2 Quotes & Sayings By Richard Henry Pratt
Richard Henry Pratt was born in Pennsylvania on February 22, 1817. He was the son of a Methodist minister, and his family moved to Ohio when he was a child. After graduating from Kenyon College in 1840, he studied law and was admitted to the bar, but his interest lay in farming. In 1844, he married Mary Ann Haines, but they eventually divorced
In 1848, Pratt joined the U.S. Army as a captain of engineers and served under General William T. Sherman during the Civil War.
In 1863 Pratt was discharged from the army and resumed his civilian life as a farmer in Ohio. He returned to military service in 1864 during the Civil War's final year, this time attached to General George Crook's cavalry force in Nevada Territory. Pratt spent most of his time observing Indians; despite his fondness for these people, he did not hold them in high esteem.
He referred to them as "savages" and believed that they were incapable of civilization or self-government. After the war ended in 1865 he decided to pursue farming full-time once more; by then he had already written an article entitled "The Native Americans." It appeared in the Atlantic Monthly later that year and brought him national recognition for his work on Indians. Encouraged by friends to submit an article about the origins of civilization for publication in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Pratt submitted "The Indian origins of American Institutions" which appeared in Harper's in December 1870...