Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1885-08-27
WEST POINT.
THE NATIONS MILITARY
SCHOOL.
THE
Interesting Facts Concerning this Insiitpz
-. iisAz One OF it
Professors, who is n Ten
nesseean.

. .
of Knoxville, and one of the professors
at West Point. We make room for the
following extracts, which we believe will
be OF interest to some OF our readers:
AT the beginning of the rebellion (1S61)
there were ,249 living graduates of the
academy. OF this number s21 were in
the army and 42S in civil life OF the
S2l in the army 1874 joined in the rebel
lion and 627 fought for the government
and 10 took neither side. At the begin.
ming of the war there were $50 graduates
in the army who were born in or appoint
ed from slave territory, and this number
was nearly equally divided between the
two armies; 1862 were in the Union army
and l6S in the confederate. 1t is thus
seen that of the graduates in the army at
the beginning of the war 1S61) only
about onetifth QS4 joined the rebellion,
and all of these were from slave territory
except sixteen. OF the 428 graduates
who were in civil life in 1861 there were
90 WHO Joined the rebellion. all Of whom
were ffom slave territory except one; zoe
remained loyal and 81 were not known
about. OF the graduates who fought for
the government one-fifth laid down their
lives and nearly one half were either
killed or wounded in defense of their
country. Of more than $4,000 officers
who fought on the two sides this list of
1,249 furnished the names of Grant and
Lee, Halleck and A. S. Johnston, Sher.
man and Joseph e. Johnston, Sheridan
and T. j. (StonewalD Jackson, George
III. Thomas and Longstreet, Mcclellan
and Beauregard, Rosecrans and Bragg,
Hooker and Ewell, Fitz Hugh Lee and
Custer, and host of others of great re-
nown. Since the founding of the acade-
cradTa1{gest d1g stY0 N. out of every hundred of the
service, and these nearly; 'fafffrd affrd tof from the
military offenses, such as are often over
looked in civil life. The average annual
cost of the academy has been about equal
to that of one squadron of cavalry, and
its entire cost since its foundation has
not equaled the outlay of the nation for
ten days during the last year of the re-
bellion. With the facts given above,
who can, in honesty, doubt the useful
ness of the academy.
The first graduate of the military
academy from Tennessee was A. j.
Donelson, of the class of 1920. The
State of Tennessee has altogether furnish
ed 80 graduates, an average of but little
elusive, Tennessee sent I68 fcahdidfaStes 10
the academy, and OF these 48 failed OIL
the preliminary examination and 33 were
rejected at subsequent examinations, SO
that only % Tennesseeans have graduated
in the last seventeen years. OF the forty
eight States and territories eight have
made worse showing since the war than
Tennessee. During the same seventeen
years Vermont has sent 16 candidates, Is
of whom were admitted and IA graduated
In the same time. Colorado and Dakota
have each sent four and they have all
graduated. Of all the candidates sent to
the academy since 1867 there have been
rejected on preliminary examination:
From the States which seeded AZ per
cent
From the. New England States % pei
cent
From the Central States % per cent.
From the Western States 90 per cent.
From the Pacific States 30 per cent.
Each congressional district and eacf
territory in the United States is entitled
to have one cadet at the academy, and ht
/ is selected by the. congressman of thu
district. The President of the United
States is by law allowed to have ten cG
diets at the institution. The law requires
| the appointments to be made a year be
fore time for entrance For admission
| the candidate has to pass an examination
in reading and writing, arithmetic, Eng
| lish grammar, geography and history
especially of the United States. 1t j
thus seen that the requirements for ad
mission are very moderate. Except II
reading, the examinations for admission
are all in writing, and each candidate ha
exactly the same questions. The candi
dates are known only by numbers to tn
examiners until after their proficiency G
deficiency is decided. 1t is thus see
that the entrance examinations are as in
partial as it is possible to have them-ye
partiality is often charged.
** y
After admission, the cadets are require
to pass two examinations each year unt
graduation. At all these examination
the same efforts at perfect fairness al
made, but of necessity the cadets are nov
known to some of the examiners, and til
affair is not so impersoLal as the entranc
examination. However, no cadet can b
declared deficient without an eItende,
written examination, and all cadets Q
the same class have exactly the same c.,
animation to determine deficiency, and IL
papers are again filed to justify the actio
of the examining board. The cadets wb
pass all the examinations for four yea
are admitted as second lieutenants in Il
, army. While at the academy they a
not officers, nor are they enlisted mel
but simply cadets. They may resig
either before or after graduation. II
following is an extract from the report &
the board of last June.
"The truly remarkable feature of IL
military academy is that with these
, uuirements for admission (neither alg
bra nor geometry being expected) so muS
: work can be done in the period of foJ
, wears. During this time not only is n
. extensive field of learning covered, b,
: the firm foundation of moral charactt
! is laid. The proportion
! instructor to students at the milital
! academy is very much greater than
i other educational institutions, but ii
: precisely this proportion that makes {.
excellence of the academy and renders
possible to take boy who only know
the rudiments of English, history a.
arithmetic, and in four years to turn h.
out at least a fair mathematician anil
fair engineer, afaithful public servant.
e The departments of instruction at u
Q academy are conducted by the acader
e board aud their assistants The acal
mic board consists Of seven permapi