Post by Elwood on Sept 13, 2023 1:09:21 GMT
By Sally Jenkins
Been reading this lately, almost done. Very impressed. If you’re not familiar with the story of the Carlisle Indians vs the US Army, in 1912 the Indians of Carlisle Institute in Pennsylvania met the US military academy on the football gridiron at West Point. The Indians prevailed over the cadets 27-6. As a kid, I had read about Jim Thorpe so I was familiar with the story. Just a couple of years ago I read the book Carlisle vs Army which is probably the best sports book I’ve ever read. So I was hesitant to pick up this book, the Real All Americans. How could you improve on the story. Turns out they are very different books. C vs A dissects the game itself telling the stories of Thorpe and Dwight Eisenhower who starred for the cadets. In the RAAs, the game only takes a few pages. Over half the book concerns the founding of Carlisle and the man who did it, Richard H. Pratt.
Pratt was an interesting individual. A Union officer in the Civil War, afterwards sent west to deal with the Indian problem. He was in North Texas/Oklahoma territory in 1875. He fought the Indians, saw many of their brutal depredations. He also saw how they were goaded into many of them. He observed the federal reservation system firsthand and spoke out against it until he died. Government inefficiency at best, legalized criminal activity at worst. Indians given diseased or rotting beef or if edible, too little of it. The same with blankets and other provisions. This in turn led to the Indians leaving the reservations which started the whole brutal cycle over again. Similarities to Montana/Little Bighorn are evident.
Pratt wanted the reservation system abolished and in its place, an educational system for the younger generation of Indians. He wanted Indian culture abolished along with the reservations, he felt the only way the Natives could survive was to live and work among the white men. Maybe he was too forceful in his approach but his concerns were just, I feel.
Tho the book chronicles the football teams of Carlisle, The Real All Americans is not really a sports book or story, it is history, and an interesting look at that chapter of the US.
Been reading this lately, almost done. Very impressed. If you’re not familiar with the story of the Carlisle Indians vs the US Army, in 1912 the Indians of Carlisle Institute in Pennsylvania met the US military academy on the football gridiron at West Point. The Indians prevailed over the cadets 27-6. As a kid, I had read about Jim Thorpe so I was familiar with the story. Just a couple of years ago I read the book Carlisle vs Army which is probably the best sports book I’ve ever read. So I was hesitant to pick up this book, the Real All Americans. How could you improve on the story. Turns out they are very different books. C vs A dissects the game itself telling the stories of Thorpe and Dwight Eisenhower who starred for the cadets. In the RAAs, the game only takes a few pages. Over half the book concerns the founding of Carlisle and the man who did it, Richard H. Pratt.
Pratt was an interesting individual. A Union officer in the Civil War, afterwards sent west to deal with the Indian problem. He was in North Texas/Oklahoma territory in 1875. He fought the Indians, saw many of their brutal depredations. He also saw how they were goaded into many of them. He observed the federal reservation system firsthand and spoke out against it until he died. Government inefficiency at best, legalized criminal activity at worst. Indians given diseased or rotting beef or if edible, too little of it. The same with blankets and other provisions. This in turn led to the Indians leaving the reservations which started the whole brutal cycle over again. Similarities to Montana/Little Bighorn are evident.
Pratt wanted the reservation system abolished and in its place, an educational system for the younger generation of Indians. He wanted Indian culture abolished along with the reservations, he felt the only way the Natives could survive was to live and work among the white men. Maybe he was too forceful in his approach but his concerns were just, I feel.
Tho the book chronicles the football teams of Carlisle, The Real All Americans is not really a sports book or story, it is history, and an interesting look at that chapter of the US.