American Abomination: Three Hundred Santee Sioux Sentenced to Hang in Largest U.S. Mass Execution
In the aftermath of the Great Sioux Uprising, more accurately referred to as the U.S. — Dakota War of 1862, 300 Sioux men were sentenced to death by hanging after a trial that can only be described as farcical at best. Out of the 392 prisoners put on trial, 303 were given death sentences, and 16 were sent to prison.
The conflict in question was the result of half a century of ill-treatment from the American settlers towards the Santee Sioux, who had been living in the Minnesota valley for countless generations. The government continued to force the Native peoples on to smaller reservations with promises of compensation for their lands — compensation that never materialized.
The Sioux just didn’t get the whole we-take-what-we-want “Manifest Destiny” deal. Resentment and anger began to build.
Thanks to federal contractors and agents pocketing money and food earmarked by treaty for the Sioux, going into the winter of 1862 they were facing starvation.
