In 1851 the Dakota Sioux of what is now Minnesota signed a treaty in which they agreed to settle on a reservation.
But soon they regretted the decision. The United States made the Dakota many promises in the treaty but kept none of them. Without the food and supplies the U.S. government was supposed to give them, the Native Americans faced starvation.
Angry and desperate, the Dakota led by Little Crow launched a full-scale war against their white neighbors in 1862. Before they were defeated by state troops, the rebels killed more than 500 whites. After the rebellion, 300 Indians were tried and sentenced to death, although President Abraham Lincoln reduced the sentence of all but 38.
These Native Americans were hanged on December 26, 1863, in the biggest mass execution in U.S. history.
