U.S.-Dakota War begins in Minnesota

Violence erupts in Minnesota territory as members of the Dakota tribe, starving and frustrated, attack white settlements along the Minnesota River. After six weeks of war, the U.S. military eventually overwhelm the Dakota. Subsequent trials of Dakota warriors, some of which lasted for just minutes, resulted in the largest mass execution ever in the United States.

The Dakota people, composed of four bands, lived on temporary reservations in southwestern Minnesota. For two decades, they had been poorly treated by the Federal government, local traders and settlers. They saw their hunting lands whittled down, and provisions promised by the government rarely arrived—a condition exacerbated once the Civil War started and consumed government resources. Worse yet, a wave of white settlers surrounded them.

The summer of 1862 was particularly hard on the Dakota. Cutworms destroyed much of their corn crops, and many families faced starvation. Dakota leaders were frustrated by attempts to convince traders to extend credit to tribal members and alleviate the suffering. On August 17, four young Dakota warriors were returning from an unsuccessful hunt when they stopped to steal some eggs from a white settlement. The youths soon picked a quarrel with the hen’s owner, and the encounter turned tragic when the Dakotas killed five members of the family. Sensing that they would be attacked, Dakota leaders determined that war was at hand and seized the initiative. Reluctantly led by Taoyateduta (also known as Little Crow), the Dakota attacked local agencies and the settlement of New Ulm. More than 500 white settlers lost their lives along with about 150 Dakota warriors.

President Abraham Lincoln dispatched General John Pope, fresh from his defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Virginia, to organize the Military Department of the Northwest. Some Dakota fled to North Dakota, but more than 2,000 were rounded up and more than 300 warriors were sentenced to death. President Lincoln commuted most of their sentences, but on December 26, 1862, 38 Dakota men were executed at Mankato, Minnesota. It was the largest mass execution in U.S. history.