[immadashell]

… including Abraham Lincoln, who was president when U.S. soldiers executed Indians.

U.S. soldiers executed Indians during the Civil War? When did they have time?

[PeterPrinciple]

U.S. soldiers executed Indians during the Civil War? When did they have time?

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For Iowa it was a 3 front war, the Indian war, the renegades in MO and the civil war. We sent troops to all the fronts.

The Indians took advantage of the situation. Many Indian massacre’s in nw ia and sw minesota. Many were caught to be hanged but Lincoln made them go through formal procedures and the number was dropped considerably.

[robowombat]

This was in the wake of the Minnesota 1862 Sioux uprising. Its narrative reads like a Hollywood movie treatment circa 1950. Lincoln took time to carefully scrutinize the list of the condemned and reduced by more than half to 36, I think. The execution was done at Mankato, I think, on the day after Christmas 1862.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

It was the Minnesota uprising because corrupt Indian Agents were stealing all the goodies from the tribes.
Confederate agents operating through Canada were stirring the pot for an uprising which did come.

Ever notice how so many tribes, from Canada to Mexico, went on the warpath against the Union in 1861-1865? Confederate agents were busy, busy, busy!

Modern revisionist histories try to downplay the Confederacy angle, but older histories still show their involvement.

[The Great RJ]

In 1862 an Indian uprising in Minnesota and north western Iowa resulted in massacres of white settlers. Contemporary estimates are that as many as 800 settlers were killed or raped. Over 300 Santee Sioux were apprehended, tried before a military tribunal and sentenced to hang for their role in the massacres. President Lincoln personally reviewed the case against all the condemned and commuted all but 38. Those 38 were hanged at Mankato, MN in December 1862.

Given the sentiments at the time, Lincoln could have easily have authorized a genocidal war against all the Lakota tribes, but instead sought to punish only those directly involved in the killings and rapes. Lincoln acted with fairness and under the rule of law and should be given credit for that.