Library Class and Subject Guides: Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln and Minnesota

About these Resources

This guide is only a small sampling of the breadth of historical resources that exist about Abraham Lincoln. We recommend using MavScholar and WorldCat to search additional terms such as "American Civil War", "Dakota Indians--Wars, 1862-1865," and Abraham Lincoln. You can also view our Civil War (American) Library Guide for additional research materials on the American Civil War.

Note: Over the years the terminology used to describe the US-Dakota War has changed. This means some titles/resources highlighted here and in our collections reflect racist or hateful attitudes.

Primary Sources

Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress (Online)
The papers of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), lawyer, representative from Illinois, and sixteenth president of the United States, contain approximately 40,550 documents dating from 1774 to 1948, although most of the collection spans from the 1850s through Lincoln’s presidency (1861-1865). Roughly half of the collection, more than 20,000 documents, comprising 62,000 images, as well as transcriptions of approximately 10,000 documents, is online. In the search box at the top of the page, enter Minnesota to narrow the online collection to items related to Lincoln and Minnesota.
The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln
9 volume set of the works of Abraham Lincoln from 1824 to 1865. Found in the General Collection (2nd floor Memorial Library) at E457.91 1953.
The Dakota Trials: The 1862-1864 Military Commision Trials: Including the Trial Transcripts and Commentary
Compiled with notes by John Isch, includes the complete transcripts and explanatory notes on the military commission that gathered evidence concerning the Dakota Conflict of 1862. Found in the Lass Center for Minnesota Studies (2nd floor Memorial Library) at E83.86.I83 2012.
Trial transcripts, 1862
Proceedings of the military commission that gathered evidence concerning the participation of Dakota and mixed descent Indians in the Dakota Conflict of 1862. In addition to the printed and handwritten copies of Presidential Message and supporting documents, and handwritten trial proceedings 1-392, the microfilm includes a copy of a handwritten document (January 12, 1863) from the Records of the War Department, Adjutant General's Office, listing the names and penalties or acquittals of 326 Indians imprisoned in Mankato, Minnesota. Found in the Lass Center for Minnesota Studies (2nd floor Memorial Library) in the Microfilm Collection at E83.86 .U53 1862.

Books

38 Nooses: Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier's End by Scott W. Berg
Call Number: Lass Center for Minnesota Studies (2nd floor) - E83.86 .B47 2012
Publication Date: 2012-12-04
Scott W. Berg recounts the conflict through the stories of several remarkable characters, including Little Crow, who foresaw how ruinous the conflict would be for his tribe; Sarah Wakefield, who had been captured by the Dakotas, then vilified as an "Indian lover" when she defended them; Minnesota bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple, who was a tireless advocate for the Indians' cause; and Lincoln, who transcended his own family history to pursue justice.
The Children of Lincoln: White paternalism and the limits of Black opportunity in Minnesota, 1860-1876 by William D. Green
Call Number: Lass Center for Minnesota Studies (2nd Floor) - E185.93.M55 G74 2018
The Children of Lincoln takes an intimate look at African-American civil rights in Minnesota during the pivotal fifteen years following the Emancipation Proclamation and in the wake of the Civil War. Framed around the lives of four white patrons who worked for black freedom (Minnesota's "Children of Lincoln"), Green's history lays bare an era when many white patrons, seemingly content with the notion that African Americans were now legally "free," turned their sights to other causes, abandoning their earlier work towards equality.
Lincoln's Bishop: A President, a Priest, and the Fate of 300 Dakota Sioux Warriors by Gustav Niebuhr
Call Number: Lass Center for Minnesota Studies (2nd floor) - E83.86 .N54 2014
Publication Date: 2014-05-27
Gustav Niebuhr explores Abraham Lincoln's decision to spare the lives of 265 Sioux men sentenced to die by a military tribunal in Minnesota for warfare against white settlers--while allowing the hanging of 38 others, the largest single execution on American soil. Only one state leader championed the cause of the Native Americans, Episcopal bishop, Henry Benjamin Whipple, who befriended them before the massacre and understood their plight at the hands of corrupt government officials and businessmen.
Lincoln and the Indians by David A. Nichols
Call Number: Lass Center for Minnesota Studies (2nd Floor) - E457.2.N6 N53 2012
Publication Date: 2012-06-01
"Lincoln and the Indians has stood the test of time and offers this generation of readers a valuable interpretation of the U.S. government's Indian policies--and sometimes the lack thereof--during the Civil War era. Providing a critical perspective on Lincoln's role, Nichols sets forth an especially incisive analysis of the trial of participants in the Dakota War of 1862 in Minnesota and Lincoln's role in sparing the lives of most of those who were convicted." -- James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom.
Lincoln and the Sioux Uprising Of 1862 by Hank H. Cox
Call Number: Lass Center for Minnesota Studies (2nd floor) - E83.86 .C78 2005
Publication Date: 2005-07-01
Story of the Sioux uprising of 1862 along the Mississippi River in Minnesota.

Articles

The Abolition Movement in Minnesota by Frank Klement.
Klement, F. (1951). The Abolition Movement in Minnesota. Minnesota History, 32(1), 15–33.
Lincoln's Agonizing Decision by Daniel Homstad
Homstad, D. (2001). Lincoln's agonizing decision. American History, 36(5), 28-36.
Lincoln's Choice by Scott Berg
Berg, S. W. (2014). Lincoln's choice. MHQ: Quarterly Journal of Military History, 26(2), 30-39.
Lincoln's Sioux War Order
Lincoln’s Sioux War Order. (1952). Minnesota History, 33(2), 77–79.
The Other Civil War: Lincoln and the Indians by David A. Nichols
Nichols, D. A. (1974). The other civil war: Lincoln and the Indians. Minnesota History, 44(1), 2-15.
Remembering the Thirty-Eight: Abraham Lincoln, the Dakota, and the U.S. War on Barbarism by David Martinez
Martinez, D. (2013). Remembering the Thirty-Eight: Abraham Lincoln, the Dakota, and the U.S. War on Barbarism. Wicazo Sa Review, 28(2), 5–29.