The Mankato Massacre

The Mankato Massacre marked the execution of 38 Dakota men in 1862 following the Dakota War. The war was in part caused by the US government’s failure to uphold treaty obligations.

Background: How did the Dakota War of 1862 happen?

The Dakota War of 1862 resulted in part from late annuity payments owed from the Dakota Land Cession Treaties of 1851 and 1858 between the Dakota and the United States. The Dakota depended on goods and services funded by these payments. The late payment meant starvation as the Dakota had relinquished the majority of their land required for self sufficiency to American settlers.

How the war led to the Mankato Massacre: December 26, 1862

Hostilities broke out in August when the Dakota attacked settlements in southwestern Minnesota. The war ended when 38 Dakota men were executed by hanging on December 26, 1862, which was the largest mass execution in US history.

During the preceding Dakota Conflict Trials, 393 men were accused, of which 323 were convicted and 303 sentenced to death by hanging. The trials were questionable because of the treatment of the accused as common criminals rather than prisoners of war. The Dakota people considered themselves to be a sovereign people capable of waging war with the United States.

Lincoln's role in the Mankato Massacre

President Lincoln faced public outcry in Minnesota when it became known that he would not carry out all death sentences and authorized the execution of “only” 38 men.

Prior to his assassination, Lincoln had granted requests of pardons for some of the prisoners before authority was handed over to President Andrew Johnson. Dakota defendants were not given counsel for legal defense. Prisoners could be held without trial, aided by Lincoln’s suspension of writ of habeas corpus in September of 1862.

Carol Chomsky states “the speed of the proceedings, the nature of the evidence, and the identity of the judges all combined to preclude judicious decisionmaking and to guarantee an unjust outcome”.

The result of the Mankato Massacre

In April of 1863, Native Americans were forcibly removed from Minnesota by an Act of Congress. The Dakota Conflict Trials were one of many military commissions convicting Native American defendants without adequate evidence, failing to follow mandated legal procedures.

References and Further Reading

Chomsky, Carol. “The United States-Dakota War Trials: A Study in Military Injustice.” Stanford Law Review 43, no. 1 (1990): 13. https://doi.org/10.2307/1228993.

Heard, Isaac V. D. History of the Sioux War and Massacres of 1862 and 1863. New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1864.

“The Trials & Hanging.” The U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. Minnesota Historical Society, n.d. https://www.usdakotawar.org/history/aftermath/trials-hanging.

Images

Execution of the thirty-eight Sioux Indians at Mankato Minnesota, December 25, 1862. Buffalo: Hayes Litho. Co., c1883. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/resource/pga.03790/