As the Dawes Act was allocating tribal lands to individuals and
selling other land to whites, Sen. Dawes was also instrumental
in a system of Indian schools that were consciously designed to
take the Indian out of Native American children. Richard H.
Pratt was a cavalry officer who spent eight years in Indian
Territory commanding a unit of African-American Buffalo
Soldiers. He was involved with the campaign to keep Indians on
their reservations and would track down hunting parties and
return them to the reservation. He was appalled by the desperate
conditions he saw. Pratt's solution was to take Indians off of
the reservation and integrate them into white society through
education. His intentions were probably good, although he often
characterized his approach in stark terms: Group of Omaha boys
in cadet uniforms, Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania, 1880.
Photographer, J. N. Choate. Source — National Archives,
NWDNS-75-IP-1-10. "I believe in immersing the Indians in our
civilization and when we get them und