Beginning at Camp Release on September 28, 1862, and continuing at the Redwood (Lower Sioux) Agency from October 24 to November 4, brief military trials were held for Dakota who had taken part in the fighting. In little more than a month, a five-man commission appointed by commander Henry Sibley from officers who had fought against them brought 392 Dakota men and one Dakota woman before it. The prisoners were tried for various offenses against soldiers and civilians, and were judged harshly for actions that many today would consider just causes for warfare, including fighting to regain their land, protecting their way of life, and providing for their families. Charges based on Reverend Stephen R. Riggs's interviews with freed captives were read at the opening of each trial, and witnesses testified under oath for prisoners who pleaded not guilty. The proceedings moved quickly, with as many as 42 trials in a single day and some lasting only five minutes. The commission sentenced 303 of the Dakota men to be executed, sentenced 20 others to prison, and acquitted the rest. Because federal law required presidential approval before death sentences could be carried out, President Abraham Lincoln reviewed the cases and distinguished between those found guilty of “violating women” and “participating in massacres” and those who had only participated in battles. Of the 40 men in the first categories, two received clemency and 38 were sentenced to die, while all others were sent to prison. At 10 a.m. on December 26, 1862, the 38 condemned men were led to a scaffold in Mankato and hanged in the largest mass execution in U.S. history.