The attention of applicants and candidates is called to the following provisions of an Act of Congress approved May 17, 1886, to regulate the promotion of graduates of the United States Military Academy:
That when any cadet of the United States Military Academy has gone through all its classes and received a regular diploma from the academic staff, he may be promoted and commissioned as a second lieutenant in any arm or corps of the Army in which there may be a vacancy and the duties of which he may have been judged competent to perform; and in case there shall not at the time be a vacancy in such arm or corps he may, at the discretion of the President, be promoted and commissioned in it as an additional second lieutenant, with the usual pay and allowances of a second lieutenant, until a vacancy shall happen.
ACADEMIC DUTIES
There axe two terms of academic instruction: September 1-December 23, and January 2-June 4. A semiannual examination is held December 26-31, and an annual examination June 5-12. At the December examination cadets, who are found to be proficient in subjects they have completed during the preceding term are arranged according to merit in each subject. At the June examination they are similarly arranged and they are also assigned general standing in the class as determined by their standings in the various subjects. When a subject of study is completed during a term an examination concluding the work in that subject is sometimes held. Cadets deficient in studies at any examination are discharged from the academy unless for special reasons the academic board recommends otherwise. Cadets exceeding at any time the maximum number of demerits allowed for six months are reported to the academic board as deficient in conduct.
THE ACADEMIC CALENDAR
First term, September 1-December 23.
Second term, January 2-June 4.
Semiannual examination, December 26-31.
Annual examination, June 5-12.
DEPARTMENT OF TACTICS
ALL CLASSES
New cadets, upon reporting for duty, are given infantry recruit instruction, with gymnastic and calisthenic exercises, until they join the battalion.
Practical instruction is given during the summer encampment, and from September 1st to November 1st, and from March 15th to June 1st, in infantry, artillery and cavalry drill regulations, in target practice with the rifle, revolver, mountain gun and field gun, and in military engineering.