BIO: Brig. Gen. Richard Henry PRATT, Cumberland County, PA

    Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson
    OCRed by Judy Banja

    Copyright 2004.  All rights reserved.
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    _____________________________________________________________

    >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania,
    Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 64-66
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    BRIG. GEN. RICHARD HENRY PRATT, who was for almost a quarter of a century
  in the position of superintendent of the United States Indian Industrial
  School at Carlisle, was born Dec. 6, 1840, in Rushford, Allegany Co., N. Y.,
  and was the eldest of three sons born to Richard S. and Mary (Herrick) Pratt.
  The father was a contractor and builder of canals, and constructed a portion
  of the Welland canal, in Canada, and the canal in New York.
    In the summer of 1846 the family moved to Logansport, Ind., and there Gen.
  Pratt began his education in the common schools. Later he attended the
  Logansport Seminary. In 1858 he removed to Delphi, Ind., and on April 16,
  1861, at the breaking out of the Civil war, he enlisted for the three months'
  service, and was made a corporal in Company A, 9th Indiana Infantry; he was
  mustered out July 29th, following. On Sept. 18th he re-enlisted, in Company
  A, 2d Indiana Cavalry, with which he served, as sergeant and first sergeant,
  until April 19, 1864, when he was promoted to first lieutenant in Company C,
  11th Indiana Cavalry, of which company he became captain on Sept. 1, 1864. He
  served as inspector and judge advocate for the 5th Division Cavalry, Mil. Div.
  Miss., on the staff of Gen. Hatch, throughout the Nashville campaign, 1864 and
  1865, and until he was mustered out of the service, May 29, 1865, with a
  record of active service in the following engagements: 1861-Philippi, Va.,
  June 3; Laurel Hill, Va., July 7; Bealington, Va., July to; Carrick's Ford,
  Va., July 13-14; 1862-Shiloh, April 6-7; Pea Ridge, Tenn., April 15;
  Monterey, Tenn., April 17; engagements around Corinth, Miss., April 30 to May
  30; Tuscumbia Creek, Miss., May 31; McMinnville, Tenn., Aug. 9; Gallatin, Aug.
  13; engagements about Murfreesboro, Tenn., Aug. 20, 25, 27, Sept. 7; New
  Haven, Ky., September (in the capture of the 3d Georgia Cavalry); Perryville
  and Crab Orchard Oct. 6-7-8; Stone River, Dec. 31 to Jan. 3;
  1863-Murfreesboro, Tenn., March to; Shelbyville Pike, June 6; Triune, Tenn.,
  June 11; Shelbyville, Tenn., June 23; Tullahoma, June 25; Middleton, June 24;
  Gray's Gap, June

    CUMBERLAND COUNTY.  65

  27; Elk River Bridge, July 2; Sparta, Aug. 9; Chickamauga, Ga., Sept. 1920;
  Anderson's Cross Roads and pursuit of Wheeler (in which he saw daily
  fighting); 1864-Huntsville, Ala., October; Shoal Creek, Ala., Nov. 9;
  Lawrenceburg, Tenn., Nov. 22; Campbellsville, Tenn., Nov. 24; Nashville,
  Tenn., Nov. 15-16; Hollow Tree Gap, Tenn., Dec. 17; Linnville, Tenn., Dec.
  23; Pulaski, Tenn., Dec. 25-26.
    After the close of hostilities Capt. Pratt returned to Delphi, Ind.,
  remaining there until September, 1865. when he went to Bement, Ill. After a
  year there he went to Minnesota, where he stayed only a few months, returning
  thence to Logansport, Ind.. where he was tendered an appointment by Schuyler
  Colfax, as second lieutenant in the United States cavalry. Accepting, he
  joined his command at Fort Gibson, in the Indian Territory, in June, 1867,
  and on July 31st was promoted to first lieutenant of his company, continuing
  as such until Feb. 7, 1883, when he became captain. On July 1, 1898, he was
  made a major; on Feb. 2, 1902, Lieutenant-colonel; and on Jan. 24, 1903,
  colonel. He was retired from army service on Feb. 17th of the same year, was
  promoted to brigadier-general on the retired list in April. 1904. and was
  relieved from the superintendency of the Indian School July 1, 1904.
    In the spring of 1879, by special Act of Congress, he was detailed for
  Indian educational work at Hampton Institute, Virginia. Being unwilling to
  remain at Hampton, because he did not esteem it best to combine the work for
  the Indians and negroes, he suggested the use of Carlisle Barracks and the
  establishment of an Indian industrial school. This was accepted, and he was
  made superintendent and placed in charge in September of that year. Under his
  management the school has grown to include over a thousand pupils, from eighty
  different tribes, with about ninety employes, and has met the substantial
  support of the people and Congress throughout its career. Perhaps the best
  commendation Gen. Pratt has for his work at Carlisle is contained in the
  award made to the school for its exhibit at the World's Fair in Chicago:
    The United States of America by act of their Congress have authorized the
  World's Columbian Commission at the International Exhibition held in the city
  of Chicago, State of Illinois, in the year 1893, to decree a medal for
  specific merit which. is set forth below:

    INDIAN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA.
    EXHIBIT: WORK, PHOTOGRAPHS AND COURSES OF STUDY.
    -AWARD.-

    For excellence of methods, objects and results as a part of the best plan
  for the industrial, intellectual, patriotic, social, moral and spiritual
  training of the Indian to take his place as a member of civilized society,
  seen first, in his separation from, savage surroundings; second, in wise and
  well-fitted plans and methods of theoretical and practical training of boys
  and girls in the several years of school life, during which they learn the
  conditions of caring for health and are prepared for active affairs, in
  common studies, such as reading, writing, drawing, arithmetic, composition,
  geography, music, bookkeeping and morals, and in industries for girls, such
  as household economy, needlework, cutting of garments, and cooking; and for
  boys, farming, carpentering, blacksmithing, harness and wagon making, the
  making of tinware and shoes, and printing; third, as seen in the outing
  system, by which pupils are placed in good families, where both boys and
  girls for a year or more become familiar by observation and practice with all
  the customs and amenities of American home life, fixing what they have been
  learning in the theory and practice of the school; fourth, as' seen in
  results attained (a) in the outing system in 1892, which resulted in the
  earning by 404 boys of $16,698.85, and by 293 girls of $5,170.15, or a total
  of $21,868.98, all of which was placed to their individual credit, and (b) in
  the usefulness and worthy lives of the great majority of all who have returned
  to their Indian homes.

    66  CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

    The earnings of the students under the outing for the fiscal year 1903,
  eleven years later, was $31,393.02, and their combined savings deposited and
  earning interest for them amounted to over $40,000.00.
    In 1889 Col. Pratt was chairman of the commission which treated with the
  Sioux tribe for half of their reservation.
    On April 20, 1864, Col. Pratt married Miss Anna Laura Mason, of Jamestown,
  N.Y., daughter of Belden B. and Mercy (Whitcomb) Mason, and four children
  have blessed this union, namely: Mason D., born Jan. 23, 1865; Cora Marion,
  Oct. 2, 1868; Nana Laura, July 27, 1871; and Richenda Henrietta, Aug. 25,
  1882.