Why were 38 Dakota prisoners hanged at Mankato in 1862?

The execution of 38 Dakota men in Mankato on December 26, 1862, was the result of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, a conflict sparked by the U.S. government’s failure to fulfill treaty obligations, which left the Dakota people starving and desperate.123

Following the outbreak of violence in August 1862, in which hundreds of settlers were killed, U.S. forces eventually defeated the Dakota warriors. In the aftermath, nearly 400 Dakota men were tried by a military tribunal in proceedings that were brief and lacked legal representation for the accused.13

While 303 men were initially sentenced to death, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln ordered a review of the trial transcripts. His administration determined that there was sufficient evidence to justify the death penalty in only 39 cases. One of those individuals received a reprieve, and the remaining 38 were executed by hanging in what remains the largest mass execution in U.S. history.123