This week in 1862

Written:
“You have deceived me. You told me that if we followed the advice of General Sibley, and gave ourselves up to the whites, all would be well; no innocent man would be injured. I have not killed, wounded or injured a white man, or any white persons. I have not participated in the plunder of their property; and yet to-day I am set apart for execution, and must die in a few days, while men who are guilty will remain in prison. My wife is your daughter, my children are your grandchildren. I leave them all in your care and under your protection. Do not let them suffer; and when my children are grown up, let them know that their father died because he followed the advice of his chief, and without having the blood of a white man to answer for to the Great Spirit.”

— Hdainyanka (or Rdainyanka, translated as “Rattling Runner”), convicted of murder, Minnesota.
Executed December 24, 1862

Hdainyanka’s final words were written to his father-in-law, Chief Wabasha. According to military tribunal accounts, Hdainyanka was an instigator of raids on white settlements, even though he claimed that he tried to stop the murders once they began.