Video: 'What happened on December 26, 1862?'

(Friday, December 26, 1862, 10:00 a.m. local time; part of the Sioux Wars and the American Indian Wars) — U.S. forces hanged 38 eastern Dakota men today in Mankato, Minnesota, three months after the Dakota War of 1862, a six-week uprising against white settlers after the U.S. broke its promise to deliver food and supplies to local tribes in exchange for the surrender of tribal land.

Video: 'The U.S.- Dakota Conflict: The Past Is Alive Within Us | Documentary' (today's executions at 1:10:15)

Following the uprising, 2,000 Dakota people were captured and several hundred were sentenced to death.

Video: 'Abraham Lincoln Biography - PBS Lincoln The Pivotal Year 1863 2 4' (Dakota War of 1862 and today's executions at 22:22)

President Abraham Lincoln pardoned all but 38 men, leaving them to be executed.

This was the largest one-day mass execution in American history.