Execution of the Thirty Eight Sioux Indians

Wise & Clarke · 1865

This colored print depicts the largest public mass execution in US history. The order was signed by President Abraham Lincoln following a trial in which 392 indigenous people were captured during the Dakoda War-August 18, 1862 - September 26, 1862. This occurred in the midst of the westward expansions, when thousands of settlers flooded the frontier while Indians were struggling with crop failures and being sent to reservation. As this event occurred during the Civil War, the federal government was initially only able to send limited military support. Originally 303 individuals were prosecuted and found quilty but only 16 were given prison sentences and the rest were sentenced to death. Lincoln reviews the trial transcripts and commusted most of the sentences, and provided an explanation of his decision for clemency for most of the accused to the U.S. Senate. Thirty-eight male Dakota or Santee Sioux Indians were executed by hanging at Mankato, Minnesota, December 26, 1862 for murdering hundreds of white settlers.