“A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one[….]In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.” –from a paper read by Carlisle Indian School founder, Captain Richard H. Pratt, at an 1892 convention.

Pratt’s words sound terrible to us today, but in his own time, his theory that Indians could be assimilated into American culture–rather than massacred out of it–was more humane than many of his contemporaries’ ideologies.

Pratt was an Army officer in the 10th Calvary,who commanded a unit of African American “Buffalo Soldiers” and Indian scouts  in Indian Territory after the Civil War. In 1875 he escorted 72 Indian warriors suspected of murdering white settlers to Ft. Marion in Florida. Once there, he took off his prisoners’ shackles, put them in uniforms, and drilled them like soldiers. Curious locals offered to teach them English. Pratt agreed, feeling that he was “civilizing” his charges. Eventually the Indians’ military guards were dismissed and trusted prisoners were allowed to act as guards, instead.

Pratt’s accomplishments drew positive attention and he gained permission from the Secretary of the Interior to establish a school that would take Indian children far away from their homes and immerse them in American culture. He got permission to use the Carlisle Barracks at a deserted military base to begin his experiment in civilizing the Indian nations through their children.

Richard H. Pratt

Richard Pratt With Prisoners, Ft.Marion, 1875

________________________________________________________