soon after it opened. The first group of inspectors, some 40 Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota chiefs representing nine Missouri River agencies, visited Carlisle in June 1880. Others tribal leaders followed. Before tribal delegations returned home, they usually spent a few days in Washington where they received the plaudits of government officials for allowing their children to participate in the Carlisle experiment. Some tribes initially consented to sending their children to off-reservation boarding schools, but many were skeptical of the school system and its intentions. Many tribes did not believe the promises of the schools, scarred by the genocidal tactics of the U.S. government. Once students were in school, communication with home was virtually cut off. Letters from parents were left unsent by Indian Agents, and parents were not notified promptly when their children died. Although the Civilization Fund Act of 1819 required parental consent for children to be sent to off-reservation boarding schools, in practice children were regularly forcibly removed. The practice of forceful removal was justified because native parenting practices were seen as inferior to mainstream white parenting styles. John S. Ward, a United States Indian Agent, explained that "The parents of these Indian children are ignorant, and know nothing of the value of education... Parental authority is hardly known or exercised among the Indians in this agency. The agent should be endowed with some kind of authority to enforce attendance. The agent here has found that a threat to depose a captain if he does not make the children attend school has had a good effect." Ward reiterated the United States government's self-appointed position as a patriarchal ward over natives. The government seemingly felt that they were a parent justifiably forcing a childlike nation to do what was best for them. The denial of native parental rights was finally legalized in 1891 and led to the mass forced removal of native children. It wasn't until the 1976 Indian Child Welfare Act that the forceful removal of native children from their parents ended. American Horse Oglala Lakota Chief American Horse was one of the earliest advocates of 'western' (Euro-immigrant) education for Native Americans. While recruiting at Pine Ridge Reservation, Pratt met strong opposition from Red Cloud, who distrusted white education yet had no school-age children himself. American Horse "took a lively interest" in what he had to say. He was a tribal leader and head of a large household