Crow Dog

Who was Crow Dog?

Crow Dog was a Brulé Lakota subchief, born at Horse Stealing Creek, Montana Territory, he was the nephew of former principal chief Conquering Bear, who was killed in 1854 in an incident which would be known as the Grattan massacre. Crow Dog was one of the leaders who helped popularize the Ghost Dance. On August 5, 1881, after a long simmering feud, Crow Dog shot and killed principal chief Chief Spotted Tail, on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. A grand jury was convened and he was tried and convicted in Dakota Territorial court in Deadwood, South Dakota, and sentenced to death which was to be carried out on January 14, 1884. He was imprisoned in Deadwood pending the outcome of his appeals. According to historian Dee Brown in his bestselling book, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee:

In 1883, writs of habeas corpus and certiorari were filed on his behalf by lawyers who volunteered to represent him pro bono, his case was argued in November 1883 before the U.S. Supreme Court in Ex parte Crow Dog. On December 17, 1883, the court ruled in a unanimous decision that according to the provisions of the Treaty of Fort Laramie, signed on April 29, 1868, and approved by Congress on February 28, 1877, the Dakota Territorial court had no jurisdiction over the Rosebud reservation and subsequently overturned his conviction. This ruling cited a previous Supreme Court ruling in Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515, a case brought by the Cherokee tribe against the state of Georgia, in which the court ruled that Native Americans were entitled to federal protection from the actions of state governments which would infringe on the tribe's sovereignty.