The members of the graduating class have their choice of the services to which they shall be appointed according to their standing on the roll in order of merit. The order of precedence of corps of the United States army is: 1, Engineers; 2, Ordnance; 3, Artillery; 4, Cavalry and Infantry; and that is, as a general rule, the order of choice. The Secretary of War may sanction subsequent transfers from one branch of the service to another, but such transfers are very rare.
Beyond the privilege of choice, the only direct inducement held out to distinction among his classmates to any cadet, is one which is purely honorary. By an order from the Secretary of War so early as the year 1818, the five cadets most distinguished in studies and discipline in each class at the June examinations, are published each year in the United States Army Register (Army List). The distinction is highly prized.
The advantages resulting from a degree or peculiar distinction at West Point after appointment to the army, in respect to professional advancement or the obtaining staff employment, are very small. No special qualification is required by law or regulation for admission to the staff. When a vacancy occurs any one who desires may make application for the vacant appointment to the Adjutant General of the army. The decision rests with the Secretary of War or the President. The head of the department in which the vacancy exists is the proper person to insist, if he thinks proper, on the possession of certain qualifications by the officer who is to be employed as his subordinate. Even graduation at West Point is not insisted on as a necessary qualification for staff employment.
Discipline.
Every young gentleman who passes his probationary examination in the January after his admission, receives his warrant of cadet, and signs an engagement to serve in the military force of the United States during the eight years next ensuing. He thus becomes amenable to the articles of War and to trial by court-martial.
The discipline of the Academy has no resemblance to that of an ordinary civil college, but is peculiarly and essentially military. The cadets are required to clean their own rooms, make their own beds, and clean their own arms and belts.
The staff for the maintenance of discipline is distinct from that of tuition. The professorial staff simply report infractions of discipline in study, but have no power to punish. All professors and instructors, however, as well as all military officers who may be stationed at West Point, are expected to report to the superintendent any improper conduct on the part of a cadet which may come under their observation.
The punishments to which a cadet is liable are comprised in the three classes following, viz.:—
1st. Privation of recreation, &c.; extra duty (not guard); reprimands; arrests or confinement to barrack room or tent; confinement in light prison. Inflicted only by the superintendent or by his authority.
2d. Confinement in dark prison. Only by sentence of court-martial, and seldom or never resorted to.