# Lincoln's review *Federal review of the death sentences imposed by military commissions after the U.S.–Dakota War, 1862.* **Lincoln's review** was the federal review of the death sentences that military commissions imposed on [[Dakota]] men after the [[U.S.–Dakota War]] of 1862. The project's at-issue record states that the commissions sentenced 303 Dakota men to death in trials it calls rushed. It states that Lincoln's review reduced that number by 265, and that 38 men were hanged at [[Mankato]] on December 26, 1862.[^1] The figures agree: 303 less 265 is 38.[^1] The at-issue record pairs the entry with a January 2026 White House fact sheet that establishes a new Department of Justice division for national fraud enforcement.[^2] It describes the 1862 review as "the earliest instance in this file of a federal review correcting a Minnesota tribunal."[^1] The record assembled here does not establish when the review began or ended, or the grounds on which individual sentences were commuted or confirmed.[^1] ## When - September 23, 1862: the U.S.–Dakota War ended at [[Wood Lake]].[^1] - November 7, 1862: a stockaded camp was established on the river bottom below [[Fort Snelling]] to hold Dakota non-combatants.[^3] - December 26, 1862: 38 Dakota men were hanged at Mankato.[^1] - May 1863: survivors of the Fort Snelling camp were removed to [[Crow Creek]].[^3][^4] ## How many - 303 Dakota men were sentenced to death by military commissions.[^1] - The review reduced that number by 265.[^1] - 38 were hanged at Mankato. The at-issue record describes the hanging as "the largest mass execution in American history."[^1] - The camp below Fort Snelling held roughly 1,600 Dakota and mixed-race non-combatants, mostly women, children and the elderly.[^3] An estimated 130 to 300 died of mumps, measles and pneumonia and of assaults by soldiers and civilians before the survivors were removed.[^3] - MNopedia, the reference work of the [[Minnesota Historical Society]], calls the camp a "concentration camp." It defines the term as "a place where people are confined, often in poor conditions, without regard to legal norms of arrest."[^3] ## In the at-issue record The entry is item AI-070, also catalogued as AI-Hennepin-070, at rank 70 in Block F, *The Land and the Name*. See [[At issue 070 - The U.S. Dakota War ended at Wood Lake]].[^1] The row rests on a single source of kind "record" from the domain mnhs.org.[^1] Its anchor is the January 2026 White House fact sheet.[^2] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota wiki at-issue record, *AI-070 / AI-Hennepin-070, Block F — The Land and the Name* (dated 1862-09-23; source listed as mnhs.org) — war's end at Wood Lake, 303 sentenced, reduction by 265, 38 hanged at Mankato on December 26, 1862, and the "earliest instance" description. The URL given is the Minnesota Historical Society's U.S.–Dakota War aftermath page, which the pack lists for the 1862–63 aftermath; the pack does not reproduce that page's text on the trials. https://www.mnhs.org/usdakotawar/stories/history/aftermath/forced-marches-imprisonment [^2]: The White House, *Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Establishes New Department of Justice Division for National Fraud Enforcement* (January 2026) — the anchor document to which the at-issue record pairs this 1862 entry. It does not support the 1862 facts. https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-establishes-new-department-of-justice-division-for-national-fraud-enforcement/ [^3]: Minnesota Historical Society (MNopedia), *Fort Snelling at Bdote: Civil and U.S.-Dakota Wars, 1861–1866* — the camp established November 7, 1862; about 1,600 non-combatants; an estimated 130–300 deaths and their causes; the "concentration camp" term and its definition; removal to Crow Creek in May 1863. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/place/fort-snelling-civil-and-us-dakota-wars-1861-1866 [^4]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Forced Marches and Imprisonment* (U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, Aftermath) — removal of the camp's survivors in 1863. https://www.mnhs.org/usdakotawar/stories/history/aftermath/forced-marches-imprisonment