1.1 	A resolution
1.2 	urging the President and Congress of the United States to pardon 
1.3 	We-Chank-Wash-ta-don-pee, also known as Chaska.  
1.4 	WHEREAS, We-Chank-Wash-ta-don-pee, also known as Chaska, saved the life of Sarah 
1.5 	Wakefield and her children during the Minnesota-Dakota Conflict of 1862; and 
1.6 	WHEREAS, Reverend Stephen Riggs was assigned to interview those accused of crimes 
1.7 	after the conflict and that Dr. Riggs found "no testimony against the man (Chaska) of any 
1.8 	kind"; and 
1.9 	WHEREAS, Chaska was included in the list of 303 condemned to die after military 
1.10 	commission trial proceedings; and 
1.11 	WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln subsequently commuted the death sentence of 
1.12 	Chaska; and 
1.13 	WHEREAS, thirty-eight Dakota men, including Chaska, were hanged on December 26, 
1.14 	1862, for crimes in the Dakota Conflict; NOW, THEREFORE, 
1.15 	BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges the President 
1.16 	and the Congress of the United States to pardon Chaska for any alleged crimes stemming from 
1.17 	the Dakota Conflict of 1862. 
1.18 	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is 
1.19 	directed to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States, 
1.20 	the President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United 
1.21 	States House of Representatives, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.