In Mankato, 147 years ago: America's largest mass execution

On this day in 1862, 38 Dakota men were hanged in Mankato, after being found guilty of war crimes in charges stemming from the Treaty Conflict earlier in the year. The trials are thought by most modern historians to be a miscarriage of justice, since each trial last an average of 15 minutes.

For many years, the mass execution was celebrated on commemorative plates and commercial giveaways, but work by Amos Owen and other leaders helped begin the hard work of reconciliation.

The incident will forever remain a blot on the city's name, however.

The execution wasn't the only cruelty that befell the Dakota bands. Dakota people were marched to concentration camps, then exiled to reservations far from their homes. Children were forced to attend schools where native language and religion were banned. Dancing and other important expressions of Dakota culture were forbidden until the 1930s, and Native American religions were not secured full protection until the early 1970s.

An excellent video about the exile in the words of Dakota people can be viewed here.

Ho-Chunk bands who lived on the "Winnebago" Reservation south of Mankato were also deported. Although none of the Ho Chunk participated in the war, they were still deported to the Dakota Territory and their lands stolen. Some returned to Minnesota and Wisconsin (their original home), while others went to live on the Winnebago reservation in Nebraska.

Photo: the concentration camp at Fort Snelling. Minnesota State Historical Society

Comments

[Dave Thul]

Excellent one sided reporting of the issue.

[lojasmo]

Dave;

Please explain how there are two sides to a story about the lynching of dozens of native Americans.

Perhaps you could expound on the "other side" of rapes too, in order to complete your dip-shittery (appologies to dip shits everywhere.)

[Jacob]

Like with any event in history, we remember things, and we hear stories, read stories about the things in our past that were good and that were bad, and that were both(that hated "gray area" that we forget exists).

This is not about "white guilt" it's about remembering where we came from, and how we can be better for everyone when we analyze our past.

Yes, there are two-three-however many sides to a story.

This isn't a left/right thing, or an up/down thing. This is a piece of our history that we remember. Sally chose to highlight specific points of the story that interest her, and perhaps have influenced her (past/present) in ways untold.

Sometimes we get so bogged down in the semantics of who's posting what and why, that we forget that we're all human, we're all learners from history. Just because someone doesn't highlight every aspect of a specific story does it mean that the person posting it is disregarding or even hiding the rest of the story.

We're so quick to judge, and so slow to consider.

This post, to me, was about the humanity of these events, and the reported "lack of justice" given to the humans that were executed on that December 26th. How people perceived the execution, and how the settlers and the natives tried to reconcile their existence with one another.

[Dave Thul]

I'd be tempted to agree with you Jacob, but that just isn't the case with the post above. 'Forever remain a blot on the city's name' is the way Sally choose to describe it, which shows her agenda and her ignorance.

If all 264 Dakota that has been found guilty had been executed, then the description would have been valid. But the convictions were reviewed personally by President Lincoln (who may have been slightly busy at the time with that whole Civil War thing going on) and all but 39 were commuted.

The description might also have been accurate were it not for the 400 to 1000 white settlers killed by the Dakota war parties over the four months prior that day in Mankato.

Sally choose to give a completely one sided version of the event, intending to evoke guilt on behalf of all white people, and sympathy on behalf of all Indians. Thus, my original comment.

[Sally Jo Sorensen]

How interesting that Mr. Thul projects his feelings as my motive in writing the post.

"White guilt" wasn't my topic. Nor is Mr. Thul.

Jacob's observations about the post are far more accurate.

[Liz]

I think it is scary that a modern day military man thinks that way. He is responsible for protecting my freedoms? Scary indeed. In my 25 years of living in Mankato I knew not one Native American. What does Mr. Thul have to say about that? Perhaps the fact that the massacre worked in getting rid of the Dakota from their land? Bless you Sally Jo for the work you do and the idiots you have to encounter.