At European contact, the Dakota lived in Minnesota and Wisconsin. After many years of semi-nomadic existence, and due to pressure from white settlers, the Santee ceded their land and entered a reservation in 1851.
In 1862, the Santee revolted against reservation life, when the government did not meet its treaty obligations and white traders refused to allow food and provisions to be distributed. This uprising, led by Little Crow, was quickly crushed. Twelve hundred Indians, many innocent of any involvement in the uprising surrendered.
Over 306 were sentenced to death by a military tribunal, and after President Lincoln granted some pardons, 38 were hung on December 26, 1862. The remaining survivors were shipped to concentration camps (prisons), in Davenport, Iowa and Ft. Thompson, South Dakota.