Guide to West Point, and the U.S. Military Academy

by Edward C. Boynton

APPOINTMENT AND ADMISSION OF CADETS.

I.—As frequent inquiries are made in regard to the mode of procuring admission into the Military Academy, persons interested in the subject are hereby informed that application may be made at any time (by letter to the Secretary of War) by the applicant himself, his parent, guardian, or any of his friends, that his name may be placed on the register in the office of the Inspector at Washington. The precise age and permanent abode of the applicant, as, also, the number of the Congressional District in which he resides, must be stated, and no application will be considered wherein these instructions are not complied with. No preference is given to applications on account of priority, nor can any information be communicated as to the probable success of an applicant before the appointments are made.

By an act of Congress, the appointment of a person who has served in any capacity in the military or naval service of the so-called Confederate States is prohibited, and, as a general rule, no person will be appointed who has had a brother educated at the Academy.

By provision of law, each Congressional and Territorial District and the District of Columbia is entitled to have one Cadet at the Military Academy, and no more. In addition to these, the appointment annually of a number, not exceeding ten, "at large," not confined to a selection by Congressional Districts, is authorized. The District and Territorial appointments are made upon the nomination of the member of Congress or Delegate representing the District or Territory at the date of appointment, and the law requires that the individual selected shall be an actual resident of the District or Territory, or District of Columbia, from which the appointment purports to be made. The selections "at large" and from the District of Columbia are made by the President.

Appointments are required by law to be made one year in advance of the date of admission—that is to say, about the 1st of July in each year, except in instances where it may be impracticable, from any cause, so to make them. Persons, therefore, receiving appointments have ample time afforded them in which to prepare for a successful examination prior to their admission.

II.—To prevent the disappointment, mortification, and useless expense that might attend the acceptance of a Cadet appointment by a person not possessing the necessary qualifications for admission, and for the instruction and aid of others, the following information is communicated:

Candidates must be over seventeen and under twenty-two years of age at the time of entrance into the Military Academy; no modification of the law in this respect can be made; but any person who has served honorably and faithfully not less than one year as an officer or enlisted man in the army of the United States, either as a Volunteer, or in the Regular service, during the war for the suppression of the Rebellion, shall be eligible for appointment up to the age of twenty-four years. They must be at least five feet in height, and free from any deformity, disease, or infirmity, which would render them unfit for the military service, and from any disorder of an infectious or immoral character. They must be able to read and write well, and perform with facility and accuracy the various operations of the four ground rules of Arithmetic, of reduction, of simple and compound proportion, and of vulgar and decimal fractions. The Arithmetic is to be studied understandingly, and not merely committed to memory. They will also be required to have a knowledge of the elements of English Grammar, of Descriptive Geography, particularly of our own country, and of the history of the United States.

III.—It must be understood that a full compliance with the above conditions will be insisted on; that is to say, the candidate must write a fair and legible hand, and without any material mistakes in spelling such sentences as shall be dictated by the examiners; and he must answer promptly and without errors all their questions in the above-mentioned rules of Arithmetic and in the other branches: failing in any of these particulars, he will be rejected.

IV.—Every candidate will, soon after his arrival at West Point, be subject to a rigid examination by an experienced Medical Board, and should there be found to exist in him any of the following causes of disqualification, to such a degree as will immediately, or in all probability may, at no very distant period, impair his efficiency, he will be rejected:

1. Feeble constitution and muscular tenuity; unsound health from whatever cause; indications of former disease; glandular swellings, or other symptoms of scrofula.

2. Chronic cutaneous affections, especially of the scalp, or any disorder of an infectious character.

3. Severe injuries of the bones of the head; convulsions.

4. Impaired vision from whatever cause; inflammatory affections of the eyelids; immobility or irregularity of the iris; fistula lachrymalis, etc., etc.

5. Deafness; copious discharge from the ears.

6. Loss of many teeth, or the teeth generally unsound.

7. Impediment of speech.

8. Want of due capacity of the chest, and any other indication of a liability to a pulmonic disease.

9. Impaired or inadequate efficiency of one or both of the superior extremities on account of fractures, especially of the clavicle, contraction of a joint, extenuation, deformity, etc., etc.

10. An unusual excurvature or incurvature of the spine.

11. Hernia.

12. A varicose state of the veins of the scrotum or spermatic cord (when large), sarcocele, hydrocele, hemorrhoids, fistulas.

13. Impaired or inadequate efficiency of one or of both of the inferior extremities on account of varicose veins, fractures, malformation (flat feet, etc.), lameness, contraction, unequal length, bunions, overlying or supernumerary toes, etc., etc.

14. Ulcers, or unsound cicatrices of ulcers likely to break out afresh.

V.—During the months of July and August the Cadets are engaged in military duties and exercises, living in camp. The academic exercises commence the beginning of September. The semi-annual examination takes place in January. At this time the Cadets are rigidly examined in the subjects they have studied, and the new Cadets, if found proficient therein (their conduct having been correct in all respects), will receive the warrant of Cadet, and take such a station in their class as their respective merits, as determined at the examination, may entitle them to. If any have been unable to master the course, they will be pronounced deficient by the Academic Board, and their connection with the Academy will cease.

VI.—It is important that it be clearly understood that this examination, like all subsequent ones, is very thorough—does not permit any evasion or slighting of the course, and exacts a very close and persevering attention to study. The examining officers have no option; they must reject the deficient. The nation sends these young men to the Military Academy, supports and pays them adequately, and opens to them an honorable profession, in the expectation that their best efforts will be given to qualify themselves for the higher duties of the military service. Those who will not, or can not, profit by these generous provisions, should not occupy the places of those who will and can.

VII.—In June there is held the "Annual Examination," which, in its character of searching scrutiny, is like the semi-annual examination in January. Cadets who have failed to make the requisite proficiency, and are not likely to succeed in future, are discharged.

VIII.—It will thus be seen that a person must carry to the Academy a certain degree of preparation; good natural parts; an aptitude for study; industrious habits; perseverance; a disposition to conform to discipline, and correct moral deportment. If deficient in any of these respects, it will be best for young men not to enter the Military Academy, as they will thus avoid the probabilities of disappointment and mortification. Many of those who receive appointments fail, through deficiency in the above particulars, to graduate. But it must not be understood that those who fail to master the scientific course taught at the Military Academy, necessarily incur thereby discredit as regards mental ability, since it is by no means rare for intellects otherwise strong to be averse to mathematical investigation, or study of language.

IX.—The pay of a Cadet is $41.66 per month, with one ration per day, and is considered sufficient, with proper economy, for his support.