This year marks the 18th ride taken by Native American trail riders on horseback from the Lower Brule Indian Reservation to the site of an 1862 mass hanging of 38 Native Americans in Mankato, Minn. 

The trip has been taken every December since 2005, when Jim Miller, a Vietnam Veteran and a direct descendant of the original 38 Native Americans killed, found out about the mass killing and decided to do something to bring awareness to the historic event that was not mentioned in our country’s history. Today, Miller is in poor health, and most of the men who started the ride with him have all passed away, so the group has decided that this will be their last ride to bring remembrance full circle.

According to Todd Finney, who is Miller’s nephew, this is the most famous horse trail ride in the world. There have been stories written about the event in several countries and in some of the most popular periodicals across the globe. He said that this year most of the riders are direct descendants of the 38 men and women who were killed in Mankato in 1862, so it is very important to all of them that the event is used to bring recognition to something important in history that had not been receiving proper recognition.

Finney stated that the weather has not deterred them from ever finishing the ride, so things should go as planned this year, too. They expect to be in Mankato early next week. 

…See a picture in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!