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freely admit that it is a specimen of engineering most wonderful for a boy of twelve. It indicates a tendency to supplement physical weakness by head work. To my mind, it is one of the most significant incidents related of his boyhood. It strongly foreshadows a disposition not to be thwarted by trifles; a precocious superiority to mere obstacles, which, when fully developed, might be expected to overcome those difficulties which are pronounced insurmountable.

CHAPTER II.

EDUCATION.-WEST POINT.

[1838-1846.]

N exchange from the stagnation of Point Pleasant to the animation, parade, and etiquette of West Point, must have been a memorable era in the life of young Grant. By such instruction from Nature, and such training in the schoolroom, as I have indicated, he had prepared himself to pass the rigorous examination of the Academic Board in the primary branches of learning; while his perfect physical health and development defied the most scrutinizing tests of the surgeons of the post. He entered the Military Academy in June, 1838; and his first experience of martial life was in the licensed squad-drill to which the pleb is subjected by the remorseless company officers of the cadet battalion, and in the unlicensed hazing with which the new recruit is ruthlessly disciplined during his first season in camp. At early dawn, he is marched to and fro with the awkward squad, over that famous plateau, to the monotonous "One, two, one, two, " which so frequently breaks upon the morning nap of the guest at Roe's; and he may esteem himself fortunate if he is not rushed up

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the rugged road to Fort Putnam, at double-quick, on an empty stomach. When drill is dismissed, he betakes himself, with assumed composure, but with real anxiety, to the ambushes, surprises, flank-movements, attacks in front and rear, which the senior cadets are preparing for him in the camp.

Life at West Point, though attractive in its mere external aspects, is still more so in its internal relations to the mind and character of the national élève. He learns there self-control and obedience, which are no despisable attainments, either for the man or the soldier. With a course of study so difficult that it tasks all the strength, and so varied that it addresses every faculty of the mind, the student has only to be faithful to himself and his opportunities, and he may acquire that extreme degree of mental control which enables its fortunate possessor to turn the whole force and volume of his intellect, with equal facility, upon any subject and in any direction. Self-sacrificing patriotism is imbibed in the atmosphere, and fostered by all the associations, of the national school; and the genius of the place, its history, trophies, mementoes, fire the spirit, and magnetize the soul.

The daily routine of cadet-life is somewhat monotonous. Drill and study are the accustomed order, relieved only by the evening dress-parade, the inviting ramble through scenery charming alike by natural beauty and historic interest, the " Board of Visitors," annual encampments, graduations, and hops. Martial law governs this military post; and it is an efficient curb upon habits of irregularity and dissipation. Temperance and continence, within its jurisdiction,

forfeit their place as virtues; for they are enforced upon the young soldier by inexorable necessity. Even a stolen visit to Benny Havens, a rollicking song by stealth, the smuggling-in per steamer of contraband packages, under the pains and penalties of a court-martial, are too excruciating substitutes for genuine sport to be very seductive.

Grant encounters the severe exactions of the WestPoint course with no preparatory education worthy of the name. "Hasten slowly" was written on his forehead early in life; and those who knew him best expected from him a persistent rather than a brilliant scholarship in the intellectual exercises of the institution, and decided superiority only in the practical departments of military instruction. Both expectations were justified by his career as a cadet. Abstract mathematics, topographical engineering, and the science of war, were conquered by his characteristic tenacity of will. Practical engineering succumbed with less difficulty; while infantry, artillery, and cavalry tactics were easily mastered.

He passed with éclat that "bridge of sighs," the first examination, and all the subsequent ones with no dishonor; earning successively the rank of corporal, sergeant, and commissioned officer of cadets. It is no small test, both of physical and mental prowess, to graduate at West Point. Feeble intellects yield to the severity of the studies, and feeble bodies to the hardships of the drill. Genuine attainment only, can stand the searching ordeal of its four annual examinations; and the rules and regulations in regard to deportment and behavior are so trying to the careless

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buoyancy and undisciplined spirit of youth, that a diploma upon any terms should be regarded, not as a mere ovation, but a triumph. When we consider that the untutored boy from the woods sustained himself in every trial of a class from which seventy were dropped; that he attained to the rank of twenty-one in a graduating class of thirty-nine, thus distancing threescore and ten who entered the race, and winning over eighteen who finally came to the goal; when we consider, also, that he never lost position or forfeited class-rank by demerits, we must yield to him the credit of more than ordinary capacity and subordination.

The class of 1843 was led by William B. Franklin, who earned the grade of major-general by distinguished service in the recent civil war. Among its members were Christopher C. Augur, who served with the same grade in the Department of the Gulf; Rufus Ingals, Grant's devoted quartermaster in the Wilderness campaign; Frederick T. Dent, his future brother-in-law and aid, both in his campaigns and in the War Department; and most fortunate of all, because his immortality is assured, Joseph J. Reynolds, who gloriously surrendered up his life in that terrific struggle under Seminary Ridge, on the first of Gettysburg's crowning days.

The first order which issues to the graduating cadet may send him to some embryo territory in the West, and impose upon him at once the important duties of civil administration; or it may despatch him to the frontiers, within cannon-shot of a foreign flag, where he may be called to adjudicate, upon principles of public

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