United States Military Academy West Point - Howitzer Yearbook (West Point, NY)

Page 19 text:

in Et lla at nun fl 11-. -. ,. fm I I 5 ,af- e ' ' hi' yi ..,. - if P 31-' --' ' 'W ' 4 n is A ' ' I '- 1-r s' iw fs-t , - -' , li 'QL 5 1 ' ' 5 i ' Ni , 2 , hifi ' 3? 'WC ' Ka. 11' ' : V 6 -qi '.- . .': - -- -. Q ra- . xi Wea- r- lag 1.11. 61 ,s z 3 N ,fi - QTL-. , ,7if ., j, Q- rg, Vg, 3. ,X ' ' 'N P 'lf A. .. f' , . . I ' ' -4 .. .. ua., N.. ...,. ,.,. -,,, XL I ,.,.. ... .... .. ,. ..- --'- 1... M.. vlS ' is l I H55 . , H ERP v-7 I S'- Y at '1 ia 3 l THE OLD CHAPEL ship at the Point, young men who had fought through every battle of the Armies of the Potomac, or of the West, some of them as commissioned officers. There had come, in the uniform of a sergeant-major, one of the friends of my boyhood whom I had left two years earlier across the Potomac' at Chain Bridge. There had come one who, it was known, had held the rank of captain and assistant adjutant-general of volunteers. There were others of whom it was said that they, too, had held com- missions, though they themselves were reticent. One fine fellow had been the color sergeant of his regiment in the famous assaults on Vicksburg. Another, from Iowa, had won distinction during the siege by covering and capturing single-handed a little party of the enemy in an outwork. I could never find it possible to devil men like these whose careers and campaigns I envied. One chilly evening, late in the fall, the cadet officer-of-the-day, Pirate Vose, and the corporal of the guard, my humble self, were chatting in front of the coal fire in the guardroom when there came a knock at the door, and, as it swung open, there stood revealed a young officer in the dress of the cavalry. Instantly Vose and I sprang to attention and faced him at the salute. Even in that instant I noted the elegance of his uniform, and the grace and dignity of his bearing. He was one of the handsomest fellows I had ever seen, and I wondered who he could be. The next moment he had lifted his forage-cap, bowed gracefully, and in the soft accent of the I8

Page 18 text:

7x N . ! Street across two sentry posts, 6 and 1, across the dusty Cavalry Plain until lost in the depth of the ghostly old hollow. The belated arrivals-the so-called Seps -arrived as usual in August, and the whole corps was on the qui vive to watch the Commandant rise at early morn and discover that during the night two of these new comers had been put to bed in his sacred ioihce. An oddly assorted pair they were, a short Kentuckiian and a long New Yorker, land a squad of mischief-loving yearlings had skipped across sentry post in the dead hours of the night: had tiptoed into Cadet barracks, where the newly arrived were segregated, had bidden these two take up their beds and walkg marched them over to camp, and noiselessly rolled them in their blankets in the Colonells marquee, bidding 'them stir not till they should come againg then roused everybody in camp to tell of the splendid joke they had on the Com- what fun it would be to watch him bristle up at reveillef' and could hardly sleep a wink the rest of the night for thinking of his amaze and indignation. ' Get those Septembers back where they belong, was all the Commandant ever said on the subject. He had just got word that his exchange was effected, and nothing else could matter. VVe began our studies September lst, with the news that many we loved were dead and gone and the Army falling back again on XVashington. Vlfe lost one noble Cadet Captain-Townsend-by typhoid before we were through September, 'VVe it 'li ' r- f RYE : .al E2 5 all Ill , 27:33 le ft -, ,A a - w ' i : 'X we W. N: f ii - 2: 1 rr -qw 5 5 - - f . ,-i t vt - -iff u h? 15 22 11 : s-.' -- at-:-:,,. .. .- . t -w -M ' -- Q 4. .- F' gg- 1 'f t, ex.,-.,.,.-..ugl.i f L' 1i .a,9 1 , 'Q W-at iff -L rin nr, tg, 7 ,I K i. M---ff A --Q ME, ,. qqir.-i--t X 1 +1 :: vH, iff:-.-,,1.9Sf , .. see T ' ., , . 5 . I , . ,. sv ' --- f--- -------4---,1------ ,E fwg' H , ., ,... ...., - .4-.-.. ' tar.-L' ' ' 4' at K- '- its ,WL .l 53 '2 L FQ.. 1 - lost our great Adjutant-Twining- by order, soon thereafterhand Thanksgiving was a sorry festival. lhfe lost three classmates long weeks before mid-winter exami- nation, by special order, as hopelessly delicient mentally-and anotlier went, by invitation, some months later as equally lacking morally. Wfe had no sports, no games, no exercise but drills and fencing. Baseball and footballuhad never then been seen at the Point. Wfe had no gymnasium proper, though a dark space under the f'Academic had been floored with tan bark and supplied with rings, swings and parallel bars, but no one ever seemed to dust them off. The snows fell and blanketed the plain: the Aice formed and fettered the noble river: Christmas came, and the Corps had turkey, and, served in square tin pans, a curious compound they called mince pie. There should have been added a Uday off in which to digest it-with the list of casualties at Fredericksburg. A dozen of us took heart and tried to make calls on New Year's Day, and were met with the tidings that Bragg had beaten Rosecrans in Tennessee-that Sill and Garesche were killed. It was bitter cold that winter, yet in the low shoes of the regulations, and thin white cotton gloves, and slow time every inch of the way, we made frequent marches to the cemetery and hred straggling volleys with frozen fingers over our soldier dead. How long it took to thaw out afterwards! January examinations sliced off a few of our number, and they hardly seemed sorry to go. Then '63 was fairly ushered in, and the tide of battle soon began to turn. There had come a revival of hope since the Mississippi fran unvexedf' and the great invasion of Pennsylvania had closed forever, The Corps itself was growing in membership, Congress had authorized the President to fill, from the young volun- teers at the front, the vacancies left by the temporary absence of many fighting cadets. Then there were queer happenings. There came as plebes, to begin their apprentice- I7 -

Page 20 text:

i tgirl: . ummm fl 'QF HAZ xXx :gg 9 .. - EE V-lilg. j'l::em:.ta'g: IQ va -' 4 1 lil. wsllil , 1 1- 2, 1 ' ' Pl. .. . .f. re' .. . ...W Y lv M f . 1 4 V ., . '51, , ,- . fs' 1 wr ' ' 't ,f x-Z V I .. 54x ,E F3 . . ,. .,,, gi f. X 1 1 I Y x 'til ' i.ff'l E, ' ' 'Z . 2 HY. . Y . L ff , ,, gtg! T i-J A N 9- I N I r .X - 1 ffm' . ,e 15 U .i r 'wily if ala: a-Q, ,, r g w 1 5- 5 331-:1.-. 'A EP , ,c fiiagiff., ' '1 1 i W z: -f , . 1-I ' lf H t i -. , vii.:-s 'llll T, - 1 . . . .,,,. .-.. -. ,.,. ... ..,,, ....,, , ..,,,. L W, ,. . ,,A,,, .,.,.,,,, ,.... .. . . , -, Ili I K a w . 4 ' South, addressed us: Pardon me, gentlemen, I have only just come from the army, and am ordered to report here as a new cadet. Then, one November day, came the worst stroke that Fate ever dealt the Class of 'G6. Wfithout warning appeared an order from Secretary of Wai' Stanton, that no cadet should leave on furlough unless he could certify that he had never harrassed nor molested a fourth classman. This was the original orderg it was later modihed so that any man might receive his furlough by making a written statement of all he knew concerning hazing cases. This was worse, for i-t split the class. There were men who had done little or no hazing, and who were determined to spend their fur- lough with the armies in the field. On the other hand, there were seventeen men who had agreed to sign no statement, under any conditions. So the class arrayed itself in two factions, there were misunderstandings and recriminations, a bitter fight or two, and then the inevitable breach. But that was laterz In the meantime, we settled down to' an utterly cheerless winter. War prices had soared steadily higher and higher. WVhen we entered in '62 our shoes cost less than three dollars the pair, and our uniform coats of durable Char- lottesville cadet gray cost less than twelve dollars. In '64 the shoes were six dollars, the Charlottesville cloth couldn't be had for love or money, outside of the Confederate army. VVe,rvere paying treble rates for inferior goods. The whole Corps was in debt. Out of his dollar a day, every cent he then received, the cadet had to pay for his board, barber, bath, bedding, belts, bootblack, band, books, clothing of every kind, gas, stationery, etc., etc. In fact he got nothing free but his arms, his room, his tuition and medicine. Now, the authorities had to shut down on the issue of items for which the Corps could no longer pay, and for the hrst time in VVest Point history the cadets were bidden to seek help from home. But many had no one to aid, and as a consequence, that dreary winter and until mid-spring, by which time Congress had come to the rescue, more than one-third of our membership were excused from all militaryduty as being shoeless and in rags. Men made caps by utilizing discarded shakoes, cutting them down and roofing the frame with oilskin. Pillow cases were made to do duty as shirts, armless, of course, but cadet collars and cuffs were then attachments of the coat, not of the under garment. Some men, indeed, Wore no shirt except the woollen undervest. The food at the mess hall, previously abundant, though never'good. had gone from bad to worse. The purveyor swore it was the best he could get with the money allowed, and though we did not believe, we submitted. But, take it by and large, conditions at the Academy that winter of the war were more lamentable than ever we heard of in its past. It was probably in- sympathy with conditions generally throughout the land. Q And still the grind of study, the routine of call to quarters, taps, and reveille, went remorselessly on, and in the general depression there resulted someof the wildest pranks ever played in the shadow of barracks. Night after night the spirit of devilment found vent in unearthly clamor and uproar. A favorite scheme was to lug big bucketsful of six and twelve-pound cannon shot and lignumvitae bowling balls, and send them thundering down the iron stairs and through the resounding corridors. Another was to raid what there was of a gymnasium, and blockade the hallways with wooden horses, desks and benches from the recitation rooms-empty 19