When after four years of the most careful scrutiny and tutelage the Military Academy at West Point graduates a young man, it assumes that it has absolutely determined his X—that is, has sounded and measured his moral and intellectual depth, and settled his place in any human equation.
It will, therefore, be quite interesting in making our estimate of Gen. Schofield, to examine the label attached to him upon his graduation from West Point in the class of 1853.
At the head of that class was the brilliant James B. McPherson, who was to rise to the command of a corps and then to the Army of the Tennessee, and fall before Atlanta, to the intense sorrow of every man in the army who had come in contact with him.
The second in the class was William P. Craighill, a fine engineer officer, who, however, rose no higher during the war than a brevet Colonel.
The third in the class was Joshua W. Sill, a splendid soldier, who died at the head of his brigade on the banks of Stone River.
The fourth in the class was William R. Boggs, a Georgian, who became a Brigadier-General in the Confederate army and achieved no special distinction.
The fifth in the class was Francis J. Shunk, of Pennsylvania, who went into the ordnance and became a brevet Major.
The sixth in the class was William Sooy Smith, an Ohio man, who attained the rank of Brigadier-General, and who achieved prominence in civil life as an engineer.