It was and still is the largest mass execution in United States history.
The Dakota people in Southwest Minnesota lived under an unfair system imposed on them by the US government. In exchange for living on reservations, a situation which allowed white settlers to place limit on their hunting grounds, the natives agreed to receive money and goods from the US government. When the payments weren’t given on time, if they were given at all, the natives bought their necessities from traders on credit. Over time the money from the government was given directly to these traders in order to pay off the debt of the people on the reservations, leaving the Dakota people subject to corruption in the event the traders claimed they were owed more than they actually were. When the payments stopped coming the traders stopped extending credit to the Dakota people and they were left without supplies.
In August 1862, in response to their situation, a faction of the Dakota people decided to attack white settlements in the Minnesota River valley in order to make more land available for hunting. One trader, who is claimed to have said they could “eat grass” when told the natives were starving, was found dead with grass stuffed into his mouth. The attacks on white settlements continuted for weeks, resulting in the involvement of the US Army.
The Army captured over three hundred Dakota warriors. In November 1862 they were all put on trial, convicted of murder and rape, and sentenced to death. President Lincoln got involved when an Episcopal Bishop asked him for leniency but was informed the white settlers would still seek revenge if the men were allowed to live. Lincoln then reduced the sentence on 264 of the 303 men, leaving 39 sentenced to death though one received was allowed to live.
The Dakota 38 were all executed by hanging from a single platform.
