The Importance of History in Minnesota

6min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

The shooting of five white settlers in 1862 triggered the Bloody Sioux uprising. The incident that started the U.S. Dakota War is on a farm near Mankato, Minnesota. To find it, you have to pull into somebody's driveway and go through their back yard. It looks like one of those wayside buildings just outside town where I went to college.

Growing up in Mankato, Minnesota, John Biewen heard next to nothing about the town’s most important historical event. In 1862, Mankato was the site of the largest mass execution in U.S. history – the hanging of 38 Dakota warriors – following one of the major wars between Plains Indians and settlers. In this documentary, originally produced for This American Life, John goes back to Minnesota to explore what happened, and why Minnesotans didn’t talk about it afterwards.

Image: The Minnesota State Seal, 1858

Key sources for this episode:

Gwen Westerman, Mni Sota MakoceMary Wingerd, North Country: The Making of Minnesota