The Minnesota Historical Society on Friday canceled a handful of holiday tours at the Alexander Ramsey House in St. Paul, which were mistakenly scheduled on the anniversary of the 1862 mass hanging of 38 Dakota men in Mankato.

The Historical Society’s past practice has been to close the site to the public on Dec. 26 in observance of the anniversary, but an oversight caused four Candlelight Christmas Tours to be scheduled on that date this year, according to Ben Leonard, the Historical Society’s vice president of historic sites.

“We have received very valuable feedback, and we have decided to cancel tours at the Alexander Ramsey House on December 26th out of respect for the Dakota community and to allow for a day of mourning on this painful anniversary,” Leonard said in an emailed statement.

This is the first year MNHS has held holiday tours at the Alexander Ramsey House since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and some new staffers were not aware that it is the Historical Society’s practice to close the site on Dec. 26 when the events were scheduled, Leonard said.

“Once the issue was realized, MNHS removed the tour from the website and stopped ticket sales,” Leonard said in an earlier statement.

Although MNHS initially planned to honor the tickets that had already been sold, they changed course Friday afternoon.

“We will provide full refunds to ticketholders and offer complimentary tickets to our Holidays at the Hill tours at the James J. Hill House,” Leonard said.

Josie Bergmann, a tour guide at the Alexander Ramsey House, said she was disappointed that the Historical Society did not cancel the tours as soon as the mistake was recognized.

“This shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place, but obviously I’m glad they decided to cancel the tour,” Bergmann said. “I think that was the right call.”

The Alexander Ramsey House is one of 26 historic sites MNHS manages across the state.

Ramsey’s connection

Ramsey, who was governor of Minnesota during the 1862 U.S.-Dakota war, called for the Dakota to “be exterminated or driven forever beyond the borders of the state” in a speech to the Minnesota Legislature that year. The hanging — the largest mass execution in American history — occurred four months after the war ended.

“We deeply apologize to anyone who has been hurt by our original decision to hold tours, and we are grateful for the honest and constructive feedback we have received,” Leonard said. “MNHS will not hold programming at the Alexander Ramsey House on December 26th in the future.”