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Show REPORT OF THE COMMIEISIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIR% 31 To Maj. R. H. Pratt, of Csrlisle, is due the credit of organizing and perfecting this system. As he states- When placed in charge of 74 Indian prisoners of war and sent to St. Augustine, Fla., in 1875, and by order of General Sherman given all authority in their manage-ment, I proceeded at once to prove by the fullest tests that wild Indians lacked only opportuoity, and that having this they would quickly become civilized and nseful. I soon dispensed with the military guard and trained them (the prisoners) to g w d themselves, which they did for two and a half years with absolute trustworthiness. They were put to work. Not only were they taught and occupied within the walls of the fort, hut a considerable number were placed out at various forms of labor, such as 2 in a sawmill, 1 aa a baggageman on a railmad, a number as orange pickers, others at rowing and sailing boats for tourists, while 5 accomplished a job of grub-bing 5 acres of dense palmetto land, which negro laborers, though well paid, had twice abandoned. At the end of t h e years all the younger men asked to remain east and go to school. Seventeen were received by Hampton, in Virginia, and I at once urged that they be sent out into good families to learn by experience and contact. The Carlisle school was opened November 1, 1879, under tbe super-intendence of Lieut. R. H. Pratt, U. S. A. The "outing system" was from the first the principal feature of the educational and civilizing methods of the school, and the annual reports of the institution from that date to the present give an accurate presentation of the results obtained. The following table gives in tabulated form statistics relative to the system at Carlisle from 1880 to 1900: TABLEN O. 16.-Slol&ic~ of outing at Carlisle. Number When a young lieutenant of the United Shtes Army campaigning on the Western plains in the early days, Major Pratt was a careful observer of the manners, customs, and habits of the American Indian. He instituted mentally a comparison between the colored troopers of his command in their forced association with civiliwsl people under |
