Abraham Lincoln conflict Black Hawk War
Native Americans
Lincoln's experience with Native Americans started early with their killing of his grandfather in front of the family.  Later he served as a Captain in the state militia during the Black Hawk War seeing no combat.  During his presidency, his policy toward Indians was based on politics. He used appointments to the Indian Bureau as a reward to supporters from Minnesota and Wisconsin.  While in office his administration faced difficulties guarding Western settlers, railroads, and telegraphs, from Indian attacks.On August 17, 1862, the Sioux or Dakota uprising broke out in Minnesota. Hundreds of settlers were killed, 30,000 were displaced from their homes, and Washington was deeply alarmed. Some feared incorrectly that it might represent a Confederate conspiracy to start a war on the Northwestern frontier. Lincoln ordered thousands of Confederate prisoners of war sent by railroad to put down the uprising. When the Confederates protested forcing Confederate prisoners to fight Indians, Lincoln revoked the policy and none set foot in Minnesota.  Lincoln sent General John Pope to Minnesota as commander of the new Department of the Northwest a couple of weeks into the hostilities.  Before he arrived, the Fond Du Lac band of Chippewa sent Lincoln a letter begging to go to war for the United States against the Sioux, so Lincoln could send Minnesota's troops to fight the South. Shortly after, a Mille Lacs Band Chief offered the same at St. Cloud, Minnesota. In it the Chippewa specified that they wanted to use the indigenous rules of warfare. That meant there would be no prisoners of war, no surrender, no peace agreement. Lincoln did not accept the Chippewa offer, as he had no means to control the outcome and women and children were considered legitimate casualties in native American warfare. Once word reached the other bands of Chippewa, he had no way of knowing how they would react to his sending the Fond Du Lac on the warpath.  One of the Chippewa signing the letter, Chief Naw-Gaw-Nub, had received a Presidential medal from Lincoln earlier in the year.Serving under Gen. Pope was Minnesota Congressman Henry H. Sibley. Minnesota's Governor had made Sibley a Colonel United States Volunteers to command the US force tasked with fighting the war and that eventually defeated Little Crow's forces at the Battle of Wood Lake.  
The day the Mdewakanton force surrendered at Camp Release, a Chippewa war council met at Minnesota's capitol with another Chippewa offer to Lincoln, to fight the Sioux. Sibley ordered a military commission to review that actions of the captured to try those that had committed war crimes. The legitimacy of military commissions trying opposing combatants had been established during the Mexican War. Sibley thought he had 16 to 20 of men he wanted for trial while Gen. Pope ordered that all detained warriors be tried. When it was done, 303 had been given death sentences that were subject to Presidential review. Lincoln ordered Gen Pope send all of the trial transcripts to Washington where he and two of his staff pored over the trials. The lawyer in Lincoln saw issues. He slowly realized that the trials could be divided into two groups: combat between combatants and combat against civilians. The groups could be identified by their transcripts, the first group were all just three pages in length while the second group had more pages, some up to twelve. He placed 263 cases into the first group and commuted their sentences for the largest mass commutation in history.  Into the second group went forty.  One he commuted for turning state's witness. Sibley dismissed another when overwhelming proof surfaced exonerating the man. The remaining 38 were executed in the largest mass hanging in U.S. history. Very quickly questions arose concerning three of the executions that have not been answered. Less than four months after the executions, Lincoln issued General Order 100 that relates more to the Minnesota War than the Civil War.  Now a congressman, Alexander Ramsey told Lincoln, in 1864, that he would have gotten more re-election support in Minnesota had he executed all 303 of the Mdewakanton. Lincoln responded, "I could not afford to hang men for votes." The men whose sentences he commuted were sent to a military prison at Davenport, Iowa. A few of those he had released due to the efforts of Bishop Henry Whipple.
battle warfare struggle fighting combat