The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1857-06-13
THE DAILY DISPATCH
Saturday Mor.ins, Ju ae ~, 1857.


IhE EXERCISES AT WEST PoINT-The exsrci.
ses at West Point, prior to the fnsl examina ton,
are interesting. On Wednesday the cavalry exer.
| ctses took place and were interestin A letter
describing them. says:
In the afternoon, At half past four about half of
the graduating class drilled In the riding hall
In the presence of large number of spec,ators.-
Inc haii Is new. and quite commodious, being
about two hundred feet long by fifty wide. and /,
far superior to any riding Accommodations which
the academy had previous to last year. There ars
two galares ere cted for the accommodation of the
audiences, and though they are hardly as commo
dious ss they might be, they are . great conye.
nience. About half past four the section to be
drledsappeared, equipped for the exercise, and
mounted on the very foe stud OF horses provided
by the institution. They first trotted round the
course In double line. next in single line and then
a fast gallop rushed round the course like
whirlwind. until even the solid stone building
seemed TO shake to Its foundation The wheeling
halt, forming in line and other movements were
performed with great accui acy, and eicited much
admiration
The next operation was a drill In firing and the
sabre exercise, to the INITIATED most novel and
Interesting proceeding. About six feet from the
wall In The centre of the building at either side
were placed standards, bearing a resemb lance
to sallows, the arm of which extended over the
space between the standard and the wall On this
arm was suspended ring, about two or three feet
above ths lead of rider passing under Il. In
line with this were placed other standards, with
heads made Of cloth, supposed TO represent the
heads of soldiers waiting to have them cut off -
Further on were smaller standards with cloth caps
supposed, likewise. to represent soldiers kneeliug
on the ground, while cloth caps on the ground
supposed TO be soldiers lying down, trying to get
out of the reach ofthe sabre The exercises consisted
in riding furously round the course in sections of
four a. time. After riding round once each of the
dragons would level q loaded pistol at one of the
stsndicg soldiers he rode furiously By ad Ere at
him; then returning the pistol to the lobster the
sabre was drawn with the rapidly of lightning, and
q stroke made for the next man, recovering in
time to pose the sabre, and as they dashed by to
carry off The ring on the point All this Is done
with the consumption of less time than IL takes to
relate 1t, and is really very exciting spectacle
This sabres vent through the rings with precision
which would have been slightly diss greeable had
they been aimed at a mans eye, and the stuffed
heads of the imaginary soldiers received thump-
ings which could only have been endured by thens
selves, without even the exception of the thick
skulls of our coored brethren. Human nature
could not stand such usage, as the Irish said with
out falling After rather lengthy continuance OF
this exercise, the order was given to "dismount
and IN less time than il takes to write the word,
the whole troop was on terra frma. At the WORD
"unssddIe the nimble fingers worked Skillfully
for q minute, and soon the troop stood by their
horses having a simple blanket in place OF q sad.
die. At the word mount as many heads as there
were dragons might have been seen bobbing in
the air, aud finally settle quietly on the top Of
ii IN bodies seated on the blankets. The previous
sabre exercise was then repeated. and the class
proved as proficient without saddle or stirrup ss
with theD and the scarecrow men received afo-
ther terrible pummeliing. The grace and ease
with which the class rode the precision of the
craftsmanship, and perfect c0oness displayed
throughout the whole of the exhibition pro-
nouneed exceedingly creditable, and an adequa
result to the vigorous exerton and oful soiiil OF
while pants necessary to the operation.