Richard Henry Pratt

Richard Henry Pratt (December 6, 1840 – March 15, 1924) is best known as the founder and longtime superintendent of the influential Carlisle Indian Industrial School at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He is associated with the first recorded use of the word "racism", which he used in 1902 to criticize against racial segregation, as well as the phrase "kill the Indian... and save the man" in reference to the efforts to educate Native Americans.

Pratt was born on December 6, 1840 in Rushford, New York to Richard and Mary Pratt (née Herrick). He was the eldest of their three sons. He contracted smallpox as a young child which left him with facial scarring for the rest of his life. His father moved the family to Logansport, Indiana in 1847. Pratt's father later left his family to take part in the California Gold Rush in 1849 but was robbed and murdered by another prospector leaving Pratt to support his mother and two brothers.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War Pratt enlisted in the 9th Indiana Infantry Regiment. After his first three-month term expired he re-enlisted as a sergeant with the 2nd Regiment Indiana Cavalry and saw action at the Battle of Chickamauga. While on a recruiting detail in Indiana during the winter of 1863-1864 Pratt met Anna Mason. They were married on April 12, 1864. Eight days later he was commissioned as a first lieutenant with the 11th Regiment Indiana Cavalry. He served in administrative roles for the remainder of the war and was mustered out of the Volunteer Service on May 29, 1865 at the rank of captain.

He became a companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States - a military society for officers who had served the Union during the Civil War.

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