Historic Fort Snelling, built in early 1820s in St Paul at the perfect military vantage point, at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers is up next on the #mnbucketlist. Minnesota is filled with history – some being brutal and dark. This place is laden with it. A few very notable executions took place at Fort Snelling in 1862 and as a result, 38 Dakota men were hanged on Dec. 26, 1862, in Mankato. A military court had convicted 303 Dakota who were accused of killing civilians. The number was reduced to 39 by President Abraham Lincoln and at the last minute, one Dakota man named Tatemina (Round Wind) was reprieved. It remains the largest one-day mass execution in U.S. history.