Indian Affairs. The festering resentment against Little Big Man focused within the Hunkpatila. (after surrendering along with Crazy Horse, Little Big Man switched allegiance and is suspected of involvement in Crazy Horse's murder at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.)

Death

Little Hawk's last occurrence in the Pine Ridge census is for 1899: he presumably died late that year or early 1900..