When I decided to write my first novel about the U.S. – Dakota War of 1862, I needed a character to tell the story. As a historian, I wasn’t comfortable creating a completely fictional character. So, I searched for a historical figure who could serve as my eyes and ears, and I found Alfred L. Riggs.

Alfred Riggs was born on December 6, 1837, to Christian missionaries Stephen and Mary Riggs. They moved from Ohio to Fort Snelling in 1837 and later established a mission school among the Dakota at Lac qui Parle. Stephen and Mary lived among the Dakota people for the rest of their lives.

Alfred was a fitting choice to lead my narrative. During the U.S. – Dakota War, he was twenty-four years old, a Christian, college-educated, white male. His age and background were similar to mine, which helped me understand his perspective. Growing up among the Dakota, he likely had extensive knowledge of their people, language, and culture, while also understanding the views of white Euro-American settlers displaced during the war. He was a versatile character who allowed me to explore both sides of the U.S. – Dakota War of 1862.

To write my novel, Fate of the Dakota, with Alfred as the central figure, I had to place him in the events. At the war’s outbreak, Alfred was living and working at the Upper Sioux Agency. Once he and his family heard about the war, they, along with several farmer Dakota, fled the area. Alfred stayed safely in St. Anthony, Minnesota, now Minneapolis, for the war’s duration.

Fate of the Dakota was my first of five novels about the complex settler-colonialist period of Minnesota history, all set during or before the U.S. – Dakota War. During this time, I never researched what happened to Alfred after the war. While his post-war life wasn’t particularly exciting or surprising, it was interesting for me, as an author who embodied him, to see what became of Alfred Riggs.

In the spring of 1863, the Dakota were exiled from Minnesota and forcibly resettled at Crow Creek, South Dakota. In 1866, due to harsh conditions at Crow Creek, they were moved again to the Santee Sioux Reservation in Nebraska. Alfred followed, continuing his father’s work. By 1870, he established the Santee Normal Training School, an Indian boarding school that provided education and training in various subjects. Although the education was a tool of assimilation and cultural genocide, Alfred’s school was unique in advocating the use of the Dakota language, allowing students to maintain aspects of their culture. One notable student, Charles Eastman Ohiyesa, called it “the Mecca of Sioux country.”

In 1887, the U.S. government banned Native languages in Indian boarding schools. For six years, Alfred complied. But after failed attempts to repeal the ban, he ended his contract with the U.S. government and continued teaching in the Native language. At its peak, the school had 18 buildings, 480 acres, and over 200 students.

Ultimately, Alfred and his father Stephen played a significant role in the system of cultural genocide that separated Native children from their families, subjecting them to traumatic practices. Alfred died in 1916, having dedicated his life to working among the Dakota people. Despite participating in a misguided practice, he advocated for the Dakota language, building positive relationships. Upon his death, former student Henry Roe Cloud wrote that the reverend “left the world far better than he found it, and the memory of his good works is enshrined in the hearts of thousands of red men and women who are better and happier because of him.”

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Sources:

Finding Aids: Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Neb.) [RG2497.AM], Nebraska State Historical Society, Accessed November 10, 2024, https://history.nebraska.gov/collection_section/santee-normal-training-school-santee-neb-rg2497-am/

“Like Father, Like Son: Rev. Alfred Riggs,” Beloit College: Logan Museum of Anthropology Online Exhibitions, Accessed November 10, 2024, https://www.loganmuseumexhibits.com/like-father-like-son-rev-alfred-rig

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