Kill the Indian, and Save the Man

In the late nineteenth century, U.S. policymakers pursued a range of approaches aimed at controlling and reshaping Native American communities, including military violence, forced relocation, treaty violations, and assimilation. One such approach focused on education through off-reservation boarding schools. After the Civil War and the Indian Wars, most Native Americans were confined to reservations, often under difficult economic and social conditions. Many government officials and reformers debated how Native peoples should be incorporated into U.S. society, frequently without meaningful consultation with Native communities or respect for Tribal sovereignty. In 1851, Historian Francis Parkman wrote that "[t]heir intractable, unchanging character leaves no other alternative than their gradual extinction…” (56), a view that reflected common but deeply flawed and racist assumptions of the time.

Pratt’s ideas developed during his supervision of Native prisoners of war at Fort Marion after the Red River War. The prisoners, including members of the Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, and Caddo nations, were required to speak English, participate in Christian religious practices, and receive vocational training. Some later attended Hampton Institute, where Pratt further developed his theories about Native education. These experiences convinced him that a separate boarding school for Native children could be used to advance assimilation on a larger scale.

In 1879, Pratt persuaded the Bureau of Indian Affairs to establish the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, using the abandoned Carlisle Barracks, a former U.S. Army post. He traveled to Native communities in the West to recruit students, often claiming that education would help Native people adapt to changing conditions. For some families, sending children to Carlisle was a difficult and strategic decision, hoping that education might help their children survive in a changing world, even as it risked cultural loss. Among the first students were children connected to prominent Lakota leaders, including Spotted Tail and Red Cloud.

Upon arrival, students underwent immediate changes to their appearance and identity. They were often assigned English names and photographed before and after their arrival as part of the school’s effort to demonstrate “civilizing” changes to white audiences. Their hair was cut, traditional clothing was replaced with uniforms, and they were forbidden from speaking their languages. For many Native cultures, including the Lakota, hair carries deep cultural and spiritual meaning, and cutting it could symbolize mourning or loss. These practices caused emotional distress and are now understood as acts of cultural suppression.

Students did not passively accept these conditions. Many resisted in everyday ways, including speaking their languages in secret, maintaining cultural practices, or running away. Others navigated complex identities, adapting to aspects of school life while maintaining ties to their communities. One of Carlisle’s most prominent critics was Zitkála-Šá (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin), a Yankton Dakota writer, musician, and activist who briefly taught at the school. She argued that Native students should have access to academic opportunities and criticized the school’s military discipline and religious instruction. In her writings, she described the boarding school experience as one of “cultural dislocation,” emphasizing its long-term effects on students and their families (Bonnin). Her critiques provide an important perspective on the system from within.

The school also operated an “Outing System,” in which students were placed with white families or employers. Pratt described this program as a way to further immerse students in American society. While some students gained skills, limited wages, or travel opportunities; historians note that the system also functioned as a form of labor exploitation and social isolation from Native communities.

Throughout his twenty-five years as superintendent, Pratt frequently clashed with federal officials and was eventually removed in 1904. Pratt's successor, Captain William A. Mercer, reduced some of the school’s militaristic practices and placed greater emphasis on athletics as a means of discipline and institutional pride, though the core assimilation mission remained unchanged. This increased focus on sports contributed to the school’s national reputation and created opportunities for student athletes to gain recognition. Among the most notable was Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox Nation), who arrived in 1904. His success stood in contrast to the hardships experienced by many students. A gifted athlete, he brought national visibility through football and track and field. He later achieved international fame at the 1912 Olympic Games, professional baseball, and football.

By the early twentieth century, federal policymakers shifted support toward reservation-based schools closer to students’ homes, and Carlisle’s influence began to decline. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School closed in 1918 during World War I, after enrolling more than 10,000 Native children from over 140 Tribal Nations across the United States. Following the school’s closure, the site returned to military use and later became part of the U.S. Army War College.

The Carlisle Indian Industrial School is now widely recognized as part of the federal boarding school system that caused lasting harm to Native communities. The impacts of the boarding school system extended beyond the students themselves, affecting generations through disrupted cultural transmission, language loss, and lasting trauma. In recent years, several Native American communities and Tribal Nations have worked to return the remains of children buried at Carlisle to their home communities. Scholars and Indigenous communities emphasize the importance of honoring the experiences of former students and survivors, supporting cultural revitalization, and advancing efforts at healing and remembrance. 

Information concerning the Carlisle Indian School can be found at the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center, Dickinson College, https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu.