Alexander Huggins

Alexander Huggins and Lydia Pettijohn were married in Ohio in 1832. They came to Minnesota in 1835 under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) of the Presbyterian Church and served as missionary assistants under Thomas S. Williamson at the Dakota Indian missions at Lac qui Parle (1835-1846) and Traverse des Sioux (1846-1852).

In January 1852, it was likely that Alexander Huggins conveyed to townsite developers part of the land that was to become the town of Traverse des Sioux. He was appointed town postmaster in May. In August he requested his release from the missionary service and began farming near Traverse des Sioux. He died in 1866.

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Shared History

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Missionaries

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Bibliography

Alexander G. Huggins: An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society. Manuscripts Collection.

Resources for Further Research

Primary

Alexander G. Huggins: An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society. Manuscripts Collection
Alexander G. Huggins Diary and Huggins Family Photgraphs. Minnesota Historical Society.

Key People

Thomas Williamson

Thomas Williamson was a medical doctor who arrived in Minnesota in 1835. Along with caring for a multitude of Dakota and white patients, he, along with John Renville, Stephen Riggs and Gideon and Samuel Pond, helped create the first written alphabet and grammar of the Dakota language. Thomas Williamson established a mission at Lac qui Parle in 1835.
He was at Pejuhutazizi (Yellow Medicine), his mission near the Upper Agency, when he received word of the war on August 18, 1862. Rather than fleeing immediately he stayed and supported the many Dakota men who, at great risk to their families, chose not to fight. Williamson; his wife, Margaret; and his sister, known as “Aunt Jane” Williamson, were finally convinced to leave on August 20. “Christian Indians had staid by us all night guarding us while we slept and assisting us when awake in every way in their power,” Williamson wrote. Two Christian Dakota men provided the Williamsons with a team of oxen and a wagon to use during their escape: Robert Hopkins Caske, a neighbor; and Simon Anawaƞgmani, who headed a Wahpeton band living near Stephen Riggs’s Hazelwood Mission. Peace Party members Lorenzo Towaƞiteton Lawrence, Little Paul Mazakutemani, Peter Tapataṭaƞka (Big Fire), and Enos Maḣpiyahdinape were also involved in this dangerous enterprise.
Williamson escaped to St. Peter, where he helped care for wounded war victims. He later ministered to Dakota men imprisoned at Mankato and at Camp McClellan in Davenport, Iowa. Williamson convinced President Lincoln to pardon 25 Dakota men in April 1864; after Lincoln’s death in 1865 he advocated for the remaining prisoners with Pres. Andrew Johnson. In 1866, Johnson pardoned the remaining prisoners, still at Camp McClellan. Thomas Williamson died at St. Peter in 1879.

Letter From Thomas Williamson to Stephen Riggs on November 24, 1862:

"[I] am satisfied in my own mind from the slight evidence on which these are condemned that there are many others in that prison house who ought not to be there, and that the honor of our Government and the welfare of the people of Minnesota as well as that of the Indians requires a new trial before unprejudiced judges. I doubt whether the whole state of Minnesota can furnish 12 men competent to sit as jurors in their trial. . . . From our Governor down to the lowest rabble there is a general belief that all the prisoners are guilty, and demand that whether guilty or not they be put to death as a sacrifice to the souls of our murdered fellow citizens."

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