Ive read a bit about this tragedy. There was a series of misunderstandings and blunders on part of the soldiers and the indians. Poor leadership and placement of the guns, which were relatively new, caused freindly fire casualties among the soldiers. The whole situation could have been avoided. Paranoia, and ignorance, and too much fire power with too little thought and care.
The kind of detailed investigation needed to gain clear perspective of each award would I think be prohibitive of any kind of proposed blanket award revocation. Its also easy to use the wrongful conduct of some to paint the conduct of all inaccurately.
Even the general information available to the amateur enthusiast historian is insufficiently detailed for blanket general pronouncements. Over simplification of complexed circumstance seems to be a common path of political patronage.
In Minnesota,
more than 300 Santee Sioux are found guilty of raping and murdering
Anglo settlers and are sentenced to hang. A month later, President Abraham Lincoln
commuted all but 39 of the death sentences. One of the Indians was
granted a last-minute reprieve, but the other 38 were hanged
simultaneously on December 26 in a bizarre mass execution witnessed by a
large crowd of approving Minnesotans.
The Santee Sioux were found
guilty of joining in the so-called “Minnesota Uprising,” which was
actually part of the wider Indian wars that plagued the West during the
second half of the nineteenth century. For nearly half a century, Anglo
settlers invaded the Santee Sioux territory in the beautiful Minnesota
Valley, and government pressure gradually forced the Indians to relocate
to smaller reservations along the Minnesota River.
At the
reservations, the Santee were badly mistreated by corrupt federal Indian
agents and contractors; during July 1862, the agents pushed the Indians
to the brink of starvation by refusing to distribute stores of food
because they had not yet received their customary kickback payments.
The contractors callously ignored the Santee’s pleas for help.
Outraged
and at the limits of their endurance, the Santee finally struck back,
killing Anglo settlers and taking women as hostages. The initial efforts
of the U.S. Army to stop the Santee warriors failed, and in a battle at
Birch Coulee, Santee Sioux killed 13 American soldiers and wounded
another 47 soldiers. However, on September 23, a force under the
leadership of General Henry H. Sibley finally defeated the main body of
Santee warriors at Wood Lake, recovering many of the hostages and
forcing most of the Indians to surrender. The subsequent trials of the
prisoners gave little attention to the injustices the Indians had
suffered on the reservations and largely catered to the popular desire
for revenge. However, President Lincoln’s commutation of the majority of
the death sentences clearly reflected his understanding that the
Minnesota Uprising had been rooted in a long history of Anglo abuse of
the Santee Sioux.
“I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer” ― Douglas Adams
Well, the Medicare For All pitch doesn't seem to be working for her, so she might as well rail against the actions of people who have been mostly dead for a century in order to gain votes from the Social Justice Warriors.
Add to that...the Medal of Honor was about the only medal they had to issue at the time... He'll, Billy Dixon got one following the Buffalo Wallow fight... Basically, if a soldier did something worth recognizing, he got the Medal of Honor
It was the Army Commendation Medal of the period for all intents and purposes.
Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
Replies
So no facts, sound familiar ?
The kind of detailed investigation needed to gain clear perspective of each award would I think be prohibitive of any kind of proposed blanket award revocation. Its also easy to use the wrongful conduct of some to paint the conduct of all inaccurately.
Even the general information available to the amateur enthusiast historian is insufficiently detailed for blanket general pronouncements. Over simplification of complexed circumstance seems to be a common path of political patronage.
Far to familiar in our current politics.
300 Santee Sioux sentenced to hang in Minnesota
In Minnesota, more than 300 Santee Sioux are found guilty of raping and murdering Anglo settlers and are sentenced to hang. A month later, President Abraham Lincoln commuted all but 39 of the death sentences. One of the Indians was granted a last-minute reprieve, but the other 38 were hanged simultaneously on December 26 in a bizarre mass execution witnessed by a large crowd of approving Minnesotans.
The Santee Sioux were found guilty of joining in the so-called “Minnesota Uprising,” which was actually part of the wider Indian wars that plagued the West during the second half of the nineteenth century. For nearly half a century, Anglo settlers invaded the Santee Sioux territory in the beautiful Minnesota Valley, and government pressure gradually forced the Indians to relocate to smaller reservations along the Minnesota River.
At the reservations, the Santee were badly mistreated by corrupt federal Indian agents and contractors; during July 1862, the agents pushed the Indians to the brink of starvation by refusing to distribute stores of food because they had not yet received their customary kickback payments. The contractors callously ignored the Santee’s pleas for help.
Outraged and at the limits of their endurance, the Santee finally struck back, killing Anglo settlers and taking women as hostages. The initial efforts of the U.S. Army to stop the Santee warriors failed, and in a battle at Birch Coulee, Santee Sioux killed 13 American soldiers and wounded another 47 soldiers. However, on September 23, a force under the leadership of General Henry H. Sibley finally defeated the main body of Santee warriors at Wood Lake, recovering many of the hostages and forcing most of the Indians to surrender. The subsequent trials of the prisoners gave little attention to the injustices the Indians had suffered on the reservations and largely catered to the popular desire for revenge. However, President Lincoln’s commutation of the majority of the death sentences clearly reflected his understanding that the Minnesota Uprising had been rooted in a long history of Anglo abuse of the Santee Sioux.
― Douglas Adams
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
He'll, Billy Dixon got one following the Buffalo Wallow fight...
Basically, if a soldier did something worth recognizing, he got the Medal of Honor
It was the Army Commendation Medal of the period for all intents and purposes.