History Detectives

Season 6, Episode 8

Do these pages open the book on a President who built a nation as his son fell into ruin? / What does this silver spoon have to do with the largest mass execution in U.S. history? Is this piece of fabric from the first transatlantic flight, eight years before Lindbergh?

Mankato Spoon

16m 30s

Our contributor has a silver spoon with an eerie scene etched into its bowl: buildings, wagons and a crowd gathered before a gallows. A disturbing message is inscribed: "Hanging 38 Sioux In 1862 Mankato, Minn." Host Wes Cowan travels to Minnesota to explore the clash between white settlers and the Dakota Sioux in the mid nineteenth-century that led to the largest mass execution in U.S. history.

WETA Passport

Stream tens of thousands of hours of your PBS and local favorites with WETA Passport whenever and wherever you want. Catch up on a single episode or binge-watch full seasons before they air on TV.