Executions at Fort Snelling

A critical moment of the US–Dakota War took place at Fort Snelling on November 11, 1865, with the execution of Dakota leaders Sakpedan and Wakan Ozanzan. Drugged and kidnapped from their refuge in Canada, the two leaders faced trial by a military commission for the alleged murders of civilians during the war. At trial, Wakan Ozanzan's attorneys challenged the authority of the tribunal, arguing that it was illegal for the United States to seize the two leaders from Canada by force. Witnesses denied seeing either man commit crimes, but several claimed to have heard them admit to their actions. The editor of the St. Paul Pioneer argued that such hearsay evidence weakened the case, writing that no white man tried by a jury of his peers would be executed upon testimony thus produced.

Minnesota · United States