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[Illustration: STEPHEN R. RIGGS, D.D., LL.D.]
MARY AND I
Forty Years with the Sioux
by
STEPHEN R. RIGGS, D.D., LL.D.
Missionary to the Dakotas, and Author of "Dakota Grammar
and Dictionary," "Gospel Among the Dakotas," etc.
With an Introduction by Rev. S. C. Bartlett, D.D.
President Of Dartmouth College
Boston
Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society
Congregational House
Copyright, 1880, by Stephen R. Riggs.
Copyright, 1887, by
Congregational S. S. and Publishing Society.
Electrotyped by
C. J. Peters and Son, Boston.
To My Children,
ALFRED, ISABELLA, MARTHA, ANNA, THOMAS,
HENRY, ROBERT, CORNELIA,
AND EDNA;
TOGETHER WITH ALL THE GRANDCHILDREN GROWING
UP INTO THE MISSIONARY INHERITANCE
OF THEIR FATHERS AND
MOTHERS,
_THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED BY
THE AUTHOR._
PREFACE.
This book I have INSCRIBED to my own family. It will be of interest to
them, as, in part, a history of their father and mother, in the toils
and sacrifices and rewards of commencing and carrying forward the work
of evangelizing the Dakota people.
Many others, who are interested in the uplifting of the Red Men, may
be glad to obtain glimpses, in these pages, of the inside of
Missionary Life in what was, not long since, the Far West; and to
trace the threads of the in-weaving of a Christ-life into the lives of
many of the Sioux nation.
"Why don't you tell more about yourselves?" is a question which, in
various forms, has been often asked me, during these last four
decades. Partly as the answer to questions of that kind, this book
assumes somewhat the form of a personal narrative.
While I do not claim, even at this evening time of my life, to be
freed from the desire that good Christian readers will think favorably
of this effort of mine, I can not expect that the appreciation with
which my Dakota Grammar and Dictionary was received, by the literary
world, more than a quarter of a century ago, will be surpassed by this
humbler effort.
Moreover, the chief work of my life has been the part I have been
permitted, by the good Lord, to have in giving the entire Bible to
the Sioux Nation. This book is only "the band of the sheaf." If, by
weaving the principal facts of our Missionary work, its trials and
joys, its discouragements and grand successes, into this personal
narrative of "MARY AND I," a better judgment of Indian capabilities is
secured, and a more earnest and intelligent determination to work for
their Christianization and final Citizenship, I shall be quite
satisfied.
Since the historical close of "Forty years with the Sioux," some
important events have transpired, in connection with our missionary
work, which are grouped together in an Appendix, in the form of
Monographs.
S. R. R.
BELOIT, Wis., January, 1880.
NOTE:--This book, first published by the author, though with the
imprint of W. G. Holmes, Chicago, has met with such favor as to
indicate that it should be brought out under auspices that would
give it to a larger circle of those interested in Indian
missions. And to carry on the life of its author to its close,
and give a more complete view of the progress of the work,
another chapter has been added, making the "Forty Years" Fifty
Years with the Sioux.
A. L. R.
INTRODUCTION.
The churches owe a great debt of gratitude to their missionaries,
first, for the noble work they do, and, second, for the inspiring
narratives they write. There is no class of writings more quickening
to piety at home than the sober narratives of these labors abroad. The
faith and zeal, the wisdom and patience, the enterprise and courage,
the self-sacrifice and Christian peace which they record, as well as
the wonderful triumphs of grace and the simplicity of native piety
which they make known, bring us nearer, perhaps, to the spirit and the
scenes of Apostolic times than any other class of literature. How the
churches could, or can ever, dispense with the reactionary influence
from the Foreign Mission field, it is difficult to understand.
Doubtless, however, when the harvest is all gathered, the Lord of the
Harvest will, in his wisdom, know how to supply the lack.
Some narratives are valuable chiefly for their interest of style and
manner, while the facts themselves are of minor account. Other
narratives secure attention by the weight of their facts alone. The
author of "Mary and I; Forty Years with the Sioux" has our thanks for
giving us a story attractive alike from the present significance of
its theme and from the frank and fresh simplicity of its method.
It is a timely contribution. Thank God, the attention of the whole
nation is at length beginning to be turned in good earnest to the
chronic wrongs inflicted on the Indian race, and is, though slowly and
with difficulty, comprehending the fact, long known to the friends of
missions, that these tribes, when properly approached, are singularly
accessible and responsive to all the influences of Christianity and
its resultant civilization. Slowest of all to apprehend this truth,
though with honorable exceptions, are our military men. The officer
who uttered that frightful maxim, "No good Indian but a dead
Indian,"--if indeed it ever fell from his lips,--needs all the support
of a brilliant and gallant career in defence of his country to save
him from a judgment as merciless as his maxim. Such principles, let us
believe, have had their day. They and their defenders are assuredly to
be swept away by the rising tide of a better sentiment slowly and
steadily pervading the country. The wrongs of the African have been,
in part, redressed, and now comes the turn of the Indian. He must be
permitted to have a home in fee-simple, a recognized citizenship, and
complete protection under a settled system of law. The gospel will
then do for him its thorough work, and show once more that God has
made all nations of one blood. He is yet to have them. It is but a
question of time. And the Indian tribes are doubtless not to fade
away, but to be rescued from extinction by the gospel of Christ
working in them and for them.
The reader who takes up this volume will not fail to read it through.
He will easily believe that Anna Baird Riggs was "a model Christian
woman,"--the mother who could bring up her boy in a log cabin where
once the bear looked in at the door, or in the log school-house with
its newspaper windows, "slab benches," and drunken teacher, and could
train him for his work of faith and perseverance in that dreary and
forbidding missionary region, and in what men thought that forlorn
hope. And he will learn--unless he knew it already--that a lad who in
early life hammered on the anvil can strike a strong and steady stroke
for God and man.
The reader will also recognize in the "Mary" of this story, now gone
to her rest, a worthy pupil of Mary Lyon and Miss Z. P. Grant. With
her excellent education, culture, and character, how cheerfully she
left her home in Massachusetts to enter almost alone on a field of
labor which she knew perfectly to be most fraught with self-sacrifice,
least attractive, not to say most repulsive, of them all. How
hopefully she journeyed on thirteen days, from the shores of Lake
Harriet, to plunge still farther into the wilderness of Lac-qui-parle.
How happily she found a "home" for five years in the upper story of
Dr. Williamson's log house, in a room eighteen feet by ten, occupied
in due time by three children also. How quietly she glided into all
the details and solved all the difficulties of that primitive life,
bore with the often revolting habits of the aborigines, taught their
boys English, and persevered and persisted till she had taught their
women "the gospel of soap." How bravely she bore up in that terrible
midnight flight from Hazelwood, and the long exhausting journey to St.
Paul, through the pelting rains and wet swamp-grass, and with
murderous savages upon the trail. But it was the chief test and glory
of her character to have brought up a family of children, among all
the surroundings of Indian life, as though amid the homes of
civilization and refinement. All honor to such a woman, wife, and
mother. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Forty-one years
after her departure from the station at Lake Harriet, the present
writer stood upon the pleasant shore where the tamarack mission houses
had long disappeared, and felt that this was consecrated ground.
The other partner in this firm of "Mary and I" needs no words of mine.
He speaks here for himself, and his labors speak for him. His Dakota
Dictionary and Bible are lasting monuments of his persevering toil,
while eleven churches with a dozen native preachers and eight hundred
members, and a flourishing Dakota Home Missionary Society, bear
witness to the Christian work of himself and his few co-laborers.
"Forty Years Among the Sioux," he writes. "Forty years in the Turkish
Empire," was the story of Dr. Goodell. Fifty Years in Ceylon, was the
life-work of Levi Spalding. What records are these of singleness of
aim, of energy, of Christian work, and of harvests gathered and
gathering for the Master. Would that such a holy ambition might be
kindled in the hearts of many other young men as they read these
pages. How invigorating the firm assurance: "During the years of my
preparation there never came to me a doubt of the rightness of my
decision. At the end of forty years' work I am abundantly satisfied
with the way in which the Lord has led me." How many of those who
embark in other lines of life and action can say the same?
And how signally was the spirit of the parents transmitted to the
children. Almost a whole family in the mission work: six sons and
daughters among the Dakotas, the seventh in China. I know not another
instance so marked as this. And what a power for good to the Dakota
race, past, present, and future, is gathered up in one undaunted,
single-hearted family of Christian toilers. A part of this family it
has been the writer's privilege to know, and of two of the sons he
had the pleasure to be the teacher in the original tongues of the Word
of God. And he deems it an additional pleasure and privilege thus to
connect his name with theirs and their mission. For not alone the
dusky Dakotas, but all the friends of the Indian tribes and lovers of
the Missionary cause, are called on to honor the names of Pond,
Williamson, and RIGGS.
S. C. BARTLETT.
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
1837.--Our Parentage.--My Mother's Bear Story.--Mary's
Education.--Her First School Teaching.--School-houses and
Teachers in Ohio.--Learning the Catechism.--Ambitions.--The
Lord's Leading.--Mary's Teaching in Bethlehem.--Life Threads
Coming Together.--Licensure.--Our Decision as to Life
Work.--Going to New England.--The Hawley
Family.--Marriage.--Going West.--From Mary's Letters.--Mrs.
Isabella Burgess.--"Steamer Isabella."--At St. Louis.--The
Mississippi.--To the City of Lead.--Rev. Aratus Kent.--The Lord
Provides.--Mary's Descriptions.--Upper Mississippi.--Reaching
Fort Snelling 23
CHAPTER II.
1837.--First Knowledge of the Sioux.--Hennepin and Du
Luth.--Fort Snelling.--Lakes Harriet and Calhoun.--Three Months
at Lake Harriet.--Samuel W. Pond.--Learning the Language.--Mr.
Stevens.--Temporary Home.--That Station Soon Broken Up.--Mary's
Letters.--The Mission and People.--Native Customs.--Lord's
Supper.--"Good Voice."--Description of Our Home.--The
Garrison.--Seeing St. Anthony.--Ascent of the St.
Peters.--Mary's Letters.--Traverse des Sioux.--Prairie
Travelling.--Reaching Lac-qui-parle.--T. S. Williamson.--A
Sabbath Service.--Our Upper Room.--Experiences.--Church at
Lac-qui-parle.--Mr. Pond's Marriage.--Mary's Letters.--Feast 38
CHAPTER III.
1837-1839.--The Language.--Its Growth.--System of
Notation.--After Changes.--What We Had to Put into the
Language.--Teaching English and Teaching Dakota.--Mary's
Letter.--Fort Renville.--Translating the Bible.--The Gospels of
Mark and John.--"Good Bird" Born.--Dakota Names.--The Lessons We
Learned.--Dakota Washing.--Extracts from Letters.--Dakota
Tents.--A Marriage.--Visiting the Village.--Girls, Boys, and
Dogs.--G. H. Pond's Indian Hunt.--Three Families Killed.--The
Village Wail.--The Power of a Name.--Post-Office Far Away.--The
Coming of the Mail.--S. W. Pond Comes Up.--My Visit to
Snelling.--Lost my Horse.--Dr. Williamson Goes to Ohio.--The
Spirit's Presence.--Prayer.--Mary's Reports 58
CHAPTER IV.
1838-1840.--"Eagle Help."--His Power as War Prophet.--Makes
No-Flight Dance.--We Pray Against It.--Unsuccessful on the
War-Path.--Their Revenge.--Jean Nicollet and J. C.
Fremont.--Opposition to Schools.--Progress in Teaching.--Method
of Counting.--"Lake That Speaks."--Our Trip to Fort
Snelling.--Incidents of the Way.--The Changes There.--Our Return
Journey.--Birch-Bark Canoe.--Mary's Story.--"Le Grand
Canoe."--Baby Born on the Way.--Walking Ten Miles.--Advantages
of Travel.--My Visit to the Missouri River.--"Fort
Pierre."--Results 76
CHAPTER V.
1840-1843.--Dakota Braves.--Simon Anawangmane.--Mary's
Letter.--Simon's Fall.--Maple Sugar.--Adobe Church.--Catharine's
Letter.--Another Letter of Mary's.--Left Hand's Case.--The Fifth
Winter.--Mary to Her Brother.--The Children's Morning
Ride.--Visit to Hawley and Ohio.--Dakota Printing.--New
Recruits.--Return.--Little Rapids.--Traverse des
Sioux.--Stealing Bread.--Forming a New
Station.--Begging.--Opposition.--Thomas L. Longley.--Meeting
Ojibwas.--Two Sioux Killed.--Mary's Hard Walk. 89
CHAPTER VI.
1843-1846.--Great Sorrow.--Thomas Drowned.--Mary's Letter.--The
Indians' Thoughts.--Old Gray-Leaf.--Oxen Killed.--Hard
Field.--Sleepy Eyes' Horse.--Indian in Prison.--The Lord Keeps
Us.--Simon's Shame.--Mary's Letter.--Robert Hopkins and
Agnes.--Le Bland.--White Man Ghost.--Bennett.--Sleepy Eyes'
Camp.--Drunken Indians.--Making Sugar.--Military
Company.--Dakota Prisoners.--Stealing Melons.--Preaching and
School.--A Canoe Voyage.--Red Wing. 104
CHAPTER VII.
1846-1851.--Returning to Lac-qui-parle.--Reasons
Therefor.--Mary's Story.--"Give Me My Old Seat, Mother."--At
Lac-qui-parle.--New Arrangements.--Better
Understanding.--Buffalo Plenty.--Mary's Story.--Little Samuel
Died.--Going on the Hunt.--Vision of Home.--Building
House.--Dakota Camp.--Soldier's Lodge.--Wakanmane's
Village.--Making a Presbytery.--New Recruits.--Meeting at
Kaposia.--Mary's Story.--Varied Trials.--Sabbath Worship.--"What
is to Die?"--New Stations.--Making a Treaty.--Mr. Hopkins
Drowned.--Personal Experience. 123
CHAPTER VIII.
1851-1854.--Grammar and Dictionary.--How It
Grew.--Publication.--Minnesota Historical Society.--Smithsonian
Institution.--Going East.--Mission Meeting at Traverse des
Sioux.--Mrs. Hopkins.--Death's Doings.--Changes in the Mode of
Writing Dakota.--Completed Book.--Growth of the Language.--In
Brooklyn and Philadelphia.--The Misses Spooner.--Changes in the
Mission.--The Ponds and Others Retire.--Dr. Williamson at
Pay-zhe-hoo-ta-ze.--Winter Storms.--Andrew Hunter.--Two
Families Left.--Children Learning Dakota.--Our House
Burned.--The Lord Provides 141
CHAPTER IX.
1854-1856.--Simon Anawangmane.--Rebuilding after the
Fire.--Visit of Secretary Treat.--Change of Plan.--Hazelwood
Station.--Circular Saw Mill.--Mission
Buildings.--Chapel.--Civilized Community.--Making
Citizens.--Boarding-School.--Educating our own
Children.--Financial Difficulties.--The Lord Provides.--A Great
Affliction.--Smith Burgess Williamson.--"Aunt Jane."--Bunyan's
Pilgrim in Dakota 153
CHAPTER X.
1857-1862.--Spirit Lake.--Massacres by Inkpadoota.--The
Captives.--Delivery of Mrs. Marble and Miss
Gardner.--Excitement.--Inkpadoota's Son Killed.--United States
Soldiers.--Major Sherman.--Indian Councils.--Great Scare.--Going
Away.--Indians Sent After Scarlet End.--Quiet
Restored.--Children at School.--Quarter-Century Meeting.--John
P. Williamson at Red Wood.--Dedication of Chapel 162
CHAPTER XI.
1861-1862.--Republican Administration.--Its Mistakes.--Changing
Annuities.--Results.--Returning from General Assembly.--A
Marriage in St. Paul.--D. Wilson Moore and Wife.--Delayed
Payment.--Difficulty with the Sissetons.--Peace
Again.--Recruiting for the Southern War.--Seventeenth of August,
1862.--The Outbreak.--Remembering Christ's Death.--Massacres
Commenced.--Capt. Marsh's Company.--Our Flight.--Reasons
Therefor.--Escape to an Island.--Final Leaving.--A Wounded
Man.--Traveling on the Prairie.--Wet Night.--Taking a
Picture.--Change of Plan.--Night Travel.--Going Around Fort
Ridgely.--Night Scares.--Safe Passage.--Four Men Killed.--The
Lord Leads Us.--Sabbath.--Reaching the Settlements.--Mary at St.
Anthony 171
CHAPTER XII.
1862.--General Sibley's Expedition.--I Go as Chaplain.--At Fort
Ridgely.--The Burial Party.--Birch Coolie Defeat.--Simon and
Lorenzo Bring in Captives.--March to Yellow Medicine.--Battle of
Wood Lake.--Indians Flee.--Camp Release.--A Hundred Captives
Rescued.--Amos W. Huggins Killed.--We Send for His Wife and
Children.--Spirit Walker Has Protected Them.--Martha's Letter
188
CHAPTER XIII.
1862-1863.--Military Commission.--Excited Community.--Dakotas
Condemned.--Moving Camp.--The Campaign Closed.--Findings Sent to
the President.--Reaching My Home in St. Anthony.--Distributing
Alms on the Frontier.--Recalled to Mankato.--The
Executions.--Thirty-eight Hanged.--Difficulty of Avoiding
Mistakes.--Round Wind.--Confessions.--The Next Sabbath's
Service.--Dr. Williamson's Work.--Learning to Read.--The
Spiritual Awakening.--The Way It Came.--Mr. Pond Invited
Up.--Baptisms in the Prison.--The Lord's Supper.--The Camp at
Snelling.--A Like Work of Grace.--John P. Williamson.--Scenes in
the Garret.--One Hundred Adults Baptized.--Marvelous in Our Eyes
206
CHAPTER XIV.
1863-1866.--The Dakota Prisoners Taken to Davenport.--Camp
McClellan.--Their Treatment.--Great Mortality.--Education in
Prison.--Worship.--Church Matters.--The Camp at Snelling Removed
to Crow Creek.--John P. Williamson's Story.--Many Die.--Scouts'
Camp.--Visits to Them.--Family Threads.--Revising the New
Testament.--Educating Our Children.--Removal to Beloit.--Family
Matters.--Little Six and Medicine Bottle.--With the Prisoners at
Davenport 220
CHAPTER XV.
1866-1869.--Prisoners Meet their Families at the Niobrara.--Our
Summer's Visitation.--At the Scouts' Camp.--Crossing the
Prairie.--Killing Buffalo.--At Niobrara.--Religious
Meetings.--Licensing Natives.--Visiting the Omahas.--Scripture
Translating.--Sisseton Treaty at Washington.--Second Visit to
the Santees.--Artemas and Titus Ordained.--Crossing to the Head
of the Coteau.--Organizing Churches and Licensing
Dakotas.--Solomon, Robert, Louis, Daniel.--On Horseback in
1868.--Visit to the Santees, Yanktons, and Brules.--Gathering at
Dry Wood.--Solomon Ordained.--Writing "Takoo Wakan."--Mary's
Sickness.--Grand Hymns.--Going through the Valley of the
Shadow.--Death! 230
CHAPTER XVI.
1869-1870.--Home Desolate.--At the General Assembly.--Summer
Campaign.--A. L. Riggs.--His Story of Early Life.--Inside View
of Missions.--Why Missionaries' Children Become
Missionaries.--No Constraint Laid on Them.--A. L. Riggs Visits
the Missouri Sioux.--Up the River.--The Brules.--Cheyenne and
Grand River.--Starting for Fort Wadsworth.--Sun
Eclipsed.--Sisseton Reserve.--Deciding to Build There.--In the
Autumn Assembly.--My Mother's Home.--Winter Visit to
Santee.--Julia La Framboise 244
CHAPTER XVII.
1870-1871.--Beloit Home Broken Up.--Building on the Sisseton
Reserve.--Difficulties and Cost.--Correspondence with
Washington.--Order to Suspend Work.--Disregarding the
Taboo.--Anna Sick at Beloit.--Assurance.--Martha Goes in Anna's
Place.--The Dakota Churches.--Lac-qui-parle, Ascension.--John
B. Renville.--Daniel Renville.--Houses of Worship.--Eight
Churches.--The "Word Carrier."--Annual Meeting on the Big
Sioux.--Homestead Colony.--How it Came about.--Joseph Iron Old
Man.--Perished in a Snow Storm.--The Dakota Mission
Divides.--Reasons Therefor 256
CHAPTER XVIII.
1870-1873.--A. L. Riggs Builds at Santee.--The Santee High
School.--Visit to Fort Sully.--Change of Agents at
Sisseton.--Second Marriage.--Annual Meeting at Good Will.--Grand
Gathering.--New Treaty Made at Sisseton.--Nina Foster
Riggs.--Our Trip to Fort Sully.--An Incident by the Way.--Stop
at Santee.--Pastor Ehnamane.--His Deer Hunt.--Annual Meeting in
1873.--Rev. S. J. Humphrey's Visit.--Mr. Humphrey's
Sketch.--Where They Come From.--Morning Call.--Visiting the
Teepees.--The Religious Gathering.--The Moderator.--Questions
Discussed.--The _Personnel_.--Putting up a Tent.--Sabbath
Service.--Mission Reunion. 270
CHAPTER XIX.
1873-1874.--The American Board at Minneapolis.--The _Nidus_ of
the Dakota Mission.--Large Indian Delegation.--Ehnamane and
Mazakootemane.--"Then and Now."--The Woman's Meeting.--Nina
Foster Riggs and Lizzie Bishop.--Miss Bishop's Work and Early
Death.--Manual Labor Boarding-School at Sisseton.--Building
Dedicated.--M. N. Adams, Agent.--School Opened.--Mrs. Armor and
Mrs. Morris.--"My Darling in God's Garden."--Visit to Fort
Berthold.--Mandans, Rees, and Hidatsa.--Dr. W. Matthews' Hidatsa
Grammar.--Beliefs.--Missionary Interest in Berthold.--Down the
Missouri.--Annual Meeting at Santee.--Normal School.--Dakotas
Build a Church at Ascension.--Journey to the Ojibwas with E. P.
Wheeler.--Leech Lake and Red Lake.--On the Gitche Gumme.--"The
Stoneys."--Visit to Odanah.--Hope for Ojibwas 288
CHAPTER XX.
1875-1876.--Annual Meeting of 1875.--Homestead Settlement on the
Big Sioux.--Interest of the Conference.--_Iapi Oaye._--Inception
of Native Missionary Work.--Theological Class.--The Dakota
Home.--Charles L. Hall Ordained.--Dr. Magoun of Iowa.--Mr. and
Mrs. Hall Sent to Berthold by the American Board.--The _Word
Carrier's_ Good Words to Them.--The Conference of 1876.--In J.
B. Renville's Church.--Coming to the Meeting from Sully.--Miss
Whipple's Story.--"Dakota Missionary Society."--Miss Collins'
Story.--Impressions of the Meeting 308
CHAPTER XXI.
1871-1877.--The Wilder Sioux.--Gradual Openings.--Thomas
Lawrence.--Visit to the Land of the Teetons.--Fort Sully.--Hope
Station.--Mrs. General Stanley in the _Evangelist_.--Work by
Native Teachers.--Thomas Married to Nina Foster.--Nina's First
Visit to Sully.--Attending the Conference and American
Board.--Miss Collins and Miss Whipple.--Bogue Station.--The
Mission Surroundings.--Chapel Built.--Mission Work.--Church
Organized.--Sioux War of 1876.--Community
Excited.--Schools.--"Waiting for a Boat."--Miss Whipple Dies at
Chicago.--Mrs. Nina Riggs' Tribute.--The Conference of 1877 at
Sully.--Questions Discussed.--Grand Impressions 325
APPENDIX.
MONOGRAPHS.
MRS. NINA FOSTER RIGGS 345
REV. GIDEON H. POND 361
SOLOMON 374
DR. T. S. WILLIAMSON 382
A MEMORIAL 399
THE FAMILY REUNION 408
MARY AND I.
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX.
CHAPTER I.
1837.--Our Parentage.--My Mother's Bear Story.--Mary's
Education.--Her First School Teaching.--School-houses and
Teachers in Ohio.--Learning the Catechism.--Ambitions.--The
Lord's Leading.--Mary's Teaching in Bethlehem.--Life Threads
Coming Together.--Licensure.--Our Decision as to Life
Work.--Going to New England.--The Hawley
Family.--Marriage.--Going West.--From Mary's Letters.--Mrs.
Isabella Burgess.--"Steamer Isabella."--At St. Louis.--The
Mississippi.--To the City of Lead.--Rev. Aratus Kent.--The Lord
Provides.--Mary's Descriptions.--Upper Mississippi.--Reaching
Fort Snelling.
Forty years ago this first day of June, 1877, Mary and I came to Fort
Snelling. She was from the Old Bay State, and I was a native-born
Buckeye. Her ancestors were the Longleys and Taylors of Hawley and
Buckland, names honorable and honored in the western part of
Massachusetts. Her father, Gen. Thomas Longley, was for many years a
member of the General Court and had served in the war of 1812, while
her grandfather, Col. Edmund Longley, had been a soldier of the
Revolution, and had served under Washington. Her maternal grandfather,
Taylor, had held a civil commission under George the Third. In an
early day both families had settled in the hill country west of the
Connecticut River. They were the true and worthy representatives of
New England.
As it regards myself, my father, whose name was Stephen Riggs, was a
blacksmith, and for many years an elder in the Presbyterian church of
Steubenville, Ohio, where I was born. He had a brother, Cyrus, who was
a preacher in Western Pennsylvania; and he traced his lineage back,
through the Riggs families of New Jersey, a long line of godly men,
ministers of the gospel and others, to Edward Riggs,[1] who came over
from Wales in the first days of colonial history. My mother was Anna
Baird, a model Christian woman--as I think, of a Scotch Irish family,
which in the early days settled in Fayette County, Pa. Of necessity
they were pioneers. When they had three children, they removed up into
the wild wooded country of the Upper Alleghany. My mother could tell a
good many bear stories. At one time she and those first three children
were left alone in an unfinished log cabin. The father was away
hunting food for the family. When, at night, the fire was burning in
the old-fashioned chimney, a large black bear pushed aside the quilt
that served for the door, and, sitting down on his haunches, surveyed
the scared family within. But, as God would have it, to their great
relief, he retired without offering them any violence.
[1] Heretofore, we have supposed the first progenitor of the
Riggs Family in America was Miles; but the investigations of Mr.
J. H. Wallace of New York show that it was Edward, who settled
in Roxbury, Mass., about the year 1635. The name of Miles comes
in later. He was the progenitor of one branch of the family.
Mary's education had been carefully conducted. She had not only the
advantages of the common town school and home culture, but was a pupil
of Mary Lyon, when she taught in Buckland, and afterward of Miss
Grant, at Ipswich. At the age of sixteen she taught her first school,
in Williamstown, Mass. As she used to tell the story, she taught for a
dollar a week, and, at the end of her first quarter, brought the $12
home and gave it to her father, as a recognition of what he had
expended for her education.
It was a joy to me to meet, the other day in Chicago, Mrs. Judge
Osborne, who was one of the scholars in this school, as it was in her
father's family; and who spoke very affectionately of Mary Ann
Longley, her teacher.
Contrasted with the present appliances for education in all the towns,
and many of the country districts also, the common schools in Ohio,
when I was a boy, were very poorly equipped. My first school-house was
a log cabin, with a large open fireplace, a window with four lights of
glass where the master's seat was, while on the other two sides a log
was cut out and old newspapers pasted over the hole through which the
light was supposed to come, and the seats were benches made of slabs.
One of my first teachers was a drunken Irishman, who often visited the
tavern near by and came back to sleep the greater part of the
afternoon. This gave us a long play spell. But he was a terrible
master for the remainder of the day. Notwithstanding these
difficulties in the way of education, we managed to learn a good deal.
Sabbath-schools had not reached the efficiency they now have; but we
children were taught carefully at home. We were obliged to commit to
memory the Shorter Catechism, and every few months the good minister
came around to see how well we could repeat it. All through my life
this summary of Christian doctrine--not perfect indeed, and not to be
quoted as authority equal to the Scriptures, as it sometimes is--has
been to me of incalculable advantage. What I understood not then I
have come to understand better since, with the opening of the Word and
the illumination of the Holy Spirit. If I were a boy again, I would
learn the Shorter Catechism.
My ambition was to learn some kind of a trade. But I had wrought
enough with my father at the anvil not to choose that. It was hard
work, and not over-clean work. Something else would suit me better, I
thought. About that time my sister Harriet married William McLaughlin,
who was a well-to-do harness-maker in Steubenville. This suited my
ideas of life better. But that sister died soon after her marriage,
and my father removed from that part of the country to the southern
part of the State. There in Ripley a Latin school was opened about
that time, and the Lord appeared to me in a wonderful manner, making
discoveries of himself to my spiritual apprehension, so that from that
time and onward my path lay in the line of preparation for such
service as he should call me unto. My father, as he said many years
afterward, had intended to educate my younger brother James; but he
was taken away suddenly, and I came in his place. Thus the Lord opened
the way for a commencement, and by the help of friends I was enabled
to continue until I finished the course at Jefferson College, and
afterward spent a year at the Western Theological Seminary at
Alleghany.
Mary had been educated for a teacher. She was well fitted for the
work. And while she was still at Ipswich, a benevolent gentleman in
New York City, who had interested himself in establishing a seminary
in Southern Indiana, sent to Miss Grant for a teacher to take charge
of the school near Bethlehem, in the family of Rev. John M. Dickey. It
was far away, but it seemed just the opening she had been desiring.
But a young woman needed company in travelling so far westward. It was
at the time of the May meetings in New York. Clergymen and others were
on East from various parts of the West. In several instances, however,
she failed of the company she hoped for, by what seemed singular
providences. And at last it was her lot to come West under the
protection of Rev. Dyer Burgess, of West Union, Ohio. Mr. Burgess was
what was called in those days "a rabid abolitionist," and had taken a
fancy to help me along, because, as he said, I was "of the same
craft." And so it was that during his absence I was living in his
family. This is the way in which the threads of our two lives, Mary's
and mine, were brought together. A year and a half after this I was
licensed to preach the gospel by the Chillicothe Presbytery, and we
were on our way to her mountain home in Massachusetts.
Before starting for New England, the general plan of our life-work was
arranged. Early in my course of education, I had considered the claims
of the heathen upon us Christians, and upon myself personally as a
believer in Christ; and, with very little hesitation or delay, the
decision had been reached that, God willing, I would go somewhere
among the unevangelized. And, during the years of my preparation,
there never came to me a doubt of the rightness of my decision. Nay,
more, at the end of forty years' work, I am abundantly satisfied with
the way in which the Lord has led me. If China had been then open to
the gospel, as it was twenty years afterward, I probably should have
elected to go there. But Dr. Thomas S. Williamson of Ripley, Ohio, had
started for the Dakota field the same year that I graduated from
college. His representations of the needs of these aborigines, and the
starting out of Whitman and Spalding with their wives to the Indians
of the Pacific coast, attracted me to the westward. And Mary was quite
willing, if not enthusiastic, to commence a life-work among the
Indians of the North-west, which at that time involved more of
sacrifice than service in many a far-off foreign field. Hitherto, the
evangelization of our own North American Indians had been, and still
is, in most parts of the field, essentially a foreign mission work. It
has differed little, except, perhaps, in the element of greater
self-sacrifice, from the work in India, China, or Japan. And so, with
a mutual good understanding of the general plan of life's campaign,
with very little appreciation of what its difficulties might be, but
with a good faith in ourselves, and more faith in Him who has said,
"Lo, I am with you all days," Mary left her school in Bethlehem, to
which she had become a felt necessity, and I gathered up such
credentials as were necessary to the consummation of our acceptance as
missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions, and we went eastward.
Railroads had hardly been thought of in those days, and so what part
of the way we were not carried by steamboats, we rode in stages. It
was only the day before Thanksgiving, and a stormy evening it was,
when we hired a very ordinary one-horse wagon to carry us and our
baggage from Charlemont up to Hawley. I need not say that in the old
house at home the sister and the daughter and granddaughter found a
warm reception, and I, the western stranger, was not long overlooked.
It was indeed a special Thanksgiving and time of family rejoicing,
when the married sister and her family were gathered, with the
brothers, Alfred and Moses and Thomas and Joseph, and the little
sister Henrietta, and the parents and grandparents, then still living.
Since that time, one by one, they have gone to the beautiful land
above, and only two remain.
Well, the winter, with its terrible storms and deep snows, soon passed
by. It was all too short for Mary's preparation. I found work waiting
for me in preaching to the little church in West Hawley. They were a
primitive people, with but little of what is called wealth, but with
generous hearts; and the three months I spent with them were
profitable to me.
On the 16th of February, 1837, there was a great gathering in the old
meeting-house on the hill; and, after the service was over, Mary and I
received the congratulations of hosts of friends. Soon after this the
time of our departure came. The snow-drifts were still deep on the
hills when, in the first days of March, we commenced our hegira to the
far West. It was a long and toilsome journey--all the way to New York
City by stage, and then again from Philadelphia across the mountains
to Pittsburg in the same manner, through the March rains and mud, we
travelled on, day and night. It was quite a relief to sleep and glide
down the beautiful Ohio on a steamer. And there we found friends in
Portsmouth and Ripley and West Union, with whom we rested, and by whom
we were refreshed, and who greatly forwarded our preparations for life
among the Indians.
Of the journey Mary wrote, under date City of Penn, March 3, 1837: "We
were surprised to find sleighing here, when there was little at
Hartford and none at New Haven and New York. We expect to spend the
Sabbath here; and may the Lord bless the detention to ourselves and
others. Oh, for a heart more engaged to labor by the way--to labor
_any_ and _everywhere_."
In West Union, Ohio, she writes from Anti-Slavery Palace, April 5:
"Brother Joseph Riggs made us some valuable presents. His kindness
supplied my lack of a good English merino, and Sister Riggs had
prepared her donation and laid it by, as the Apostle directs,--one
pair of warm blankets, sheets and pillow-cases. My new nieces also
seemed to partake of the same kind spirit, and gave us valuable
mementos of their affection.
"We found Mrs. Burgess not behind, and perhaps before most of our
friends, in her plans and gifts. Besides a cooking-stove and
furniture, she has provided a fine blanket and comforter, sheets,
pillow-cases, towels, dried peaches, etc. Perhaps you will fear that
with so many kind friends we shall be furnished with too many
comforts. Pray, then, that we may be kept very humble, and receive
these blessings thankfully from the Giver of every good and perfect
gift."
Mrs. Isabella Burgess, the wife of my friend Rev. Dyer Burgess, we put
into lasting remembrance by the name we gave to our first daughter,
who is now living by the great wall of China. By and by we found
ourselves furnished with such things as we supposed we should need for
a year to come, and we bade adieu to our Ohio friends, and embarked at
Cincinnati for St. Louis.
"STEAMER ISABELLA, Thursday Eve, May 4.
"We have been highly favored thus far on our way down the Ohio.
We took a last look of Indiana about noon, and saw the waters
of the separating Wabash join those of the Ohio, and yet flow
on without commingling for ten or twelve miles, marking their
course by their blue tint and purer shade. The banks are much
lower here than nearer the source, sometimes gently sloping to
the water's edge, and bearing such marks of inundation as
trunks and roots of trees half imbedded in the sand, or cast
higher up on the shore. At intervals we passed some beautiful
bluffs, not very high, but very verdant, and others more
precipitous. Bold, craggy rocks, with evergreen-tufted tops,
and a few dwarf stragglers on their sides. One of them
contained a cave, apparently dark enough for deeds of darkest
hue, and probably it may have witnessed many perpetrated by
those daring bandits that prowled about these bluffs during the
early settlement of Illinois.
"Friday Eve.--This morning, when we awoke, we found ourselves
in the muddy waters of the broad Mississippi. They are quite as
muddy as those of a shallow pond after a severe shower. We
drink it, however, and find the taste not quite as unpleasant
as one might suppose from its color, though quite warm. The
river is very wide here, and beautifully spotted with large
islands. Their sandy points, the muddy waters, and abounding
snags render navigation more dangerous than on the Ohio. We
have met with no accident yet, and I am unconscious of fear. I
desire to trust in Him who rules the water as well as the
lands."
"ST. LOUIS, May 8, 1837.
"Had you been with us this morning, you would have sympathized
with us in what seemed to be a detention in the journey to our
distant unfound home in the wilderness, when we heard that the
Fur Company's boat left for Fort Snelling last week. You can
imagine our feelings, our doubts, our hopes, our fears rushing
to our hearts, but soon quieted with the conviction that the
Lord would guide us in his own time to the field where he would
have us labor. We feel that we have done all in our power to
hasten on our journey and to gain information in reference to
the time of leaving this city. Having endeavored to do this, we
have desired to leave the event with God, and he will still
direct. We now have some ground for hope that another boat will
ascend the river in a week or two, and, if so, we shall avail
ourselves of the opportunity. Till we learn something more
definitely in regard to it, we shall remain at Alton, if we are
prospered in reaching there."
In those days the Upper Mississippi was still a wild and almost
uninhabited region. Such places as Davenport and Rock Island, which
now together form a large centre of population, had then, all told,
only about a dozen houses. The lead mines of Galena and Dubuque had
gathered in somewhat larger settlements. Above them there was nothing
but Indians and military. So that a steamer starting for Fort Snelling
was a rare thing. It was said that less than half a dozen in a season
reached that point. Indeed, there was nothing to carry up but goods
for the Indian trade, and army supplies. Some friends at Alton invited
us to come and spend the intervening time. There we were kindly
entertained in the family of Mr. Winthrop S. Gilman, who has since
been one of the substantial Christian business men in New York City.
On our leaving, Mr. Gilman bade us "look upward," which has ever been
one of our life mottoes.
At that time, a steamer from St. Louis required at least two full
weeks to reach Fort Snelling. It was an object with us not to travel
on the Sabbath, if possible. So we planned to go up beforehand, and
take the up-river boat at the highest point. It might be, we thought,
that the Lord would arrange things for us so that we should reach our
mission field without travelling on the Day of Rest. With this desire
we embarked for Galena. But Saturday night found us passing along by
the beautiful country of Rock Island and Davenport. In the latter
place Mary and I spent a Sabbath, and worshipped with a few of the
pioneer people who gathered in a school-house. By the middle of the
next week we had reached the city of lead. There we found the man who
had said to the Home Missionary Society, "If you have a place so
difficult that no one wants to go to it, send me there." And they sent
the veteran, Rev. Aratus Kent, to Galena, Illinois.
Some of the scenes and events connected with our ascent of the
Mississippi are graphically described by Mary's facile pen:
"STEAMBOAT OLIVE BRANCH, May 17.
"We are now on our way to Galena, where we shall probably take a
boat for St. Peters. We pursue this course, though it subjects
us to the inconvenience of changing boats, that we may be able
to avoid Sabbath travelling, _if possible_. One Sabbath at least
will be rescued in this way, as the _Pavilion_, the only boat
for St. Peters at present, leaves St. Louis on Sunday! This we
felt would not be right for us, consequently we left Alton
to-day, trusting that the Lord of the Sabbath would speed us on
our journey of 3000 miles, and enable us to keep his Sabbath
holy unto the end thereof.
"Of the scenery we have passed this afternoon, and are still
passing, I can give you no just conceptions. It beggars
description, and yet I wish you could imagine the Illinois
semi-circular shores lined with high rocks, embosomed by trees
of most delicate green, and crowned with a grassy mound of the
same tint, or rising more perpendicularly and towering more
loftily in solid columns, defying art to form or demolish works
so impregnable, and at the same time so grand and beautiful. I
have just been gazing at these everlasting rocks mellowed by the
soft twilight. A bend in the river and an island made them
apparently meet the opposite shore. The departing light of day
favored the illusion of a splendid city reaching for miles along
the river, built of granite and marble, and shaded by luxuriant
groves, all reflected in the quiet waters. This river bears very
little resemblance to itself (as geographies name it) after its
junction with the Missouri. To me it seems a misnomer to name a
river from a branch which is so dissimilar. The waters here are
comparatively pure and the current mild. Below, they are turbid
and impetuous, rolling on in their power, and sweeping all in
their pathway onward at the rate of five or six miles an hour.
"Just below the junction we were astonished and amused to see
large spots of muddy water surrounded by those of a purer shade,
as if they would retain their distinctive character to the last;
but in vain, for the lesser was contaminated and swallowed up by
the greater. I might moralize on this, but will leave each one
to draw his own inferences."
"STEPHENSON (now Davenport), May 22.
"We left the _Olive Branch_ between 10 and 11 on Saturday
night. The lateness of the hour obliged us to accept of such
accommodations as presented themselves first, and even made us
thankful for them, though they were the most wretched I ever
endured. I do not allude to the house or table, though little
or nothing could be said in their praise, but to the horrid
profanity. Connected with the house and adjoining our room was
a grocery, a devil's den indeed, and so often were the frequent
volleys of dreadful oaths that our hearts grew sick, and we
shuddered and sought to shut our ears. Notwithstanding all
this, we were happier than if we had been travelling on God's
holy day. Our consciences approved resting according to the
commandment, though they did not chide for removing, even on
the Sabbath, to a house where God's name is not used so
irreverently--so profanely."
"GALENA, May 23.
"This place, wild and hilly, we reached this afternoon, and
have been very kindly received by some Yankee Christian
friends, where we feel ourselves quite at home, though only
inmates of this hospitable mansion a few hours. Surely the Lord
has blessed us above measure in providing warm Christian hearts
to receive us. Mr. and Mrs. Fuller, where we are, supply the
place of the Gilmans of Alton. We hope to leave in a day or two
for Fort Snelling."
"GALENA, Ill., May 25, 1837.
"A kind Providence has so ordered our affairs that we are
detained here still, and I hope our stay may promote the best
interests of the mission. It seems desirable that Christians in
these villages of the Upper Mississippi should become
interested in the missionaries and the missions among the
northern Indians, that their prejudices may be overcome and
their hearts made to feel the claims those dark tribes have
upon their sympathies, their charities, and their prayers."
"STEAMER PAVILION, Upper Mississippi, May 31.
"We are this evening (Wednesday) more than 100 miles above
Prairie du Chien, on our way to St. Peters, which we hope to
reach before the close of the week, that we may be able to keep
the Sabbath on shore. You will rejoice with us that we have
been able, in all our journey of 3000 miles, to rest from
travelling on the Sabbath. Last Saturday, however, our
principles and feelings were tried by this boat, for which we
had waited three weeks, and watched anxiously for the last few
days, fearing it would subject us to Sabbath travelling.
Saturday eve, after sunset, when our wishes had led us to
believe it would not leave, if it should reach Galena until
Monday, we heard a boat, and soon our sight confirmed our ears.
Mr. Riggs hastened on board and ascertained from the captain
that he should leave Sabbath morning. The inquiry was, shall we
break one command in fulfilling another? We soon decided that
it was not our duty to commence a journey under these
circumstances even, and retired to rest, confident the Lord
would provide for us. Notwithstanding our prospects were rather
dark, I felt a secret hope that the Lord would detain the
_Pavilion_ until Monday. If I had any faith it was very weak,
for I felt deeply conscious we were entirely undeserving such a
favor. But judge of our happy surprise, morning and afternoon,
on our way to and from church, to find the _Pavilion_ still at
the wharf. We felt that it was truly a gracious providence. On
Monday morning we came on board."
This week on the Upper Mississippi was one of quiet joy. We had been
nearly three months on our way from Mary's home in Massachusetts. God
had prospered us all the way. Wherever we had stopped we had found or
made friends. The Lord, as we believed, had signally interfered in our
behalf, and helped us to "remember the Sabbath day," and to give our
testimony to its sacred observance. The season of the year was
inspiring. A resurrection to new life had just taken place. All
external nature had put on her beautiful garments. And day after
day--for the boat tied up at night--we found ourselves passing by
those grand old hills and wonderful escarpments of the Upper
Mississippi. We were in the wilds of the West, beyond the cabins of
the pioneer. We were passing the battle-fields of Indian story. Nay,
more, we were already in the land of the Dakotas, and passing by the
_teepees_ and the villages of the red man, for whose enlightenment and
elevation we had left friends and home. Was it strange that this was a
week of intense enjoyment, of education, of growth in the life of
faith and hope? And so, as I said in the beginning, on the first day
of June, 1837, Mary and I reached, in safety, the mouth of the
Minnesota, in the land of the Dakotas.