Transnational Fort Totten: Negotiating Relationships between Indigenous Nations, the Grey Nuns, and the U.S. Government

Abstract: This article examines the complex relationships between the Sisters of Charity of Montreal (“Grey Nuns”), the Dakota nation, and Indian agents at Fort Totten in North Dakota, applying a transnational perspective that recognizes Indigenous sovereignty while acknowledging the European origins of the Catholic religious orders that operated schools for Native Americans. While many stories of Catholic education have been framed through a narrative of an “immigrant church,” I consider the same debate over the relationship between church and state in schools while using empire as a tool of analysis. Ultimately, the sisters’ and the Dakota’s respective (and sometimes aligned) interests and actions illustrate the limits of the U.S. state’s control over both groups by considering how the Grey Nuns and the Dakota negotiated and used their relationships with the federal government.