A team of archaeologists this weekend began disinterring 10 Native American children who attended a school in Carlisle, Pa., more than 100 years ago. The remains will be returned to families from the Rosebud Sioux and Alaskan Aleut tribes.
The children were buried in a cemetery at the U.S. Army’s Carlisle Barracks in Cumberland County, also the site of the U.S. Army War College. The cemetery contains more than 180 graves of students who attended the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School — a government-run boarding school for Native American children that was open from 1879 to 1918. This is the Army’s fourth disinterment project at the school in as many years.
Nine of the children were from the Rosebud Sioux tribe in South Dakota. They are listed with their English names and, in parenthesis when available, the Native American names they were forced to give up when they went to the school: Dennis Strikes First (Blue Tomahawk), Rose Long Face (Little Hawk), Lucy Take The Tail (Pretty Eagle), Warren Painter (Bear Paints Dirt), Ernest Knocks Off (White Thunder), Maud Little Girl (Swift Bear), Friend Hollow Horn Bear, Dora Her Pipe (Brave Bull) and Alvan — also known as Roaster, Kills Seven Horses and One That Kills Seven Horses.
One child, Sophia Tetoff, is from the Alaskan Aleut tribe on Saint Paul Island in the Bering Sea.
The project is be headed by archaeologist Michael “Sonny” Trimble and Renea Yates, the director of the Office of Army Cemeteries. Twenty other people are on the team, including members from Army headquarters, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Carlisle Barracks. Mr. Trimble is the chief archaeologist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Army is fully funding the cost of the project — about $500,000 per year, including travel to the transfer ceremony as well as transport and reburial of the deceased children, said Barbara Lewandrowski, a spokeswoman for the Office of Army Cemeteries.
“The Army’s commitment remains steadfast to these nine Native American families and one Alaskan Native family. Our objective is to reunite the families with their children in a manner of utmost dignity and respect,” said Karen Durham-Aguilera, executive director of Army National Military Cemeteries.
This weekend the Alaskan Aleut family planned to travel to Carlisle, and the Rosebud Sioux families are coming July 12. Ms. Lewandrowski said the cemetery is closed to visitors until July 17, tentatively, when the disinterment and forensic processes are done.
She said that since 2016, dozens of Native American and Alaskan Native families have requested that their ancestors be returned from Carlisle.
Lt. Richard Henry Pratt founded the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1879, believing he could save Native American children by forcibly assimilating them to white, American culture. He commonly repeated the phrase “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” Students were forced to cut their hair, change their names, convert to Christianity and stop speaking Native languages. Thousands of students representing more than 140 tribes attended the school.
Records archived by the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center at Dickinson College give a glimpse into some students’ experiences at the school. The records for many include newspaper clippings detailing their death or ID cards which show their name, tribal affiliation, date of arrival and date of departure. The reason for leaving is often listed as “death.”
For example, Dennis Strikes First arrived at the school on Oct. 6, 1879 and died there on Jan.19, 1887. A newspaper clipping shows that Dennis was the son of Blue Tomahawk of Rosebud Agency, Dakota and died of typhoid pneumonia. It said he was a “bright, studious, ambitious boy, standing first in his class, and of so tractable a disposition as to be no trouble to his teachers.”
Another clipping detailed the deaths of Ernest Knocks Off and Maud Little Girl, describing them as a “sad and mysterious coincidence.” Both died Dec. 14, 1880. It said Ernest was sent to the hospital in October to receive treatment for a sore throat, but he wouldn’t agree to take any medicine, leaving him “weak and exhausted.”
The newspaper said Maud Little Girl was a “bright, impulsive, warm-hearted girl, much beloved by her school mates.” It said she died of pneumonia.
The current disinterment arrives amid a controversy in Canada after the remains of 215 children were found buried at what was once Canada’s largest indigenous residential school in May. More than 150,000 First Nations children were required to attend state-funded Christian schools to forcibly assimilate them into Canadian culture. Up to 6,000 may have died there.
“The Army extends its condolences to the families affected by the events in Canada,” Ms. Lewandrowski said when asked about the significance of this month’s disinterment given recent events in Canada. “The Army is grateful to be able to help the requesting Native American families the opportunity to bring their family members home.”
Rebecca Johnson: rjohnson@post-gazette.com and Twitter @rebeccapaigejo
First Published: June 20, 2021, 12:25 a.m.
