John Beckmann

38: Here Were Hanged 38 Sioux Indians Dec. 26, 1862 John Beckmann

Mankato, Minnesota ? the day after Christmas 1862: thirty-eight Lakota Indians of the Santee band will be hanged for their participation in the Great Sioux Uprising. Shackled together, the condemned warriors are led onto a scaffold the size of a large house and fitted with nooses. The doomed men chant their death songs, voices muffled by hoods covering their faces. When the scaffold is dropped, the men plunge downward together, dying in the largest mass execution in United States history. This work of fiction restores voices to those made silent on that cold and dark December day. From the grave, these 38 warriors confess their crimes, justify their actions, plead innocence or admit guilt in this unique, imaginative portrayal of one of the most tragic episodes in our American past.