See important moments in our organization’s history below
Honoring Our Ancestors
On September 26, 1862, the Dakota people who had taken part in the U.S. – Minnesota War surrendered at Camp Release (Lac qui Parle County, MN). They were escorted by the U.S. Army to the Lower Sioux Agency, where they were interrogated. 392 Dakota were “tried” for crimes they had allegedly committed during the war. Of these 392, 303 were found guilty and sentenced to death.
On November 7, 1862, about 1,700 Dakota men, women, and children were marched 150 miles from the Lower Sioux Agency to Fort Snelling. As they passed through the town of Henderson, MN, a mob of angry settlers attacked them with rocks and pots of boiling water.
The surviving Dakota reached Fort Snelling on November 14. There they were held in one of several “Indian camps.” They were soon moved to a stockade on Pike Island to protect them from further attacks by the settlers. The Dakota remained in the stockade until May of 1863. Lacking winter clothes and adequate food, between 100 and 300 Dakota people died during this confinement.
After President Abraham Lincoln intervened, the number of Dakota sentenced to death was reduced from 303 to 39. On December 26. 1862, 38 Dakota men were hanged in Mankato, MN. This remains the largest mass execution in U.S. history.
