Hangings

 

On December 16, 1862 President Lincoln authorized the execution of 38 Dakota. The following quote was taken off of The Dakota Conflict Trials homepage, which is http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/dakota/dakota.html.

 

“Ordered that of the Indians and half-breeds sentences to be hanged by the military commission, composed of Colonel Crooks, Lt.Colonel Marshall, Captain Grant, Captain Bailey, and Lieutenant Olin and lately sitting on Minnesota, you cause to be executed on Friday the 19th day of December, instant the following names, to witness (38 names listed by case number of record: 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 19, 22, 24, 35, 67, 68, 69, 70, 96, 115, 121, 138, 155, 170, 175, 178, 210, 225, 254, 265, 279, 318, 327, 333, 342, 359, 373, 377, 382, 383). The other prisoners you will hold subject to further orders, taking care that they will neither escape nor are subject to any unlawful violence.”

Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States” 

 

There were actually 300 sentenced to death, but Lincoln decided that the number was too high, so he changed it to 38. On December 26, 1862 in Mankato, MN, 38 Sioux Indians were hung.  This the largest mass execution in American history.


The scene at 10:00 AM on December 26, 1862.

 

The actual explanations of three cases were found on the homepage listed above. The following is a short description of them:

 

Case #2: Te-he-hdo-ne-cha was charged with murder, he was then charged with rape. The courts found him guilty of the first charge of murder; he was then found guilty of the second charge of rape. He was then sentenced to be hung by the neck until he was dead.

 

Case #4: Tazoo was charged with murder, he was also charged with rape. The courts found him guilty of the fist charge of murder; he was then found guilt for the second charge of rape. He also was sentenced to be hung by the neck until he was dead.

 

Case #178: Na-pay-shne was charged with the participation of murders, outrages, and robberies done by the Sioux Indians on the MN frontier.  The courts found him guilty of the charge and sentenced him to be hung by the neck until dead.

 

Before the men were executed they were allowed to meet with their families one last time.  When the men were being brought to the scaffold they were chanting and singing Dakota songs. Three drumbeats signaled the movement of the execution. The town was then filled with cheers. The bodies of the 38 men were buried in a single grave on the edge of the town.

 

*For more information on the following cases go to the website listed above.

 


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