Army turns over remains of 2 boys who died at Indian school
CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) - Two boys who died while attending the government-run Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania about 135 years ago were returned to the Northern Arapaho tribe on Monday for reburial at their Wyoming reservation.
The hand over occurred less than a week after the crew began exhuming the remains of 15-year-old Little Chief, also known as Dickens Nor, and 14-year-old Horse, also called Horace Washington.
Officials had hoped to also exhume a third tribe member, 10-year-old Little Plume, also called Hayes Vanderbilt Friday.
In this Monday, Aug. 7, 2017 photo, Millie Friday, a descendent of Little Plume, also called Hayes Vanderbilt Friday, is comforted by Barbara Andrews-Christy of Circle Legacy Center, as Aílice Hall looks during a gathering on the grounds of the Carlisle Barracks, in Carlisle, Pa. Remains unearthed at the Pennsylvania Army base don't match Little Plume, the Native American child thought to have been buried there after dying at the government-run Carlisle Indian Industrial School in the 19th century, authorities said Friday, Aug. 11. (Charles Fox/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
But the grave marked with his headstone was found to contain the unidentified remains of two other people.
Those two were reburied at the military cemetery on the grounds of the Carlisle Barracks, which also houses the U.S. Army War College.
In the early 1880s Little Chief, Little Plume and Horse attended the school founded by an Army officer that forced students to cut their braids, dress in uniforms, speak English and adopt European names.
It's unclear how the three died, although infectious disease and harsh conditions caused other deaths at the school. More than 10,000 children were taught at the school.
The Army disinterred the three graves at the tribe's request, and officials have said additional exhumations may eventually follow.
The Army paid the cost of exhumation, as well as travel costs for the Northern Arapaho delegation that was in the Carlisle for the past week.
In this Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2017 photo, Loveeda White, a member of a Northern Arapaho youth group, stands in the Hessian Powder Magazine, at the Carlisle Barracks, in Carlisle, Pa. Now a museum its jail cells were once used as extreme punishment during the days of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Remains unearthed at the Pennsylvania Army base don't match the Native American child thought to have been buried there after dying at the government-run Carlisle Indian Industrial School in the 19th century, authorities said Friday, Aug. 11. (Charles Fox/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)