Commanding Officers Quarters

In the late summer of 1882 the Carlisle Indian School sought children from Sitting Bull's Hunkpapa band, then held as prisoners at Fort Randall, and the parents said no. The officer in charge reported that the parents of the eligible children did not wish them enrolled. The commanding officer proposed sending them anyway; Richard Henry Pratt, the school's founder, answered that he would rather persuade the families than have the children forced. Colonel George L. Andrews of the 25th Infantry commanded the post until September 15. The letters, August 27 to September 23, survive in the National Archives.

What the plaque says

This is foundation of Commanding Officers Quarters Ft. Randall 1856-1892

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Randall — 3.6 mi
  The ruined stone chapel of an 1856 Missouri River post below Fort Randall Dam, where Sitting Bull and his band were held as prisoners for two years.

More markers nearby

• Fort Randall Map — steps away
• Fort Randall Chapel — steps away
• Marty Mission — 7.8 mi
• Yankton, Sioux, Dakota, Ihanktunwan — 12 mi