Carlisle indian school cemetery
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Gone, but not Forgotten: The Children of the Carlisle Indian School Cemetery
Photo Courtesy of Isabel Rush ‘24
The silken flowers, woven bowls, toys, marbles and coins left on the graves of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School (CIIS) cemetery testify that though the school closed 106 years ago, the children who died there are not forgotten.
“No matter what, there is still a small group of people who care about what happened there, and that the people who did not get to go home have a home and a family here,” said Sandi Cianciulli, a descendant of Geoffrey and Bertha Chipps, two students who survived the school.
“Whenever there is a tragedy and people suffer a loss, they can say, look how lucky inom am, my relatives got to go home, but these kids are here with no family, no one to make sure that they are remembered,” she added.
The cemetery lies at the edge of the Army War College Barracks, visible to commuters passing by on Claremont Road. The
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CIS Cemetery Information
The Carlisle Indian School (CIS) cemetery began in January of 1880, fyra months after the opening of the school, when the remains of two recently deceased students were interred near an existing Army burial ground on the school campus. Between 1880 and 1918, at least 186 individuals were interred in this begravning ground. These interments included Carlisle Indian School students, prisoners of war held captive at the school, and the child of an Indian School teacher. These graves were marked with a combination of wooden and stone grave-markers.
On September 1, 1918, the Carlisle Indian School was closed, and ownership of the nation was formally transferred to the Department of War. At that time, the Carlisle Barracks campus became the site of an Army General Hospital, which later became the Army Medical Field Service School. In July of 1927, building projects on the campus prompted the Army to relocate the cemetery from its original location to its present s
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Carlisle Indian School cemetery project returns remains of 9 children to native tribes
The U.S. Army has finished this year’s disinterment at the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School, with nine sets of Native American children’s remains returned to their tribes.
At a press conference Wednesday, Army officials and scientists said they had wrapped up this year’s project, which involved excavating 11 gravesites of students who died at the school over a century ago.
Of those, nine contained remains consistent with the child believed to be buried there, and were returned to their descendants for re-interment. One tribe had asked for confidentiality, and the Army would not disclose what remains may have been uncovered at that gravesite, or if they were returned to the tribe.
Another of the graves was found to contain remains that were not those of the child listed on the headstone and in school records, and those remains were re-interred and re-marked as unknown.
“Each year it