Missionary, born at Steubenville, OH, on the 23rd of March 1812. He graduated at Jefferson College, PA, in 1834, and having entered the Presbyterian ministry was sent by the American Board to a mission near Fort Snelling in 1837. His service was among the Dakotas, for whom he prepared various books, as well as a Dakota Vocabulary (1852) and Grammar and Dictionary of the Dakota Language (1852). During the Sioux war of 1862 Dr. Riggs and his family were obliged to flee. He then became chaplain of the expedition that marched against the hostile Indians. His later years were spent in field-work during the summer and in translating the Bible into Dakota during the winter. This translation was published in 1879. Dr. Riggs died at Beloit, WI, on the 24th of August 1883. Besides his works in the Indian tongue, he published Tahkoo Wakan, or the Gospel among the Dakotas (1869) and Forty Years among the Sioux (1880). Altogether he published about fifty books relating to the language and the people to whom his life was devoted.
