Background
Riggs was born in New York City on September 13, 1865 to merchant and manufacturer Lawrason and Mary Turpin (née Bright) Riggs.
Riggs was born in New York City on September 13, 1865 to merchant and manufacturer Lawrason and Mary Turpin (née Bright) Riggs.
During his childhood, he spent his summers in Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island and attended the Saint Paul"s School in Concord, New Hampshire. Riggs then attended college at Princeton University, where he played on the lacrosse team He graduated in 1887 with a degree in civil engineering.
He served as the Adjutant-General of the Maryland National Guard and the Secretary of Commerce and Police of the Philippine Commission from 1913 to 1915. Riggs was also the second head coach of the lacrosse team at Johns Hopkins University. His family moved to Baltimore, Maryland the year after his birth in 1866.
In 1888, he began postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins University where he also coached the lacrosse team
Hopkins lost their first game to the Druid Lacrosse Club, 4–1, but then captured the first victory in school history against the Patterson Lacrosse Club of Baltimore, 6–2. After concluding his postgraduate studies in 1889, he moved to Iowa to work as an engineer
Riggs then became a cattle rancher before returning to Baltimore to become a machinist apprentice with the Robert Poole & Son Company. On October 12, 1891, he became vice president of the Detrick & Harvey Machine Company, a position he held until his retirement on December 31, 1920.
He served in the Fifth Regiment of the Maryland state militia, beginning as a second lieutenant of Company East on April 29, 1890.
He was promoted to captain and took command of Company F on November 12, 1895. The New York Times reported that "he was in such disfavor with the then Colonel Coale and most of the other officers of the regiment that he resigned as soon as the regiment was mustered out of service." In January 1904, Riggs was named Adjutant-General of the Maryland National Guard by Governor Edwin Warfield.
The appointment was not received favorably by his fellow officers of the regiment, as The New York Times noted, he assumed "command of all the officers who induced" his earlier resignation.
Riggs served in that position for four years. In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson appointed General Riggs to the Philippine Commission.
As Secretary of Commerce and Police, Riggs clashed with Governor General Francis Burton Harrison about who had authority over the Philippine Constabulary. In November 1914, Harrison cabled Washington to request the dismissal of Riggs from his post on the commission.
In February 1928, while living in Catonsville, Maryland, Riggs served as chairman of the Wood Memorial Fund, which sought to raise $2 million to eradicate leprosy in the Philippines.
Riggs did business in real estate and served as the head of the Baltimore real estate board. He was also involved in swine breeding.