Fight For Native Boys' Remains On Army Property Tests Strength Of Landmark Federal Law

Samuel Gilbert and Edward Hensley died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School more than a century ago. The struggle for their remains could have sweeping implications.

CARLISLE, Pa. — On Sept. 7, 1895, a group of 11 children and young adults from the Winnebago, Omaha and Cheyenne tribes arrived in the town of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. They had been sent on their 1,200-mile journey by Capt. W.H. Beck, an Indian agent who oversaw the Winnebago and Omaha tribes at a time when the federal government was breaking up reservation lands.

John Grant, at 12 years old, was the youngest of the group; 26-year-old John Clay was the oldest. Three were orphans.

The group likely wound its way down Garrison Road, following the same route used to provide Carlisle Indian Industrial School with coal. Administrators planned to enroll all 11 youths at the boarding school for five years.

Two of them never left. Today, Edward Hensley’s and Samuel Gilbert’s graves lie within a few feet of one another at a cemetery on the eastern edge of what today serves as the U.S. Army War College and Carlisle Barracks.

The Winnebago Tribe wants their boys back. The U.S. Office of Army Cemeteries wants to send them.