The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-10-31
FORTRESS MONROE.
Tho Artillery School and rs rroiossors ana
students-Complaints by oincers'
UNITED STATES ARTILLERY So. IDOL,
FORTRESS MONROE, Oct. "a, l3f>"

sceilik tueSe pubic III general
ignorant OF what the school Il, should like II you
| Will allow me TO explain It In few words The
school was founded few years ago for the nstruc-
ton OF commissioned and non commissioned officers
| OF the artillery. The course Is year and the
students must be necessarily smart, as they have TO
go through In one year what the West Pointers do
IN four, ana II they are 'loundn ut The end or the
year are dsgraced Oh retired" The original idea
was TO have course oil lectures. and have he
| officers take notes. But the professors nnding it
| too lauguing, were kindly allowed 10y certain high
authorizes 10 change the plan aud instead OF tax
ing notes the officers are obliged 10 study IKE school
boys. much To their disgust. Considerable trouble
has been occasioned by IT, and 1t Is Icing agi-
tailed by the War department. Ths, with certain
school, and 1t has reported from the high
thorltles that the oops wiz be ordered away BY the
| last oi November. As certain general wisely re-
| marked, "Maklng school boys out OF men Is on the
same principle us leading horse To water; but The
| Trouble Is you Gait make him drink"
The course Is very nard this year, both to theory
aud practice, and IL Is feared tnat only lew WA
come up 70 me marx as there seems 10 be tnro,.-
| tent mat great many onicers refuse TO recite.
BALTIMORE, Oct "a 1870.
| TO THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD
| Sm-As the columns OF your journal are ever open
| to make known the grievance OF class OF men
who. In a time OF need, served the country faith.
fully and WE'LL let me ask you TO give place In your
paper to this account OF the injustice done TO the
volunteer appointments in the artillery at the Artn
1 lery School at Fort Monroe, Va.
IL may be OF interest to the country to know what
has become of some OF its late defenders and what
they are doing In their old age Republics are not
| always ungrateul.
| At Fort Monroe, Va, Is garrison OF six COM
| panies OF artillery, making an aggregate of over
| I'VE hundred men ana officers Five Of these COM
| panes belong to the school, the other company to
the post The captains OF the i've companies Of the
| school are permanent detail, and, with
| two field officers OF artillery ana the conf
| handing oficer, attended by superannuated
Sc ond lieutenant as post commissioner. and first
lieutenant as chief ordnance sergeant, constitute
the head and front OF this low, disgusting farce,
| which Is carried on for the ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF
| military sycophant, much to the delight OF oil the
officers OF the permanent detail, who do not like to
"sufler and to serye' far from post where "ptch
clubs" and billiard tables abound aud where they
| cannot live In quarters gorgeousy furnished from
| rebel mansions during the slate unpleasantness.'
And these are The pampered menals who have
undertaken, apparently on their own responsibility,
the task OF purging the artillery OF all officers from
the volunteer service who are not scientific enough
In their attainments to be consolidated with the
| ordnance corps Such Is their avowed purpose
which they were bold enough at one time to declare.
and their every measure Is taken with view to the
end TO be accomplished ut 1t is not the general
opinion at the present time that the s0-called artillery
school receives more than a sort OF Quast-recogni-
ton from the headquarters OF the army.
In the OF justice and right let us hope that II
does not. Hitherto IL has been SO far recognized
that all OF the rst and second Iieutenants OF the ve
companies OF artillery have been relieved each year.
for the last two years. and their places supplied by
new detail OF two lrst and two second lieutenan!s
for each company unless some OF those at the
school during the preceding year were pronounced
deficient by the STAFF OF the artillery school, In
which event they were subjected 70 another year OF
accumulated ut Fort Monroe when their services are
| demanded elsewhere.
The course oil study consists OF algebra geometry
| trgonomety, surveying Hamley's Operations OF
War;" International law and ordnance and gun
nery-taking IN this latter book much that is omitted
at the Military Academy. These. In addilon to the
only rational part OIL the course, consisting OF
outposts, make up course OF study that II is impos
PIE Io1 ,sese Officers to get much Of an thea Of "
study day and night during the whole or that time;
reached an age wien it is extremely Glcut TITO 10
bring the mind back to the old SChoolboy habits of
Sc r. Ss way ps e ssf se Of msh or
teaching at West Pointj, or the subject OF mathe-
in Benton's ordinance and Gunnery." And some
| OF them perhaps have never known what algebra
| was ana still less do they know or understand
| what mechanics and chemistry have TO do with the
| subject OF ordnance and gunnery The Rotations
\ continue TIL torty-tye minutes past twelve r. NJ and
| all have to remain In the recitation room the entire
three hours rn's was Kept up during the hot sum
mer months, and still continues, and is To continue
through the Christmas holidays aud up TO the list
| OF April. So the commissioned officers OF tile army
are here treated worse than boys at school, worse
than CADETS ut the Academy for they are not gwen
! any summer vacation or Christmas leave The
OF study. AT the end OF the year. II all the class are
pronounced proficient, they receive q sort OF bob
| tailed certificate, dubbed o ''dploma.- Those who
are pronounced deficient are retained second rear
TO repeat tue nauseating dose And II at the end OF
the second year iaey are sim UNEQUAL 70 the
course ,, Of stu, study, against the day o.
tired wholly on the evidence OF men who have
already prejudged them. Now all this is an outrage
the officers appointed from the volunteer service
| VINO received their commissions the reward for
their gallantry displayed on many hard fought
! education at the governments expense. they nave
1 fought side by side with graduates on many bloody
what they to day. and nave hitherto shown them
| selves equal to any emergency. the manner in
which this school Is conducted at present sub
versive OF all discipline, and destructive Of all good
| feeling between graduates and those not graduates
in the artillery. This state OF AFFAIRS could
| fishing q "practical school OF artillery and
has been brought about by the subversive,
unjust and arbitrary course or an incompetent
handing oflicer, whose conduct calls loudly for in.
! vesgation and rebuke There Is bal feeling exist
ing at the artillery school, aud II Will be easy Tor its
source to be found by investigation II the artillery
school Ii to continue II will have 10 be under other
management than the present, and IN accordance
with due order If any good is TO be accomplished.
And 1t is to the Secretary of War; the friend OF the
army, the man OF large and liberal minded views,
that all eyes are turned. In his address to the
graduates OF West Point this year General Belknap
declared that the written history OF the nations
is filled with the gallant actions Of citizen sol.
diersr Never were truer words spoken than these,
uttered under the very shadow OF the Academy
aud the '.ctzen soldiers have right TO expect
that the confidence reposed in General Beknap is
not misplaced EX-BREVET
TIE WRONG MAN IN THE RIGHT PLACE