Carlisle Indian School Cemetery

Founded in 1879 by U.S. Army officer Richard Henry Pratt, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was the first government-run off-reservation boarding school for Native American children and the model for dozens that followed. Its explicit purpose was forced cultural assimilation: children were stripped of their names, languages, clothing, and traditions. Over its nearly four decades of operation, the school enrolled more than 10,600 children from over 140 Native nations.

Disease, malnutrition, harsh discipline, and separation from family took a heavy toll. At least 180 children died at or shortly after their time at the school and were buried in its cemetery. The original cemetery stood elsewhere on the campus; in July 1927, building projects prompted the Army to relocate the graves to the present 0.22-acre plot along what is now Claremont Road, at the edge of the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks. The cemetery was closed to new interments, with the last burial recorded in 2005.

The school closed in 1918, and the grounds returned to military use. In recent years, the Army has worked with tribal nations on a repatriation program, disinterring and returning the remains of identified children to their families and home communities. Among those returned was Lucy Pretty Eagle, a Sicangu Lakota girl whose remains were disinterred and repatriated in July 2021.

The cemetery today is maintained by the U.S. Army and recognized as a site of national historical significance and ongoing mourning. The Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center at Dickinson College and the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition have documented the lives of the children buried there and advocated for treating the site with dignity rather than as folklore.