Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-06-29
Northern and Southern Scholarship in
West Point Academy Compared.

j" u. RI
Northern and Southern Scholarship in
West Point Academy Compared.
From the National Intelligencer.l
Within the period of forty three years,
extending from 1918 to 1860, the mill,
tary academy sent forth seventeen hun.
dred and seven graduates, of which num-
Der six hundred and sixty-one were ma
tives of the South. Of these forty-three
classes, thirty-three graduated with a
Northern cadet at the head of each, and
the remaining ten classes had each a
Southern cadet as its leader The army
registers bear upon their records the
names of the first five scholars of each
class, and of these one hundred and
thirty.four were born in the North, and
eighty.one in the South The catalogues
do not enable us to give the section from
which the cadets came with absolute ex-
actness, but the figures we have given
are very nearly accurate. And then il
is we'll known that some of the cadets
born in one section appear on the cata-
logues of that section, though, from in
fancy living in ths opposite section, and
claiming that section as their home.
These figures, however, approximate
sufficiently near to the facts to answer
all the purposes of general infereRces
In regard to the comparative standing
as scholars of the cadets, North and South,
all the facts are shown in the annual
catalogue of the Academy, commencing
with 1918, the year in which the rank of
each cadet was first preserved and pub.
lished. For fifty years the standing of
each cadet at the close of each year of
his cadetship is presented in these cata-
logueS, the best scholar standing fire.,
and so in order to the end of the class
Besides this general rank, the catalogue
shows the standing of the cadet in each
branch, and also the number of demerits
which enter into the determination of
the general rank. The data thus pre-.
sented show very correctly the mental
quality of each graduate. From these
records some very interesting questions
receive much light, if not a satisfactory
solution.
1t will be seen that while there was
little more than one third of the whole
body Of the cadets from the South, there
was little less than one-fourth of the
cadets who graduated at the head of their
respective classes from the South. On
the other hahd, it will be perceived that
the South has had much more than one
third of the two hundred and fifteen ca
dets who stood among the five best
scholars of those forty-three graduating
classes. 1t is, therefore, just to say that
the South has furnished her full proper
ton of distinguished scholars among the
West Point cadets throughout the history
of that institution.
There have been conflicting statements
as to the class which graduates the pres
ent year. This class, at the examination
last year, numbered sixty-six members,
of which sixty-three became members of
the class for 1867. Of this number
twelve less than one fifth were from the
South. Ernest II. Ruffner, born in Ken.
lucky, and appointed from Virginia,
stood at the head of his class, as he con.
tinues to do this year. The four next
below him are natives of the North, ex-
cept the fifth, who is native of Wales