His four years' experience would, if fully told, fill a large volume, but this brief recital is all that can be hoped for.
If the cost of publication is not met by the nominal price charged for this pamphlet, the satisfaction of preserving the record in print will compensate for any loss sustained by the
Two Friends.
August, 1904.
REMINISCENCES
my return in May, 1860, from a six months' leave of absence spent in Europe, I found an appointment as professor of chemistry and commandant of cadets in the University of Alabama awaiting my acceptance. During my absence the President of the University and a committee of the Board of Trustees visited West Point and the Virginia Military Institute and, pleased with the discipline of both institutions, decided to adopt the military system, and applied to Colonel Delafield, then the Superintendent at West Point, for an officer to start them. Col. Delafield gave them my name but was unable to say whether or not I would resign from the army. I was then a first lieutenant of artillery; and, as such, was on the rolls of the garrison of Fort Sumter.