Overview
Kaposia, or Little Crow’s village, was a seasonal Mdewakanton Dakota village along the Mississippi River in the St. Paul area. Kaposia, or KA-PO-ZA (Dakota), was established around 1750 by a group of Mdewakanton Dakota and a succession of chiefs each known as Little Crow.
The village was originally located on the east bank of the river where Central Avenue intersects with Chicago Northwestern Railroad tracks, below present-day Indian Mounds Park.
During the early 1800s, over 400 Dakota made their home in the seasonal village. The people of Kaposia lived there mainly during the warmer months of the year.
Near the time of the Treaty of 1837, the Kaposia village was moved from the east to the west side of the river. In 1853 the people of Kaposia were again required to move because of the Treaty of Mendota, which opened the land west of the Mississippi to white settlers. As a result, the Mdewakanton migrated to a Minnesota River reservation over the next two years.
The Mississippi River, known as "HA-HA WA-KPA" (river of the falls) to the Dakota, was important to the Kaposia people. It provided water for drinking and bathing, fish and other animals to eat, and a "highway" for transportation. They also used the rich soil in the area for gardening.
