On Dec. 6, 1862, Lincoln authorized
the death penalty for only 39 of the 303 Indians condemned by the military
court. Later another was reprieved, reducing the number to 38.
These warriors were hanged on a huge gallows at Mankato on Dec. 26.
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The hundreds of Soux still
imprisoned in Fort Snelling and Mankato faced a bleak future. People
called for their extermination while officials sought to have them driven
from the state. On Feb. 16, 1863, congress cancelled all the treaties,
leaving the Sioux without land or money.
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The Federal government then set aside an area in what is now South Dakota as a reservation. The Sioux were moved to this Crow Creek reservation in May of 1863 and found it an unproductive land. After three years of hardship and hunger they were moved again to a more suitable area at the mouth of the Nibrara river in northeastern Nebraska |