<P> On September 9, the Little Rock School District issued a statement condemning the governor's deployment of soldiers to the school, and called for a citywide prayer service on September 12 . Even President Dwight Eisenhower attempted to de-escalate the situation by summoning Faubus for a meeting, warning him not to defy the Supreme Court's ruling . </P> <P> Woodrow Wilson Mann, the mayor of Little Rock, asked President Eisenhower to send federal troops to enforce integration and protect the nine students . On September 24, the President ordered the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army--without its black soldiers, who rejoined the division a month later--to Little Rock and federalized the entire 10,000 - member Arkansas National Guard, taking it out of the hands of Faubus . </P> <P> By the end of September 1957, the nine were admitted to Little Rock Central High under the protection of the 101st Airborne Division (and later the Arkansas National Guard), but they were still subjected to a year of physical and verbal abuse (being spat on and called names) by many of the white students . Melba Pattillo had acid thrown into her eyes and also recalled in her book, Warriors Don't Cry, an incident in which a group of white girls trapped her in a stall in the girls' washroom and attempted to burn her by dropping pieces of flaming paper on her from above . Another one of the students, Minnijean Brown, was verbally confronted and abused . She said </P> <P> I was one of the kids' approved' by the school officials . We were told we would have to take a lot and were warned not to fight back if anything happened . One girl ran up to me and said,' I'm so glad you're here . Won't you go to lunch with me today?' I never saw her again . </P>

Who escorted the little rock nine to school