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In 1862 President Lincoln refused to pardon the 38 Santee Sioux people sentenced to hang for protecting their land during the Dakota War of 1862. In early December, 303 Sioux prisoners were convicted of murder and rape by military tribunals and sentenced to death. Some trials lasted less than 5 minutes. No one explained the proceedings to the defendants, nor were the Sioux represented by a defense in court. President Lincoln personally reviewed the trial records to distinguish between those who had engaged in warfare against the U.S., versus those who had been convited of committing crimes of rape and murder against civilians. The Army executed the 38 remaining prisoners by hanging on December 26, 1862, in Mankato, Minnesota. It remains the largest mass execution in American history.

Worth noting... Lincoln pardoned ALL the Confederate soldiers who fought during the Civil War regardless of whether they participated in rape and murder of innocents.

"The trials of the Dakota were conducted unfairly in a variety of ways. The evidence was sparse, the tribunal was biased, the defendants were unrepresented in unfamiliar proceedings conducted in a foreign language, and authority for convening the tribunal was lacking. More fundamentally, neither the Military Commission nor the reviewing authorities recognized that they were dealing with the aftermath of a war fought with a sovereign nation and that the men who surrendered were entitled to treatment in accordance with that status." - Carol Chomsky, Associate Professor, University of Minnesota Law School

Letter from Hdainyanka to Chief Wabasha written shortly before his execution:

"You have deceived me. You told me that if we followed the advice of General Sibley, and gave ourselves up to the whites, all would be well; no innocent man would be injured. I have not killed, wounded or injured a white man, or any white persons. I have not participated in the plunder of their property; and yet to-day I am set apart for execution, and must die in a few days, while men who are guilty will remain in prison. My wife is your daughter, my children are your grandchildren. I leave them all in your care and under your protection. Do not let them suffer; and when my children are grown up, let them know that their father died because he followed the advice of his Chief, and without having the blood of a white man to answer for to the Great Spirit."