----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dec. 26, 1862: 38 Dakota men executed in Mankato Ever since I learned of the mass execution in Mankato on December 26, I have made it a point to remember those who were killed there. It is the largest mass execution in US history. An Interesting Account, from our Special Correspondent. Every year the Sioux hold a memorial and march in honor of those killed. Even if it's freezing outside, they do this. President Lincoln had ordered all 300+ men, women AND children to be hung, but the men of the tribe pleaded that the US Government accept their lives and let their families go. Lincoln agreed. It doesn't say anything about that in this old article, but I have read that many times in other articles, and heard it stated by people involved in the memorial march. It does not really surprise me that was left out of the newspaper in 1862. It is sickening that on the day after Christmas people got together to watch 38 men get strung up until they were dead. It is illuminating that Abraham Lincoln, the man who "freed the slaves" would so easily put to death so many people, including children. You can make the point that it was war, but what choice did the Natives have? A fight for survival. Unwilling to give up their land, their way of life, to lie down and be slaves to these new white people, they had the only other option to fight back. You hear all the time about the civil war, but here in the MIdwest, the war was against the native people. Minnesota was so far away from the battles going on in the south, but there were battles going on that most people don't know about, or don't like to think about. There are so many "wars" that went on in this country between the colonists and the native people and I think it's important that we know about it. It has a list of 39 men,one was not hung because of weird reasons ... NAMES OF THE EXECUTED INDIANS: 1:04 PM - Monday, Dec. 26, 2022 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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