DEVELOPMENT OF INSTRUCTION AT WEST POINT.
1. Down to 1802, the instruction of the Cadets attached to the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers stationed at West Point, according to Act of Congress (May 7th, which was all that repeated recommendations of Washington and other experienced officers could obtain), was confined to military drill and practical exercises in common with other members of the Corps; but as that Corps was made up of the scientific officers of the army, and as military works were in construction under their plans and superintendence, these exercises were of great practical value, and the appointment of these Cadets in 1794, and their gathering at West Point, may be regarded as the nucleus of the Military Academy.
2. The Military Academy, established with that name, by Act of March 16, 1802, in pursuance of a Bill reported in 1800, by the Committee of Defense in the House of Representatives, of which Harrison Gray Otis was chairman, and to which an elaborate report of the Secretary of War (James McHenry, of Maryland), had been referred—consisted of the Corps of Engineers, which by the Act was organized distinct from that of Artillery, and could not exceed in officers and cadets, twenty members. The Corps was stationed at West Point, and its officers and cadets were subject to duty in such places as the President should direct. The principal engineer was made superintendent, and down to 1808 he was instructor in fortifications, field-works, and the use of instruments. Two officers of the rank of captain, appointed without previous military experience, but with special reference to their knowledge of mathematics, gave instruction in that branch, “one in the line of geometrical, and the other of algebraic demonstration.”
In 1803, two teacherships—one of the French language and the other of Drawing, was attached to the Corps of Engineers, and in 1804, F. De Masson was appointed to discharge the duties of both.
In 1808, the basis of the Military Academy, so far as related to the number of Cadets, was enlarged by the addition of two for each new company of Infantry, Riflemen, and Artillery, added to the military force; and the number in the Act of 1812, is limited to 250, which with the ten originally attached to the Corps of Engineers, fixed the strength of the Cadets at 260.
By the Act of April 29, 1812, the Corps of Engineers was enlarged, and was again constituted the Military Academy, and in addition to the teacher of the French language, and Drawing, provided in Act of Feb. 28, 1803, one Professor of Natural and ExperimentalPhilosophy; one Professor of Mathematics; one Professor of Engineering in all its branches; and for each an Assistant Professor taken from the most prominent characters of the officers or cadets, are provided for; and for the purposes of military instruction, it is ordered that the students shall be arranged into companies and officered from their own members, to be taught all the duties of a private, non-commissioned officer, and officer; and for instruction in all matters incident to a regular camp, shall go into camp for at least three months of each year, and erecting buildings and providing apparatus, library, and all necessary implements, the sum of $25,000 is appropriated. By this act the minimum of age is fixed at 14, and the literary qualifications of candidates on entering are to be well versed in reading, writing, and arithmetic.
I. GOVERNMENT AND ORGANIZATION.12
A militaryofficer, not usually below the rank of colonel, is appointed by the President of the United States assuperintendentof the Academy, who has supreme local control over both the studies and discipline of the institution. He renders all prescribed returns, and addresses his communications to theinspector.
Theinspectorof the Academy is an officer of rank in the army named by the Secretary of War, who has his residence at Washington, and through whom all general orders relating to the Academy are transmitted to the superintendent at West Point. He makes an inspection of the Academy at least once in each year.13
The general staff of the Academy consists of an adjutant, a quartermaster, a treasurer, one surgeon, and two assistant surgeons.
Although the system of the Academy as regards the training of the cadets both in and out of study is peculiarly and rigidly military, the staff of instruction is separate from the staff of discipline.
Military Staff.
The cadets are organized into a battalion of four companies.
Thecommandant of cadets, usually not under the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the army, exercises the immediate command of the battalion. He is also,ex officio, principal instructor in infantry, artillery, and cavalrytactics(signifying drill).
Under the commandant are sixassistant instructors of tactics, viz.—one for artillery; two for infantry; one for cavalry; one for artillery and infantry; one for infantry and cavalry. The four senior of these officers command the four cadet companies respectively; the two junior officers being always available to perform the routine duties of the others in case of absence. The assistant instructors must be officers of the army.
The battalion is provided with a full complement ofcadetofficers, and non-commissioned officers, who are appointed by the superintendent from a list submitted by the commandant of cadets.
To each company are appointed
1 Captain,3 Lieutenants,1 First Sergeant,3 Second Sergeants,4 Corporals.
1 Captain,
3 Lieutenants,
1 First Sergeant,
3 Second Sergeants,
4 Corporals.
The battalion staff consists of
1 Adjutant,1 Quartermaster,1 Sergeant Major,1 QuartermasterSergeant.
1 Adjutant,
1 Quartermaster,
1 Sergeant Major,
1 QuartermasterSergeant.
The cadet companies are composed indiscriminately of the four classes into which the students are divided according to their respective years of residence, the period of residence being four years for all.
The cadet officers are taken from the first, or senior class; the sergeants from the second class; the corporals from the third class. The selection is not made with special reference to proficiency in study. Those are selected who have manifested the greatest military aptitude and respect for discipline in their own conduct; althoughcœteris paribussuperior standing in study would be decisive.
Staff of Instruction
The general superintendence of the studies is exercised by the superintendent, acting with the Academic Board. The immediate staff of instruction is as follows:
The Academic Board consists of the Superintendent, the Commandant of Cadets, the Professors of the Academy, and the Instructors of Practical Military Engineering, and of Ordnance and Gunnery.
All the professors and instructors, with their assistants and acting assistants, have been educated at West Point, with exception of the chaplain, the professors of French and Spanish, and the sword master. All are regularly enrolled in the military service of the United States, and subject to military discipline.
Professors and Assistants.
The professor or chief instructor in each branch is responsible for the efficiency and uniformity of the system of instruction in his own department. To this end he has no special class or section assigned to him for tuition. His time is devoted to general superintendence, and is chiefly spent in visiting the halls of study of his assistants. He does, however, take the instruction of the different sections, each in their turn, as he sees fit, and occasionally assembles all the sections of his department for lecture.
The assistant and acting assistant professors or instructors are always appointed from among officers on the full pay of their regiments who have graduated at the Academy, on the recommendation of the professor or chief instructor of the branch in which there is a vacancy to be filled. These assistants are carefully selected through means of the data of their proficiency, temper, and general character, afforded by their record of four years’ residence as cadets. They are, thus, all of them previously well known to the professors to whom they are to act as assistants, and to whom they are naturally inclined to defer from old associations.
The term of duty at the Academy of the assistant and acting assistant professors and instructors is fixed at four years, at the end of which period they return to regimental service. Duty at the Academy is obligatory on every officer who may be selected for it, and is considered as part of the general service which every officer who has graduated at West Point, owes to the country; practically those only are selected to whom the duty is not disagreeable.
Admission
Each congressional or territorial district of the United States (i.e.each district entitled to return a member to Congress), is by law entitled to have one cadet receiving education at the Academy.
The nominations are made in each year by the Secretary of War, on the recommendation of the representatives in Congress of the several districts then unrepresented at the Academy, or whoserepresentatives are about to quit the Academy. In addition to these, the President of the United States may nominate ten cadets in each year, to be selected according to his own will and pleasure, from the community at large.
The number of vacancies at West Point in any one year varies according to the number of cadets who happen to complete their period of residence, and of those, who, not having completed their term, are yet discharged as deficient in studies or discipline, as hereafter explained. The number of yearly admissions varies from 50 to 70.
The date of admission in each year is the 1st of July, and the candidate for admission is required to report in person to the superintendent before the 31st of May, with a view to his qualifications being tested. But if sickness or any other unavoidable cause should interfere, he may present himself on the 28th of August. Except at the two periods above named, no admissions can take place.
Candidates must be over 17 and under 22 years of age, except in the case of any candidate who may have served faithfully as an officer or enlisted man in the army of the United States, either as a volunteer or in the regular service during the late civil war, who may be admitted up to 24 years of age.
Candidates must be at least five feet in height; free from any deformity, disease, or infirmity which would render them unfit for military service; and from any disorders of an infectious or immoral nature. They must be able to read and write well, and be thoroughly versed in the first four rules of arithmetic, in reduction, in simple and compound proportion, and in vulgar and decimal fractions.
Although the examination for entrance is not difficult, the prescribed tests, both medical and intellectual, are rigidly applied, and many candidates are rejected.
The examination for entrance is not competitive, but simply a qualifying examination. The competitive system commences after a cadet is once admitted; it enters into every branch of instruction, and continues in full force to the end of his residence.
Subjects and Course of Study.
The length of the course of study, for all who may succeed in graduating, is four years; its nature, after the first year, is principally professional, and the course of study is identical for all the students. The subjects are not all studied simultaneously, separate periods of the course being devoted to certain subjects, as shown by the time tables annexed.
The relative importance of the different subjects is indicated bythe maximum marks of merit assigned to them respectively, at the summing up of the results of each student’s attendance at the end of his fourth year, according to the following scale:—
Practical instruction in surveying; in fortification; in ordnance and gunnery, including the loading, pointing, and firing heavy guns; in drill, or, as it is termed, the tactics of the three arms; in interior economy and regimental duty; forms an important part of the training of the cadet at different periods during his residence. In addition, the months of July and August in each year are entirely devoted to practical instruction, the battalion being then placed under canvas and relieved from all study.
During his first year a cadet receives instruction in fencing three hours in each week, from 10th October to 1st April.
During his second year he receives instruction in riding three hours in each week, from 1st November to 15th March.
Throughout the whole of his third academic year, from 1st October to 1st July, he receives instruction in riding, excepting between the 1st February and 15th April.
Throughout the whole of his fourth academic year he receives instruction in riding, three days in each week.
Swimming is not taught at the Academy. There is a good gymnasium for the use of the cadets in recreation hours, but the practice of gymnastics is purely voluntary.
Classification for Instruction.
The cadets are ranged in four distinct classes, corresponding with the four years of residence. Cadets of the first year constitute the fourth class; those of the second year, the third class; and so on. Cadets are promoted from one class to another at the end of the academic year, 30th June; provided only that they shall havepassed satisfactorily before the Academic Board in the examinations which are always held during June, failing in which, they are either kept back in their then class for another year, or, in the case of decided deficiency, discharged from the Academy.
Each class is divided into sections convenient for instruction in the different branches of study. The method of division will be best explained by taking the fourth or lowest class as an example.
The members of the fourth class are, on their admission to the Academy, arranged in alphabetical order, and are then formed into sections, averaging about 12 cadets for each branch of study. After the lapse of a month, transfers are made at the close of each week from one section to another, according to the results of the past week’s attendance in study, and so continue until those most advanced are found in the first section; the next in order, in the second section; and so on.
During the first six months of residence, cadets are on probation, and only receive theirwarrantas cadets, provided they shall have passed satisfactorily at the January examinations held before the Academic Board, and that their conduct shall have been satisfactory.
Before receiving hiswarrant, each cadet is required to sign an engagement of service in the United States army for eight years, and to take an oath of allegiance to the National Government and Constitution.
The hours allotted to study are divided nearly equally between attendance on the instructors in the halls of study—orsection rooms, as they are termed—and independent study in quarters. The attendance in the section rooms is termedrecitation; the independent study in quarters,study.
The theory is, that during each recitation, every cadet of the section attending it, shall receive a thoroughviva voceexamination illustrated on the blackboard, and there is not much practical variation therefrom. Where there is any departure from it, it arises from the number of cadets in a section being too large to enable them all to be examined during the same recitation, which lasts an hour and a half, or an hour, according to the subject. Recitations in mathematics, in natural and experimental philosophy, and in civil and military engineering, occupy one hour and a half; in all the other branches of instruction, only one hour. Thus, when it appears in the time table that a class attends mathematics, for example, from 8 to 11, it is to be understood that the sections forming one half of the class attend their respective teachers in the section rooms during an hour and a half, while the other half of the classis engaged in study in quarters. At the end of the first hour and a half those sections which have attended recitation return to their quarters to study, while their places are taken by the remaining sections which have been up to that time engaged in study in quarters.
Each teacher, as a general rule, has two sections specially assigned to him for instruction, excepting the professor or head of each department who, as has been already explained, devotes his time to general superintendence, and takes the different sections for his personal instruction at such times and in such order as he may judge best.
Before proceeding to the section rooms the different sections parade in the barrack square by sound of bugle, under the superintendence of the cadetofficer of the day; the roll is then called by the senior cadet, who is termed thesection marcher, who reports absentees to the officer of the day, and marches his section off to the section room by direction of the latter. Arrived in the section room, the section marcher causes the cadets to take their seats in the order of their names on the roll, and then hands them over to the instructor. When dismissed by the instructor, the section marcher forms his section as before, marches it back to the barrack square, reports all infractions of discipline which may have taken place either in study or on the march to the officer of the day, and then dismisses his section by the latter’s permission.
There is no system of private tuition recognized at the Academy. Each cadet must depend on his own exertions, aided by the explanations given by the instructors in the section rooms, and by the occasional assistance he may derive from his more advanced comrades.
The allotment of so large a portion of time to independent study is a great departure from the practice of military schools in Europe; and it is a remarkable feature in the West Point system that no continued supervision is exercised over the cadets when studying in quarters beyond that which is supplied by the discipline of the cadets themselves. The senior of the two cadets inhabiting each room is responsible for discipline and orderly behavior. The officer of the day (cadet) visits each room during the hours of independent study; and theofficer in charge, who is detailed daily from the assistant instructors of tactics, also visits the rooms at his discretion.
Routine of Daily Work.
A full-dress parade of the battalion takes place every day at sunset, after which the cadets are marched to supper, the hour of whichvaries with the season of the year, but is never earlier than 5.30 p.m. Half an hour after supper the evening call to quarters is sounded for study in barracks until tattoo at 9.30. All cadets excepting officers, the non-commissioned officers of the battalion staff, and the first sergeants, must be in bed and their lights extinguished at 10 p.m., the hour for the signal ofTaps.
The arrangement of time on Sundays is as follows:
Breakfast at 7 a.m.Full-dress parade and inspection at 8.Call to quarters forstudy in barracksat 9.Church call at 10.30.Recreation after church.Dinner at 1 p.m.Recreation.Call to quarters for study, 3 to 5 p.m.After 5 p.m. the arrangement of time is the same as on a week day.
Breakfast at 7 a.m.
Full-dress parade and inspection at 8.
Call to quarters forstudy in barracksat 9.
Church call at 10.30.
Recreation after church.
Dinner at 1 p.m.
Recreation.
Call to quarters for study, 3 to 5 p.m.
After 5 p.m. the arrangement of time is the same as on a week day.
Cadets may obtain leave from the Sunday afternoon study in barracks to attend church a second time, should they desire it.
There is no yearly vacation. When a youth enters West Point, he is fixed there, unless discharged, for four years without intermission, with the exception of two months’ furlough which he may obtain at the end of his second year on certain conditions, and which is subject to a scale of diminution graduated according to misconduct.
This discipline would be intolerably severe but for the relaxation afforded by the change from barracks and the section room to camp life. The battalion is encamped from about 20th June to 30th August, and during that period the time is exclusively devoted to military exercises, practical instruction, and amusement.
Proficiency in Study—Examinations.
The system of estimating proficiency in the different subjects studied is very elaborate. Each instructor keeps daily notes of the proficiency of the cadets forming the sections of which he has the charge; the degree of excellence shown by a cadet at any recitation being recorded by marks, 3 being the maximum for each lesson, which representsthoroughproficiency; 2.5 signifiesgood; 2fair; 1.5tolerable; 1very imperfect; any thing below 1 is recorded as 0, or complete failure.
A weekly report showing the daily credit of each cadet and the aggregate for the week, is handed in by each instructor to the professor or head of his department at the end of the last study on Saturday, and the professor personally delivers the weekly reports of his department to the superintendent at the office of the latter between the hours of 12 and 2 p.m. on the same day. The professorat the same time recommends such transfers of students from section to section as he may think proper. The aggregate weekly credits of each cadet in all the branches of instruction are then recorded in the superintendent’s office.
From the weekly class reports, and the monthly record of discipline, a consolidated report of the progress of the Academy is made up monthly and forwarded to the inspector of the Academy, who transmits an abstract of the same to the parent or guardian of each cadet.
The weekly class reports form the most important element in determining the relative standing of the cadets in their class at the period of graduation, but a verifying test, or corrective, is supplied by the examinations which take place in January and June, the method of conducting which is as follows:
The January examinations commence on the 2d of the month. The examination of the 4th or lowest class is conducted by the whole Academic Board, the constitution of which has been already detailed. The relative standing of the members of the fourth class, up to that time arranged alphabetically, is then determined by the summing up of the weekly class reports, verified or corrected by the results of the examination. A large proportion of the cadets of the fourth class, usually from one-sixth to one-eighth of the whole, are yearly pronounced to bedeficient, and removed from the Academy at this their first examination, which on account of its importance is required to be conducted by the whole Academic Board. The examinations of the three other classes take place before committees of the Academic Board, the whole Board being divided into two committees for this purpose.
The June, orannualexaminations, commence on the first of the month. The first or graduating class alone is examined by the entire Academic Board, and the final relative standing of the cadets determined. The remaining classes are examined before the two committees of the Academic Board.
The June examinations take place in the presence of theBoard of Visitors, the members of which are specially appointed in each year by the President of the United States, and whose duty it is to report to the Secretary of War, for the information of Congress, on the state of discipline, instruction, &c., &c., of the Academy.
The senior assistant professor or instructor of the branch under examination isex officioa member of the Academic Board or of the committee thereof which conducts such examination; and the immediate instructor of the section to be examined is likewise associatedwith the Board or its committee so far as relates to the examination itself and the arrangement of the section in order of merit.
Classification according to Marks.
To assist the Academic Board in determining the accurate classification of any section about to be examined, the immediate instructor of that section hands to the Board, before the examination commences, a roll in the order of merit in which he considers the members should stand, based on the weekly credits which he had himself assigned.
At the close of the examination the same instructor hands to the Board a second roll in the order in which he conceives the members of the section should stand, judging by the result of the examination. The instructor then retires and the Board proceeds to deliberate.
Each member of the Board having kept careful notes of the examination, the relative standing of the cadets of a section in proficiency is determined by discussion.
The question next arises, who, if any, are to be pronounceddeficient?—a dictum which inevitably entails discharge from the Academy, or putting down to a lower class.
The different sections composing the class, having been arranged in one class list in order of merit; one of the Board, usually the professor of the department concerned, supposinge.g.the class to consist of 50 members, may move that No. 50 be declared deficient. If the motion is negatived on discussion, the salvation of No. 50 proves also the salvation of all standing above him. But if the motion be carried, Nos. 49, 48, 47, &c., may be pronounced deficient in like manner, and so on, until a number is reached which is not condemned.
The examinations are entirelyvivâ voce. Each cadet is subjected to a searching oral examination of from seven to ten minutes, illustrated on the blackboard where the subject admits of it. The daily record of the proficiency of a cadet in any subject forms, as already stated, by far the most important element in fixing his relative standing among his classmates: it is only exceptionally that the public examinations alter materially the order of merit which has been previously framed from the weekly class reports.
At the close of each examination the Academic Board reports to the Secretary of War the names of all cadets who are pronounced deficient in studies or discipline, to be discharged from the Academy unless otherwise recommended by the Academic Board.
The rule of discharge for deficiency, even in one solitary subject,is very rigidly enforced; unless where exceptional circumstances, such as loss of time on account of illness, or having been unavoidably prevented from joining the Academy until some time after the rest of his class, induce the Board to recommend that the cadet shall have another trial by being put back to the next lower class.
Some detail is necessary to explain how the marks obtained by a cadet at the daily recitations are employed to determine the credit he is to receive in any given branch of study at the period of his graduation.
Where a subject is studied for two years, the maximum time allotted to any branch of study, the marks gained during the first year help only to fix a cadet’s relative standing in his class for the year next ensuing. The credits shown by the weekly class reports of the second year alone are taken into account in determining the credit due to a cadet at the end of his residence.
The exact method of fixing the credits due for any one subject is as follows. The professor makes out a roll of the class in the order of merit finally fixed by the Academic Board at the June examinations. The first on the roll then receives credit for the maximum number of marks allotted to the subject; the last on the roll receives a credit of one-third of that maximum only. Thecommon differencefor all the members of the class between those limits is then calculated, and the remaining members receive credits varying from the first cadet and from each other by the amount of that common difference. The figures thus determined represent the credits assigned for any one subject at the period of graduation, and the figure of general merit for each cadet is made up of the aggregate credits obtained by him for all the branches of study, with one column included for discipline.
Proficiency in drill or riding does not affect the figure of general merit, except indirectly. Inattention or carelessness at these exercises would be noted by a certain figure of demerit, and would thereby diminish, as will be hereafter explained, the credit to be allotted for discipline at the final examination.
Graduation.
The qualifications required for obtaining an appointment to the army are simplygraduation, or in other words that a cadet shall have passed through the four years’ course at the Academy without being founddeficientin any one branch of study or in discipline. The proportion of cadets who fail to graduate is very considerable—nearly one-half. The present first class is a fair sample. It numbered74 on entrance, and its members are now only 39, and of these three had belonged to the next higher class, and were put back for deficiency. From 1842 to 1852 the exact proportion who succeeded in graduating was 0.510. From 1852 to 1862 the exact proportion was 0.523.
Although the ultimate consequences of idleness in being declareddeficientat the half-yearly examinations are generally sufficient to insure diligence, an immediate penalty is attached to any adverse report against a cadet for want of attention to study, or any misconduct in the recitation halls. The instructor of any section notes on his weekly class reports any cases of decided idleness and all infractions of discipline, and to each reported instance a double penalty is attached, as to every instance of misconduct at the Academy; the one immediate, in punishment according to the scale of the offense; the other prospective, consisting of a certain figure of demerit, which will rise up in judgment against the delinquent at the end of his residence, and diminish his credit fordiscipline.
Thecertaintyof the penalty which attaches to idleness, both in the immediate punishment it entails, and its more serious ultimate consequences, is found to be sufficient, as a general rule, to attain the desired object; hence the character of the cadets for diligence is decidedly high.
The members of the graduating class have their choice of the services to which they shall be appointed according to their standing on the roll in order of merit. The order of precedence of corps of the United States army is: 1, Engineers; 2, Ordnance; 3, Artillery; 4, Cavalry and Infantry; and that is, as a general rule, the order of choice. The Secretary of War may sanction subsequent transfers from one branch of the service to another, but such transfers are very rare.
Beyond the privilege of choice, the only direct inducement held out to distinction among his classmates to any cadet, is one which is purely honorary. By an order from the Secretary of War so early as the year 1818, the five cadets most distinguished in studies and discipline in each class at the June examinations, are published each year in the United States Army Register (Army List). The distinction is highly prized.
The advantages resulting from a degree or peculiar distinction at West Point after appointment to the army, in respect to professional advancement or the obtaining staff employment, are very small. No special qualification is required by law or regulation for admission to the staff. When a vacancy occurs any one who desires maymake application for the vacant appointment to the Adjutant General of the army. The decision rests with the Secretary of War or the President. The head of the department in which the vacancy exists is the proper person to insist, if he thinks proper, on the possession of certain qualifications by the officer who is to be employed as his subordinate. Even graduation at West Point is not insisted on as a necessary qualification for staff employment.
Discipline.
Every young gentleman who passes his probationary examination in the January after his admission, receives hiswarrant of cadet, and signs an engagement to serve in the military force of the United States during the eight years next ensuing. He thus becomes amenable to the articles of War and to trial by court-martial.
The discipline of the Academy has no resemblance to that of an ordinary civil college, but is peculiarly and essentially military. The cadets are required to clean their own rooms, make their own beds, and clean their own arms and belts.
The staff for the maintenance of discipline is distinct from that of tuition. The professorial staff simply report infractions of discipline in study, but have no power to punish. All professors and instructors, however, as well as all military officers who may be stationed at West Point, are expected to report to the superintendent any improper conduct on the part of a cadet which may come under their observation.
The punishments to which a cadet is liable are comprised in the three classes following, viz.:—
1st. Privation of recreation, &c.; extra duty (not guard); reprimands; arrests or confinement to barrack room or tent; confinement in light prison.Inflicted only by the superintendent or by his authority.
2d. Confinement in dark prison.Only by sentence of court-martial, and seldom or never resorted to.
3d. Suspension; dismissal with privilege of resigning; public dismissal.Only by sentence of a garrison or general court-martial, which must be approved by the Secretary of War.
“Breach of arrest” is treated as a military offense of the worst nature, and is classified with “mutinous conduct.”
All offenses are classified under five heads, and are recorded according to the following scale:
All offenses reported or to be reported against cadets, are read out at evening parade on the day after commission, excepting offenses in the section rooms reported by the instructors, which are read out on Monday evening’s parade; so that every cadet may have the opportunity of presenting a written explanation, or plea, in extenuation, of the offense charged against him.
The commandant of cadets attends at his office, in the square of the cadet barracks, between the hours of breakfast and the first study every morning to receive reports of offenses.
Explanations in writing, on paper of prescribed uniform size, may be taken to the commandant by any cadet charged with an offense not later than the commandant’s second orderly hour after publication, as a general rule from which any departure requires to be explained.
If the commandant considers the excuse satisfactory, he erases the offense and tears up the excuse, but forwards an abstract of all offenses which have not been explained to his satisfaction, with the written explanations, for the decision of the superintendent.
The superintendent may, on further inquiry, find the explanations of some of the offenses forwarded satisfactory, in which case he erases such offenses. To the remainder he allots such immediate punishment, and such marks of demerit in addition, as the cases respectively justify; or he may consider the demerit marks sufficient without any immediate punishment.
Thus the offenses of which a cadet may be guilty during his residence are recorded against him by a very elaborate and just method, and rise up against him at the period of his graduation. No instance of carelessness or inattention to orders is too trifling to be taken notice of.
If any cadet has more than 100 demerit recorded against him in any six successive months, he is immediately discharged from the Academy as deficient in discipline.
But during the first year’s residence, offenses count one-third less than those committed during the subsequent three years; a cadet of the first year would therefore only be discharged as deficient in discipline who had obtained a demerit of 150 within any period of six successive months.
The marks of demerit of all the fourth class cadets who have not proved deficient in discipline, are wiped out entirely at the end of their first year, and do not therefore affect their relative standing at the period of graduation. The demerit of the first year is only taken into account, so as to determine, in combination with thecredits received for progress in study, the relative standing of the cadets in their class for the year next ensuing.
At the final examination, the credit to be allotted to any cadet on the score of discipline is made up by means of the demerit rolls as follows.
Each cadet receives a credit of 16.67 for every month during his residence, in which he has had no demerit recorded against him, to be deducted from his aggregate marks of demerit at the end of his residence. The monthly credit is fixed at 16.67, because that number forms the sixth part of the 100 marks of demerit, which if recorded in six months against any cadet would have occasioned his discharge.
Notwithstanding that the demerit marks of the fourth class are wiped out at the end of the first year, and do not count against the cadets at their final examination, the credit of 16.67 is still allowed to cadets for every month of their first year in which no demerit was recorded against them and deducted from their aggregate marks of demerit at the end of their residence.
The positive marks of merit for discipline due to any cadet at the end of his residence are thus determined. The cadet of the graduating class having the lowest aggregate demerit recorded against him is placedfirstin discipline, and is credited with the maximum of marks due to that subject, viz., 300. The whole class is then arranged in the same sense, the cadet having the highest demerit being placed last, and receiving only one third of the maximum, viz. 100. The common difference between these limits is then calculated for each cadet of the class, and applied as already explained.
Although the nominal value placed on discipline is represented by the same number of marks only as are allotted to each of the more important branches of study, in fixing the relative standing of cadets at their final examination; it should be remembered that no candidate can reach that period at the Academy who is not fairly well conducted. It would be quite impossible for any cadet to remain at the Academy who had earned for himself the sentence “deficient in discipline,” even though the marks of demerit required for that sentence might have been earned by a succession of minor infractions of discipline. And a cadet who might be guilty of any serious willful offense would be at once removed from the Academy.
Owing to the very limited time allowed for recreation, games are almost unknown; and almost the only athletic amusement indulgedin is boating on the river, for which, however, Saturday afternoons afford the only available time.
No difficulty is found to arise from the difference of age among the cadets in maintaining an uniform system of discipline. The same rules are applied to all during the whole period of residence.
The cadet officers and non-commissioned officers greatly assist in maintaining discipline. A daily abstract of offenses show that out of 15 offenses recorded therein, 11 were reported by cadet officers or non-commissioned officers.
The daily duties are assimilated as much as possible to those of a battalion in quarters, and are as follows:
The officer in charge, detailed daily from the assistant instructors of tactics, is responsible for the proper performance of all the military duties of the battalion during the day. His tour of duty commences at guard mounting (7.30 a.m. in barracks, 8 a.m. in camp); at which time he reports for orders to the commandant at the office of the latter. He has an office adjoining that of the commandant where he must constantly be present fromreveillétotaps(the signal for putting out lights at 10 p.m.), except when absent on duty or at meals. He is present in the cadets’ mess hall during all meals, and superintends every parade and roll call. He visits the sentries at his discretion. On being relieved, he includes in the usual morning report of his company, all offenses which may have come to his knowledge as having occurred during his tour of duty.
The officer of the day, is detailed usually from the roster of the cadet officers, although every cadet of the highest class is appointed at least once to perform this duty. He is present at guard mounting and receives his guard in the usual military manner, after which he reports for order to the commandant and is generally under the orders ofthe officer in charge. His post of duty is the guard room, which is in the same building as, and immediately beneath, the offices of the commandant and the officer in charge. He causes all calls to be sounded at the proper time; is present at all parades and roll calls; and receives reports of all absentees, whom it is his duty immediately thereafter to seek and to order when found to repair to their respective duties unless properly excused. He reports to the officer in charge all absentees whom he may not be able to find, and all cadets who fail to obey his orders. He directs the formation of all the class sections before marching to the section rooms; receives reports of absentees from the section marchers, and requires the latter to march off their sections in a proper military manner. He is responsible for the suppression ofall irregularities in quarters or their vicinity during his tour. He visits the quarters during the hours of independent study and receives reports of absentees. He visits all the quarters atTaps, and reports absentees to the officers in charge. He afterwards visits the room of every cadet absent every 15 minutes until the return of the absentee, or until otherwise directed by the officer in charge. On the back of the guard report which he forwards next morning to the commandant, he records all offenses which come to his knowledge as having occurred during his tour; and presents with it all permits and passes that have come into his hands, all of which are required to be deposited with him. The officer of the day is relieved from study during his tour of duty.
Daily Guard.—A cadet guard, consisting of one sergeant, four corporals, and 24 privates, is mounted every morning at 7.30. The cadets of the guard remain in the guard-room during the day, excepting the hours of study.
Sentriesare posted during the hours of recreation, the most important posts being the different entrance halls of the cadet barracks. Ten minutes after thecall to quarters, during the day on Sundays, and every evening, it is the duty of each such sentry to visit all the rooms belonging to his particular entrance hall. He then orders all cadets whom he may find visiting in rooms not their own to their proper quarters, and reports all who fail to comply promptly with his orders to the sergeant of the guard, as well as all absentees; and the sergeant of the guard passes on all such reports to the officer of the day. A sentry similarly reports every irregularity that may occur on his beat, and particularly the name of any cadet who may have absented himself from the barracks for more than ten minutes. A high sense of the honorable confidence reposed in a sentry seems to be generally entertained; and there is every reason to believe that the cadet sentries at West Point perform their duties in a trustworthy and satisfactory manner.
The general duties of the battalion are assimilated as much as possible to those of a battalion in quarters. The daily detail of duties is drawn up by the cadet adjutant. The cadets for guard are detailed by the first sergeants of their respective companies at each evening parade, and the daily routine is in this respect as nearly as possible the same as that of military life.
There is no yearly vacation; and the furlough which each cadet may obtain at the end of his second year is subject to the following conditions, viz.:—