MN Historical Society agrees to return 1862 'Mankato hanging rope' to Prairie Island Indian Community

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.twincities.com/2024/05/28/mn-historical-society-agrees-to-return-1862-mankato-hanging-rope-to-prairie-island-indian-community/

After a several-month consultation process, the Minnesota Historical Society has agreed to return the “Mankato hanging rope,” used to execute a Dakota man in 1862, to the Prairie Island Indian Community.

Tribal leaders filed a claim earlier this year under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, a law that establishes tribal ownership over cultural items and requires federally funded agencies to return certain Native objects to the people or tribal lands they came from.

The noose in question was used to execute Wicanhpi Wastedanpi (also known as Chaske), one of 38 Dakota men imprisoned and hanged in December 1862 in Mankato following the United States-Dakota War of 1862, according to the historical society. The hanging of the Dakota men remains the largest single-day mass execution in U.S. history.

Historical society officials said the rope was donated to the organization’s collections in 1869.

[sybylla]

1. A disgusting relic from a horrendously brutal day.

It should be in their hands.

[sarisataka]

2. Good, it should go to the tribe

and it is their choice. They can display it as a memorial, bury it, burn it, whatever they feel is appropriate.