Cadet Life at West Point

by Hugh T. Reed

We had another hour’s drill before breakfast (omitted now), which made us very hungry. Sick call sounded soon after this drill, but while the candidates were all half sick, it was not medicine they wanted, so none of them went to the hospital. Breakfast was at seven o’clock, and after it the candidates furnished the cadets with the customary half-hour’s entertainment before call to quarters sounded. Cadet H⸺d again cautioned us to “bone up” when he inspected quarters about nine o’clock, and said: “The mantel is dusty, and the floor very dirty.” Captain H⸺t, a Tactical Officer of the Army, also inspected us before noon, but he did not say anything. While I had then been only a day at West Point, so much had happened that it seemed an age.

About a week passed with much the same routine as for the first day, except that we had Saturday afternoon, after inspection, to ourselves, that is, such part of it as we were not busy entertaining old cadets, and on Sunday morning we had inspection of quarters, and after this inspection we were all marched to church. On Sunday afternoon we were permitted to make down and air, or use, our beds, and to enjoy lying on the soft side of the boards again. The candidates were all marched to the Episcopal Church, “the” church there at that day. In due time the Catholics and Methodists attended their own churches, but all cadets, except Jewish ones, had to attend some church once a week. After inspection of quarters on Sunday morning, K⸺p became room orderly for the next week. It was then his duty to sweep and dust the room and to carry the water needed for himself, H⸺rd and me. The dirt was swept into the hall to one side of the door, and left there. A policeman, that is, the janitor, swept the halls, carried out the waste water and scrubbed room and hall floors, when necessary. It is wonderful how soon we learned many things, such as to button our coats and spring to attention, palms to the front, at the sound of footsteps in our hall. At first we made mistakes, but we soon learned to distinguish the footsteps of our instructors from those of our fellow-candidates.

There was a story in my day of a gentleman who went with his son when the latter reported as a candidate, and that while Cadets H⸺d and A⸺n were putting the son through his first lesson in the office, the father turned his palms to the front, put his heels together, and otherwise assumed the position of the soldier.

At the first opportunity I wrote home, but I was very careful not to mention the hardships I endured, for the reason that I had gone to West Point contrary to my parents’ wishes, and consequently I was determined to get through if I could. This reminds me, there were young men in my class whose parents had sent them there against the wishes of the candidates themselves, and many of these young men did not want to stay. Competitive examinations required by some Congressmen for appointments were not as common in my day as they are now. Some of my classmates purposely failed on the preliminary examination and West Point is no place for a young man unless the young man himself wants to go there.

One day Mr. B⸺dy, my predecessor, sent for me to go to his quarters. I did not know what new trials were in store for me, as I had never been in any old cadet’s quarters. Mr. B⸺dy invited me to sit down, which I did for the first time in an old cadet’s presence. We talked for a few moments about people we both knew at our native places. He then gave me his “white pants” (about twenty pairs), and said he hoped I would pass the “prelim” so as to be able to wear them, and that I would graduate higher than he would.

The “graduating ball” that year was on the night of June 14th, but as candidates were not expected to attend it, none were present. The next day the graduating class received their diplomas, discarded cadet gray, put on “Cit” clothes, said good-byes and left the Point, to return no more as cadets. We did not know much of the graduating class, but I now remember the names of more men in that class than in any other at the Academy, excepting my own. This I account for from the fact that I was then so much impressed with the importance of a graduate of West Point. In my eyes he seemed to be a greater man than the Superintendent, in fact there was no comparison.

There was a change made on graduating day among the cadet officers. At the next drill Cadet H⸺d appeared with pretty gold lace chevrons on his coat. He wore them on the sleeves of his dress coat, below the elbow, and he was proud to have everybody know that he was a “Corporal” now. I promptly congratulated him, and he said, “Thank you, Mr. R⸺d,” instead of reprimanding me for speaking without having been first spoken to. In a few days more the new second class men put on “Cit” clothes, and left on furlough. It seemed strange to me that these cadets seemed just as anxious to take off the cadet gray as the candidates were to put it on.

Before the departure of the graduates and furloughmen the candidates learned that there were four trunk rooms[11] in the angle of Barracks, one for the cadets of each company. They learned this by carrying trunks from there to the rooms of the graduates and furloughmen. I soon learned that I got along the easiest by saying as little as possible and doing about as I was told. The candidates who talked much or who bragged on what they knew, especially about military matters, had the hardest time. These poor fellows were called “too fresh,” or “rapid,” and, as the cadets expressed it, they had to be “taken down.”

It was a common thing for old cadets to enjoy a call upon candidates after supper and on Saturday afternoons. And it was difficult at first for candidates to become acquainted with one another, as so much of their leisure (?) time was taken up answering questions, standing on chairs, tables and mantels, reading press notices about themselves, singing, and in fact doing almost everything old cadets told them to do. I have heard many cadets when they were “plebes” or “animals,” declare that they would not do so and so, but they always did as they were told, and they were quick about it, too. It is strange what control old cadets have over “plebes.” They never laid hands on candidates except when they yanked them.

We soon discovered that the cadets who found especial delight in being in the society of plebes were generally “yearlings,” that is, those who had themselves been plebes only the year before. But “yearling” instructors[12] seldom deviled plebes in their own squads.