What US Civil War general was sent to Minnesota in order to end problems created by the Sioux Indian Tribe?

Answer 1

Not long after his defeat at the second Battle of Bull Run, US General John Pope was sent west to end what was termed Indian uprisings in Minnesota. The results were horrible for Sioux. Pope's troops took Sioux prisoners and executed by hanging 38 Tribesmen in Davenport, Iowa. It was at the time the largest mass hanging in US history.

Answer 2

Fresh from his loss the Second Battle of Bull Run, Union General John Pope was sent with a large troop attachment to end a Santee Sioux uprising in Minnesota in 1862. The Tribal raid on white settlers killed more than 350 men, women and children. It was at that time the largest massacre in US history. The reasons would be repeated year after year. Generally speaking the dispute was about treaties and land allocated to Native Tribes that the Federal government failed to enforce. The US Civil War, however, had recruited so many Northerners that Pope had enough troops to begin to put things under control, but not before Minnesota was in a six week panic. White newspaper reaction in Minnesota called for harsh treatment for the massacre. This included abolitionists papers as well. Sarcastically, some remarked that Pope should be able to handle it in that the renegade tribes had less warriors than the Army of Northern Virginia.Pope acted swiftly and executed 38 Santees as soon as he located them. Another several hundred were captured and placed in an interment camp in Iowa. Half of them died of disease and exposure. The camp commander allowed locals to view the captives two hours a day except on Sundays.

Federal physicians were allowed to dig up Native bodies that were buried, and they were used for medical experiments. Another large group of Santees were sentenced to death and the executions would have been larger if not that President Lincoln commuted the death sentences of a few hundred, 260 to be exact.

US troops removed all of the Santees from Minnesota and placed them in reservations in the South Dakota Territory.