The Carlisle Indian Industrial School operated for 39 years, from 1879 to 1918, educating about 7,800 students from over 100 tribes, and it sits at the center of a broader national story about federally funded boarding schools.

Mortality at Carlisle and across government-run boarding schools remains a grave part of the legacy, with a Washington Post investigation estimating roughly 3,100 deaths and experts suggesting the true figure is higher.

In a sign of early dissent, a 1913 petition by 276 students called for an investigation into Carlisle’s conditions, highlighting contemporaneous concerns about the institution.

Recent exhumations and repatriations at Carlisle illustrate ongoing efforts to acknowledge harms, recover Indigenous remains, and restore histories.

Beyond Carlisle, the article notes ongoing exhumations and repatriations of remains across the federal boarding school system, signaling continued reconciliation work.

Across federal schools, 74 burial sites have been identified (53 marked, 21 unmarked), with 65 schools reporting incomplete counts of burial sites.

The identified burial sites—74 in total, including 53 marked and 21 unmarked—underscore the scale of loss within the federal boarding school network.

The piece weaves together institutional impact, mortality, and policy context, anchored by Carlisle and supported by broader national data.

Since 2017, 58 Indigenous remains have been repatriated from the Carlisle Barracks cemetery, leaving 118 graves with Indigenous names and about 20 graves still unidentified.

The story situates boarding schools within a vast landscape—about 526 schools historically, with 417 federally funded and others run by religious groups—highlighting government and church efforts to erase Indigenous identities.

Government costs to operate the schools and pursue related policies totaled about $23.3 billion in inflation-adjusted terms, spanning 1871 to 1969.

A central theme is the policy framework behind the schools, including 127 treaties between the U.S. government and tribes that implicate federal involvement in the program.