# General Orders No. 41 *Minnesota state military order of July 4, 1863 that set a cash bounty for Dakota scalps.* General Orders No. 41 was a Minnesota military order dated July 4, 1863. Adjutant General Oscar Malmros issued it at the direction of Governor [[Alexander Ramsey]]. Under its terms, scouts were paid $1.50 a day plus $25 for each [[Dakota]] scalp.[^1][^2] Later orders raised the per-scalp figure to $75 and then to $200.[^1][^3] The bounty was drawn from the State's [[Military Contingency Fund]] by executive order, not through a legislative appropriation.[^1] The project's record identifies no appropriation, no vote and no record of debate in the [[Minnesota Legislature]] on the expenditure.[^4] The order's own text is not among the sources in this record. Its terms are given here as validated dossier and history rows state them.[^1][^2] ## Who - **Issuing officer:** Adjutant General Oscar Malmros issued the order.[^2] - **Directing official:** Governor Alexander Ramsey directed the order.[^1][^2] - **Ramsey and the archive:** Ramsey was the first president of the [[Minnesota Historical Society]]. He began donating his materials to it in the 1860s.[^5] ## What - **Scout pay:** $1.50 a day.[^1][^2] - **Bounty:** $25 per Dakota scalp.[^1][^2] - **Successor orders:** The bounty rose to $75, then to $200.[^1][^3] ## When On September 9, 1862, Governor Ramsey addressed a special session of the Minnesota Legislature. He said: "The Sioux Indians of Minnesota must be exterminated or driven forever beyond the borders of the State."[^5] The Minnesota Historical Society notes that this sentence was not in the prepared manuscript. It nevertheless appeared in every published version of the speech.[^5] The Minnesota House's own publication calls the speech "notorious." It states that the speech "provided political justification for the subsequent forced removal of Dakota people from Minnesota in 1863 and the execution of 38 Dakota men in Mankato."[^6] The execution took place at [[Mankato]]. General Orders No. 41 followed on July 4, 1863.[^1][^2] The successor orders that raised the bounty are recorded without dates.[^3] ## How Payments came from the State's Military Contingency Fund under executive order rather than under an appropriation enacted by the Legislature.[^1][^3] The record does not establish any legislative vote or debate on the bounty.[^4] ## How much | Item | Amount | |---|---| | Scout pay (original order) | $1.50 per day | | Scalp bounty (original order) | $25 | | Scalp bounty (later order) | $75 | | Scalp bounty (later order) | $200 | Sources for the table: dossier §VI and history row HE-0043.[^1][^3] ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue catalogue places General Orders No. 41 beside a March 2025 presidential action published by the White House. That action is *Protecting America's Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse*.[^7] The pairing is listed as pair AI-Ramsey-023, Tier II, rank 23. The pairing rests on the order's funding mechanism. Under that mechanism, a bounty was paid out of a contingency fund by executive order, without a legislative appropriation.[^4] The comparison is the project's. The White House document does not refer to Minnesota or to the 1863 order.[^7] ## Notes [^1]: How Minnesota Got Here project, *Warren E. Burger Apex Dossier* §VI (2026-09-02) — validated passage stating that General Orders No. 41 was issued July 4, 1863, by Adjutant General Oscar Malmros at Ramsey's direction. It also states that the order paid scouts $1.50/day plus $25 per Dakota scalp from the Military Contingency Fund by executive order rather than legislative appropriation, and that successor orders raised the bounty to $75, then $200. The underlying sources (mnhs.org; open.mitchellhamline.edu) are not in the pack's allowed URLs. [^2]: How Minnesota Got Here project, *Ramsey County history*, Era IV prose row HE-0045 (July 4, 1863) — states that the order was issued by Adjutant General Oscar Malmros at Ramsey's direction and paid scouts $1.50 a day plus $25 per Dakota scalp. No source URL in the pack. [^3]: How Minnesota Got Here project, *Ramsey County history*, companion table row HE-0043 (Jul 4, 1863) — states the $25 bounty, Military Contingency Fund funding by executive order, absence of appropriation, and later increases to $75, then $200. No source URL in the pack. [^4]: How Minnesota Got Here project, *At-issue record*, pair AI-Ramsey-023 (1863-07-04) — states that the money came from the Military Contingency Fund by executive order, with no legislative appropriation, no vote and no record of debate. It also gives the pairing's basis. No source URL in the pack for the 1863 facts. [^5]: How Minnesota Got Here project, *Warren E. Burger Apex Dossier* §VI (2026-09-02) — validated passage quoting Ramsey's September 9, 1862 address and the MNHS note on the prepared manuscript. It also records Ramsey as first president of the Minnesota Historical Society. The dossier's note [26] has no URL in the pack. [^6]: How Minnesota Got Here project, *Warren E. Burger Apex Dossier* §VI (2026-09-02) — validated passage quoting the Minnesota House publication on the 1862 speech. The dossier's note [27] has no URL in the pack. [^7]: The White House, *Protecting America's Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse* (March 2025) — the presidential action named as the anchor of at-issue pair AI-Ramsey-023. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/protecting-americas-bank-account-against-fraud-waste-and-abuse/