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THE
SERGEANT MAJOR.
541. THE sergeant major is the ranking non-commissioned officer
of the regiment: he is appointed by the regimental commander. Each
regiment in service is entitled to one sergeant major, and the nine
new regiments of infantry are allowed one to each battalion. His pay
is twenty-six dollars per month, an allowance of clothing, and one
ration.
542. The sergeant major assists the adjutant in the performance
of his duties; he makes the de-tails for guard, fatigue, &c.
under his direction parades them, verifies the number required from
each company, and sees that they are properly equipped for the duty
for which they have been detailed.
543. He superintends the clerk, and assists him in making out the
various returns, rolls, and reports required, and in keeping the
books and records of the regiment.
544. He keeps the roster of the sergeants and corporals and of
the various details for guard, fatigue, detachments, &c., and is
responsible that these duties are equally required from the various
companies.
545. He generally keeps the time at head-quarters, and sees that
the musician detailed for the purpose at head-quarters sounds the
calls at the proper time.
546. At orderly call, he returns the morning report books to the
first sergeants, gives them the orders for the day, and furnishes
them with the details required from their respective companies for
the morrow. The orders, to be copied in the company order-book, are
also furnished them.
547. In the absence of a drum-major or principal musician, the
musicians of the companies are controlled and directed by him, and
he attends to their instruction. He sees that they attend practice,
and that they do not absent themselves without authority.
548. He keeps their roster for the various duties of orderly,
guard, fatigue, &c. Should there be a regimental band and no
authorized leader or drum-major, he performs a similar duty as in
the case of company musicians.
549. The sergeant major attends at guard-mounting, taking post in
front and on the right of the line on which the guard is to form,
facing to the left. As each first sergeant marches his detail upon
the line, and having brought it "to
rear open order," and "right
dress," he receives the
report from the first sergeants, "all present," or, so
many sergeants, corporals, or privates "absent." He then
verifies the reports of the first sergeants, after which the
sergeant major brings his sword to a "present," and
reports, "Sir, the guard
is formed, all present," or,
so many sergeants, corporals, and privates "absent." The
adjutant then gives the command "front,"
and the sergeant major takes
post two paces on the left of the guard, and the guard, mounting,
then proceeds as prescribed in Regulations.
550. At dress-parade, the sergeant major posts the left guide or
marker, and, after all the companies have formed, he takes his post
two paces on the extreme left of the regiment. When the guard or
regiment marches in review, the sergeant marches on the left of the
guard or rear platoon, two paces, or on the left of the rear company
or platoon.
551. The sergeant major should be a model soldier for the rest of
the regiment in his dress and military deportment. His example and
punctual requirements of duty go far towards influencing a proper
discipline in the regiment. If a due regard for the merits of the
non-commissioned officers of the regiment is maintained, he will be
the first to succeed to a commission in the regiment.
THE CADET.
552. THE United States Military Academy is located on the west
bank of the Hudson River, about fifty miles from New York City. It
is maintained and supported at the Government expense, and is under
the direction of the Chief of the Engineer Corps. The superintendent
is an officer selected from the Engineer Corps, with the local rank
of colonel. The commandant is taken from the line of the army, with
the local rank of lieutenant colonel. The professors of the
different branches are permanently located at the Academy. The
superintendent, commandant, assistant professors, and instructors
are taken from the officers of the regular army, and continue on
duty at the discretion of the War Department. It is, however, the
custom to relieve them, at the end of four years service, by other
officers.
553. The students, called cadets, are appointed by the Secretary
of War, on the nomination of the member of Congress of the district
or the delegate from the Territory from which the cadet is
appointed. Each Congressional district or Territory, and the
District of Columbia, is entitled to a representative. The President
is authorized to appoint ten at large, without reference to
districts; and he also makes the appointment for the District of
Columbia
554. The appointments at large are generally given to the sons of
distinguished officers of the army and navy who have been killed or
died in service. This rule is, however, not implicitly observed.
555. Candidates are required to be between the ages of sixteen
and twenty-one years, physically sound, and of good moral character
and habits. They are allowed the same pay as the Naval Cadets, which
is five hundred dollars per year (Act April 1, 1864, sec. 3,) out of
which all expenses are paid for clothing, books, board, lights,
washing, and other incidental expenses.
They are not allowed to draw the money; but on leaving the
Academy, the balance, after deducting all expenses, is paid them.
556. The appointments are usually made in March, and the cadet is
required to report at the Academy between the 1st and 20th of June.
Before he is admitted, the cadet undergoes a rigid medical
examination of his physical qualifications, and also as to his
proficiency in reading, writing, the four ground-rules of
arithmetic, reduction, and vulgar and decimal fractions.
557. Cadets reporting before the 20th of June have the advantage
of the intermediate time to prepare themselves for the preliminary
examination under the instruction of some older cadets selected for
the purpose, which familiarizes them with the manner of recitation
and instruction and gives them a foretaste of what their academic
life is likely to be. By reporting early, the cadet may save himself
the mortification of being rejected.
558. Vacancies occurring after the 1st of July and before the 1st
of September are filled, if in time to report on or before the 1st
of September. Cadets appointed during this interval are at some
disadvantage with their class-mates, on account of entering three
months later
559. At the end of two years, if the conduct of the cadet has
been sufficiently good, he receives a furlough from after the June
examination until the 28th of August. If he has been economical, he
will have saved some money, which is paid him to assist him in going
on furlough.
560. About forty cadets graduate annually, being a little more
than one-third of those appointed. On graduating, the cadet receives
a leave of absence until the 1st of October. The graduation takes
place about the 25th of June. In the mean time an order is published
from the War Department assigning the graduates to corps and
regiments, according to standing.
561. Not much choice is allowed the graduates. Formerly, before
the increase of the army, they were generally assigned according to
class-rank, ordinarily Nos. 1 and 2 to the engineer corps, Nos. 3
and 4 to the topographical engineers, Nos. 5 and 6 to the ordnance
corps, Nos. 7 to 20 to the artillery regiments, and the remainder to
the infantry and cavalry regiments. As the prospects of promotion
affected the assignments, the highest on the class-roll receiving
the assignment that promised the speediest promotion, there was no
great room for preference.
562. If there were no vacancies in the different regiments, the
graduates were assigned as supernumerary officers, with the lowest
rank (brevet second lieutenant), not to exceed one to each company.
Since the increase of the army, however the number of graduates
annually is not sufficient to fill the vacancies that occur; and the
remainder have been filled from the army or from civil life.
563. The regulations of the Academy are very strict, and are
rigidly enforced. Patience, perseverance, and industry are the
principal qualities necessary to accomplish the course, as it is not
beyond the capacity of the majority of young men. Method,
unremitting application, and fondness for the cadet life seem
necessary to enable one to pass through it successfully
564. It will not do to become disgusted or discouraged; and the
cadet should avoid the error of thinking that he is the object of a
petty malevolence on the part of any of the professors or
instructors, as instances of such injustice are extremely rare; and
such thoughts should not be indulged in without the most
satisfactory proofs, which would readily obtain redress when made
known to the superintendent or commandant.
565. The following circular can be obtained by applicants by
addressing the Chief of the Engineer Corps, Washington, D. C.
REGULATIONS
RELATIVE TO THE ADMISSION OF CADETS
INTO THE MILITARY ACADEMY
As frequent inquiries are made in regard to the mode of procuring
admission into the Military Academy, all persons interested in the
subject are hereby informed that applications should be made by
letter to the Secretary of War. By provision of
law, each
Congressional and Territorial district, and the District of
Columbia, is entitled to have one cadet at the Military Academy, and
no more. The district appointments are made on the nomination of the
member of Congress representing the district at the date of the
appointment. The law requires that the individual selected shall be
an actual resident of the Congressional district of the State or
Territory, or District of Columbia, from which the appointment
purports to be made. Also appointments "at large," not to
exceed ten, are annually made.
Application can be made, at any time, by the candidate himself,
his parent, guardian, or any of his friends, and the name placed on
the register. No preference will be given to applications on account
of priority; nor will any application be entered in the register
when the candidate is under or above the prescribed age; the precise
age must be given; no
relaxation of the regulation in this respect will be made; nor
will any application be considered in cases where the age and other
qualifications of the candidates are not stated. The fixed abode of
the candidate, and number
of the
Congressional district which he considers his permanent residence,
must be set forth in the application. The pay of a cadet is thirty
dollars per month, to commence with his admission into the Military
Academy, and is considered ample, with proper economy, for his
support.
The appointments will be made annually in the month of February
or March, on the applications made within
the current or preceding year. The claims of all the candidates
on the register will be considered and acted upon. No certain
information can be given as to the probable success of the candidate
before the arrival of the period for making the selections. Persons,
therefore, making applications, must not expect to receive
information on this point.
As a general rule, no person will be appointed who has had a
brother educated at the institution.
QUALIFICATIONS.
Candidates must be over sixteen and under twenty-one years of age
at the time of entrance into the Military Academy; must be at least
five feet in height, and free from any deformity, disease, or
infirmity which would render them unfit for the military service,
and from any disorder of an infectious or immoral character. They
must be able to read and write well, and perform with facility and
accuracy the various operations of the four ground-rules of
arithmetic, of reduction, of simple and compound proportion, and of
vulgar and decimal fractions.
It must he understood that a full compliance with the above
conditions will be insisted on—that is to say, the candidate must
write in a fair and legible hand, and without any material mistakes
in spelling, such sentences as shall be dictated by the examiners:
and he must answer promptly, and without errors, all their questions
in the above-mentioned rules of arithmetic: failing in any of these
particulars, he will he rejected.
It must also be understood that every candidate will, soon after
his arrival at West Point, be subjected to a rigid examination by an
experienced medical board; and should there be found to exist in him
any of the following causes of disqualification to such a degree as
will immediately, or in all probability may at no very distant
period, impair his efficiency, he will be rejected:—
1. Feeble constitution and muscular tenuity; unsound health, from
whatever cause; indications of former disease; glandular swellings,
or other symptoms of scrofula.
2. Chronic cutaneous affections, especially of the scalp, or of
any disorder of an infectious character.
3. Severe injuries of the bones of the head; convulsions.
4. Impaired vision, from whatever cause; inflammatory affections
of the eyelids; immobility or irregularity of the iris; fistula
lachrymalis, &c. &c.
5. Deafness; copious discharge from the ears.
6. Loss of many teeth, or teeth generally unsound.
7. Impediment of speech.
8. Want of due capacity of the chest, and any other indication of
a liability to pulmonic disease.
9. Impaired or inadequate efficiency of one or both of the
superior extremities, on account of fractures, especially of the
clavicle, contraction of a joint, extenuation, deformity, &c.
&c.
10. An unnatural excurvature or incurvature of the spine.
11. Hernia.
12. A varicose state of the veins, of the scrotum and spermatic
cord (when large), sarcocele, hydrocele, hemorrhoids, fistulas.
13. Impaired or inadequate efficiency of one or both of the
inferior extremities on account of varicose veins, fractures,
malformation (flat feet, &c., lameness, contraction, unequal
length, bunions, overlying or supernumerary toes, &c. &c.
14. Ulcers, or unsound cicatrices of ulcers likely to break out
afresh.
SIMON CAMERON,
Secretary of War.
The following is a synopsis of the course of studies pursued at
the Military Academy:
FIRST YEAR.
Fourth Class.
Mathematics— Davies’
Bourdon’s
Algebra; Davies’ Legendre’s Geometry and Trigonometry; Davies’
Descriptive Geometry.
English Grammar, including Etymological and Rhetorical exercises;
Composition, Declamation, and Geography of the United States—Bullion’s
Grammar; Vocabularies and Exercises by Professor French; Morse’s
Geography; Sargent’s Elocution; Parker’s Aids to English
Composition; Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words; Worcester’s
Dictionary.
Frenc h—Bolmar’s
Luvizae’s Grammar; Bolmar’s Verb Book; Agnel’s Tabular System;
Gerard’s Legons
Frangaises; Chapsal’s Legons et Modules de Litairature
Francaise.
Use of Small Arms—Instruction
in Fencing and Bayonet Exercise.
SECOND YEAR.
Third Class.
Mathematics— Davies’
Descriptive Geometry; Davies’ Shades, Shadows and Perspective;
Davies’ Spherical Projections and Warped Surfaces; Davies’
Surveying; Church’s Analytical Geometry; Church’s Calculus.
French.— Bomar’s
Levizac’s Grammar; Bolmar’s Verb Book; Agnel’s Tabular System;
Rowan’s Morceaux Choisis des Auteurs Modernes.
Drawing— Human
Figure; Topography.
Cavalr y—Practical
Instruction in Cavalry Exercise.
THIRD YEAR.
Second Class.
Natural and Experimental Philosophy— Bartlett’s
Mechanics; Bartlett’s Acoustics and Optics; Bartlett’s
Astronomy.
Chemistr y.—Fowne’s
Chemistry; Electrics, from Miller’s Physics of Chemistry.
Drawing. —Landscape.
Infantry Tactic s—Rules
for the Exercise and Maneuvres of the United States Infantry; Jomini’s
Art of War.
Artillery Tactics—Tactics
for Garrison, Siege, and Field Artillery; Thackeray’s Army
Organization and Adminis-tration;
Extracts from McClellan’s Military Commission to Europe; Army
Regulations.
Cavalry. —Practical
Instruction in Cavalry Exercise.
FOURTH YEAR.
First Class.
Engineering, Civil and Military—Mahan’s
Course of Civil Engineering; Mahan’s Lithographic Notes on
Stone-Cutting; Mahan’s Lithographic Notes on Machines; Mahan’s
Treatise on Field Fortifications; Mahan’s Lithographic Notes on
Permanent Fortification; Attack and Defence; Mines and other
Accessories; Mahan’s Treatise on Advanced Guards and Outposts,
&c.
Practical Engineering— Practical
Instruction in Fabricating Fascines, Sap-fagots, Gabions, Hurdles,
Sap-rollers, &c.; Manner of laying out and constructing Gun and
Mortar Batteries, Field Fortifications, and Works of Siege;
formation of Stockades, Abatis, &c.; Topographical Sketching in
the Field, embracing rapid methods of reconnoitring woods, heights,
defiles, fields, marshes water-courses, fords, bridges, roads, and
other communications, houses, villages, batteries, field-works,
&c. &c.; Recitations upon Field Fortification, Sapping,
Mining, Pontonniering, and Military Reconnaissance.
Ethics, Constitutional, International, and Military Law— Kent’s
Commentaries; Practical Ethics by Professor French; De Hart on
Courts-Martial; Preliminary Lecture on Law, by Professor French.
Mineralogy and Geolog y—Dana’s
Mineralogy; Hitchcock’s Geology.
Ordnance and Gunner y—Practical
Pyrotechny; Ben-ton’s Course of Instruction in Ordnance and
Gunnery.
Spanish.—Josse’s Grammar;
Morales’ Progressive Reader; Ollendorf’s Oral Method, applied to
the Spanish by Velasquez and Simmone.
Cavalry Tactics—Cavalry
Tactics for United States Service; Youatt on the Horse.
Cavalry. —Practical
Instruction in Cavalry Exercise.
566. The first appointment is only a conditional one; and the
cadet must pass the preliminary examinations, and the semi-annual
examination in January following, before he can receive his warrant,
which is then made out, to date from the 3d of June previous. At the
time of receiving his warrant, the cadet takes the oath of
allegiance to the United States, and that he will serve them
honestly and faithfully for eight years from the date of his
warrant, unless sooner discharged. The following section of the Act
of August 3, 1861, requires the following oath to be taken on
admission,
"Sec. 8. And
be it further enacted, That
no cadet, who has been or shall hereafter be reported as deficient,
either in conduct or studies, and recommended to be dis charged from
the Academy, shall be returned or reappointed, or appointed to any
place in the army before his class shall have left the Academy and
received their commissions, unless upon the recommendation of the
academic board of the Academy: Provided,
That all cadets now
in the service, or hereafter entering the Military Academy at West
Point, shall be called on to take and subscribe the following oath:
‘I, A. B., do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution
of the United States, and bear true allegiance to the national
government; that I will maintain and defend the sovereignty of the
United States paramount to any and all allegiance, sovereignty, or
fealty I may owe to any State, county, or country whatsoever; and
that I will at all times obey the legal orders of my superior
officers and the rules and articles governing the armies of the
United States.’ And any cadet or candidate for admission who shall
refuse to take this oath shall be dismissed from the service."
567. During the months of July and August, all the cadets, except
the second class, which is then on furlough, go into an encampment
at the post, and are employed in military duties and exercises in
the field until September. During this period they enjoy a
relaxation from study; and, although they are quite busily employed,
they still have good opportunities for pleasure and amusement, and
for cultivating the lighter accomplishments that tend to complete
their education as accomplished gentlemen.
568. During this season, the place is thronged by visitors from
all parts of the United States. Many of their friends visit them;
they are permitted to have social parties, which the visitors are
fond of attending, provided with music and attended with dancing.
They have the benefit of a dancing-master during this period; and,
in connection with the superior society that is convened there at
this time, the cadet has the opportunity of learning correct
manners, ease of deportment, and a knowledge of the great world,
from which he is in the main excluded during the remainder of the
year. It is only necessary to caution the cadet not to become too
much devoted to this part of his experience, so as to detract from
the more serious duties on which, after all, his best energies must
be expended to insure success.
NOTE—During the rebellion, the vacancies from the seceded
States have been filled by appointments from the armies occupying
those States. Candidates of the proper age are summoned before a
board under the direction of the commanding officer, and the
appointments are made on the recommendation of the board, after a
thorough examination.
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