SANTEE, NE - Just a day after what is considered merry for most in Christmas, the people of Santee are remembering a solemn anniversary in their history.

"Those days are over with, but the memories are deep. The memories are really deep," tribal elder Rick Thomas said.

December 26 marks the day of the hangings of 38 Isanti Warriors in Mankato, Minnesota, the Santee-Sioux homelands. It is the largest mass execution in United States history. Now, members of the Santee-Sioux nation recognize the day to remember and respect those whose lives were taken.

"We want to bring healing to especially the relatives of the 38 that were hung," Spiritual Leader for the event Ron Thomas said. 

The executions came at the end of what many history books and scholars refer to as the Sioux Uprising of 1862. Originally, over 300 received the death sentence. President Abraham Lincoln commuted many of the sentences and the number was brought down to 38. A few years after these events, the Santee-Sioux were forced off their lands. They eventually arrived in Nebraska in 1866.

Some living in the village are direct descendants of those warriors. Many hope that memorial events like these will keep the memory and story of the warriors and the Santee people alive in the younger generations.

"This history is not in our school books," Ron said. "That's why we have to teach out here, so that they understand that when they go to school and they don't say anything about the people they hung because it's not in the history book, they just call it the 1862 Sioux Uprising because the Indians were stealing. That's what they say."

The 38 executed warriors were also memorialized in stone in Santee in November. The names of those hanged are included as part of the village’s new veterans memorial. 

"Their history's in stone, and that's going to last for a long time" Ron said. "Now, that is a sacred spot up there."