| Summary: | After passage of the Civilization Fund Bill, vocational schools were set up east of the Mississippi River and Indian students were subsidized to attend these schools. In 1872, as a part of President's Grant's "Peace Policy," Indian agencies were assigned to church groups which assumed responsibility for nominating agents. As a part of this process, church groups were given denominational appointments the result of which today gives rise to the existence of various denominations existing on the reservations. The reception to these missionary groups was mixed. However, it was the boarding school movement which followed in the aftermath of the Indian resistance in the southern plains in the 1870s that had the most devastating impact on Indian cultures. Their intent was to civilize, Christianize, and assimilate the Native American. This Euro-American approach was to "kill the Indian and save the man." The fundamental features of boarding school included the "3Rs", instruction in English only, rigid military training stressing patriotism and citizenship, control of behavior through penal restrictions, rudimentary industrial training, arduous manual labor and Christianization.8 In 1818, Catholic missionaries established a mission school at Pembina settlement. This school served mostly Metis children.9 Turtle Mountain Reservation In 1830, Father George A. Belcourt, a missionary who had worked extensively among the Indians and mixed bloods in Canada, came to the Turtle Mountains. Father Belcourt transferred his activities to North Dakota to devote his time with the Chippewa in the Turtle Mountains and those at St. Joseph's, present day Walhalla and Pembina. In 1848, Father Belcourt reestablished the mission school at Pembina, the building included a convent and school. In 1886, donations from Miss Catherine Drexel, benefactress from Philadelphia, provided funds for the erection of additional buildings, which housed 116 girls and 73 boys.10 This mission school bumed down in 1910. Unable to find financial help, the school was abandoned and was not rebuilt until 1935. The Turtle Mountain Reservation was established by Executive Orders in 1882 and 1884. The schools on the Turtle Mountain Reservation followed a basic pattern similar to other reservations with the following two exceptions: 1) the events occur much later since the Turtle Mountain Reservation was not established until 1882, and 2) the majority of the schools were almost all Catholic run. The first federal school built on the Turtle Mountain Reservation was constructed in 1895. Three log schools were built. They were replaced in 1905; one at Roussin school, named after the man who donated the land, one south of the main community, and one at the Belcourt Agency. With a growing population of school age children and limited educational facilities on the reservation, children were sent to a variety of mission schools away from the reservation. " St. Michael's Mission on the Fort Totten Reservation, run by the Grey Nuns, accommodated many Chippewa, as did the Fort Totten Industrial school, Bismarck Girls School, 470 Chapter 9 Education
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