It was invented by Pratt, a cavalry officer who became an Indian sympathiser and set up the first boarding school to help them integrate into white society (which were then came to be infamous for being "racist", ironically).

In 1875, Captain Richard Pratt escorted 72 Indian warriors suspected of murdering white settlers to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida. Once there, Pratt began an ambitious experiment which involved teaching the Indians to read and write English, putting them in uniforms and drilling them like soldiers. "Kill the Indian and save the man," was Pratt's motto.