was full of rumors and charges that the
Winnebagoes were implicated. The court terminated its sittings at Fort
Snelling, after a series of sessions lasting from Sept. 30 to Nov. 5,
1862, during which 425 prisoners were arraigned and tried. Of these 321
were found guilty of the offenses charged, of whom 303 were sentenced to
death, and the rest to various terms of imprisonment according to the
nature of their crimes. The condemned prisoners were removed to Mankato,
where they were confined in a large guardhouse, constructed of logs for
the purpose, and were guarded by a strong force of soldiers. On the way
down, as the party having charge of the prisoners passed through New Ulm
they found the inhabitants disinterring the dead, who had been hastily
buried in the streets where they fell during the fights at that place.
The sight of the Indians so enraged the people that a general attack was
made on the wagons in which they were chained together. The attacking
force was principally composed of women, armed with clubs, stones,
knives, hot water and similar weapons. Of course, the guard could not
shoot or bayonet a woman, and they got the prisoners through the town
with the loss of one killed and many battered and bruised.

While this court martial was in session the news of its proceedings
reached the eastern cities, and a great outcry was raised, that
Minnesota was contemplating a dreadful massacre of Indians. Many
influential bodies of well-intentioned but ill-informed people beseeched
President Lincoln to put a stop to the proposed executions. The
president sent for the records of the trials, and turned them over to
his legal and military advisors to decide which were the more flagrant
cases. On the sixth day of December, 1862, the president made the
following order:

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
"Dec. 6, 1862.

"_Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley, St. Paul, Minn._:

"Ordered, that of the Indians and half-breeds sentenced to be
hanged by the military commission, composed of Colonel Crooks,
Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, Captain Grant, Captain Bailey and
Lieutenant Olin, and lately sitting in Minnesota, you cause to
be executed on Friday, the nineteenth day of December, instant,
the following named, to-wit:

(Here follow the names of thirty-nine Indians, and their numbers
on the record of conviction.)

"The other condemned prisoners you will hold, subject to f