---------------+------------------------_Military schools and courses of instruction in the science and art of war, in France, Prussia, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Sardinia, England, and the United States. Drawn from recent official reports and documents. Revised Edition

Appointed | In the year 18..

from-- +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---

|56|57|58|59|60|61|62|63|64|65|66|67|68|69|70

---------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---

Alabama |..| 1|..| 1|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..| 3| 1| 4

Arkansas |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..| 1

California |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 2| 1|..

Connecticut |..|..| 2|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..| 3

Delaware |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1| 2|..| 1| 1

Florida |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..

Georgia |..| 2| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 4| 2|..

Illinois | 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..| 1|..| 3|..| 1

Indiana | 1| 2|..| 3| 1|..|..| 1| 2| 3| 2| 2| 1| 1|..

Iowa |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 2| 1| 1|..|..|..|..

Kansas |..| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 2

Kentucky | 1|..| 1|..|..| 1|..| 1| 2| 1|..|..| 3| 2| 5

Louisiana |..|..| 1|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1

Maine |..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..|..| 1| 2

Maryland |..|..| 1|..|..| 2|..| 1|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..

Massachusetts |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1

Michigan |..|..|..| 1| 1|..|..|..| 1|..| 1|..| 3| 1|..

Minnesota |..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..|..

Mississippi | 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 6

Missouri | 1|..| 1| 3| 2|..|..|..|..|..| 2|..| 2|..| 4

Nebraska |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..

Nevada |..|..|..|..|..|..| 2|..|..|..|..| 1|..| 1| 2

New Hampshire |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..

New Jersey |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1

New York | 2| 2|..| 2|..| 1| 2|..| 1| 2|..| 1| 4| 1| 7

North Carolina | 1| 1| 2|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1| 1|..

Ohio | 3| 2| 1| 1| 2| 2| 3|..| 1| 1| 2| 2| 1| 1| 5

Oregon |..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..

Pennsylvania | 1| 2| 2| 2|..| 1| 2| 1|..| 2|..| 1|..|..| 6

Rhode Island |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..

South Carolina |..| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1| 1| 1

Tennessee |..|..| 1|..| 1|..| 1|..| 1| 1| 1| 1| 3| 1| 1

Texas |..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 2

Vermont |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..

Virginia | 3| 1|..| 1|..| 1| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 4

West Virginia |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..| 1| 1|..

Wisconsin |..|..|..| 1| 1| 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 2|..

Dist. Columbia |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1|..|..|..|..

Colorado Ter. |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 2

New Mexico | 1|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..

Utah Ter. |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..

Washington Ter.|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..

Dakota Ter. |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..

Arizona Ter. |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..

Idaho Ter. |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..| 1| 1|..| 1| 1

Montana |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..

Wyoming Ter. |..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..|..

At large |..| 1| 1| 1|..|..|..| 2|..|..| 1| 2| 1| 3| 7

+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---

Grand totals |16|16|14|16| 9|11|11| 8|13|13|15|14|36|23|70

---------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---

TABLE VIII--Continued.--SUMMARY OF EXAMINATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE

UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY DURING THE YEAR 1871.

----------------------+---+---+--------------------------------

| | | Rejected.

| | +---+----------------------------

| | | | On what account.

| | | +---+------------------------

| | | | +---+---+---+---+---+----

STATES | C | A | T |PD | R | W | A |Ge |Gr | H

AND +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----

TERRITORIES. |No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.

----------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----

Alabama | 4| 1| 3| | | | 1| 3| 2| 3

Arkansas | 1| | 1| | | | 1| | 1| 1

Connecticut | 2| 1| 1| | | | 1| | 1|

Delaware | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Georgia | 4| | 4| 1| | | 2| 2| 2| 3

Illinois | 3| 2| 1| | | | 1| | |

Indiana | 4| 3| 1| | | | 1| 1| 1| 1

Iowa | 4| 2| 2| 1| | | | | 1|

Kansas | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Kentucky | 7| 4| 3| | 2| 3| 2| 2| 3| 2

Louisiana | 2| 2| | | | | | | |

Maine | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Massachusetts | 4| 3| 1| 1| | | | | |

Mississippi | 3| 3| | | | | | | |

Missouri | 4| 1| 3| | | 2| | | 1| 2

Nevada | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

New Jersey | 2| 1| 1| | | | | | 1| 1

New York | 15| 10| 5| 2| | 1| | 2| 3| 2

Ohio | 9| 8| 1| | | 1| | 1| 1| 1

Oregon | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Pennsylvania | 13| 8| 5| 2| 1| 1| 1| 1| 3| 2

Rhode Island | 2| 1| 1| 1| | | | | 1|

Tennessee | 4| 3| 1| | | | 1| 1| | 1

Texas | 2| 2| | | | | | | |

Vermont | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Virginia | 5| 1| 4| 1| | 1| 2| 1| 2| 2

West Virginia | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Wisconsin | 2| 1| 1| | | 1| 1| | 1| 1

Colorado Ter. | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

New Mexico Ter. | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Utah Ter. | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

At Large | 13| 10| 3| 2| | | 1| | |

----------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---

Total |119| 77| 42| 11| 3| 10| 15| 14| 24| 22

----------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---

TABLE VIII--Continued.--SUMMARY OF EXAMINATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE

UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY DURING THE YEAR 1871.

----------------------+---+---+--------------------------------

| | | Rejected.

| | +---+----------------------------

| | | | On What account.

| | | +---+------------------------

| | | | +---+---+---+---+---+----

STATES | C | A | T |PD | R | W | A |Ge |Gr | H

AND +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----

TERRITORIES. |No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.|No.

----------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----

Alabama | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Arkansas | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Connecticut | 1| | 1| | | | 1| | |

Delaware | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Georgia | 3| 3| | | | | | | |

Illinois | 5| 3| 2| | | 2| 2| 2| 1|

Indiana | 6| 4| 2| | | 2| 2| 1| 2|

Kentucky | 2| 1| 1| | | | 1| | |

Louisiana | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Maine | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Maryland | 4| 2| 2| | | 1| 1| 1| |

Massachusetts | 2| 2| | | | | | | |

Michigan | 1| | 1| | | | 1| 1| 1|

Minnesota | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Mississippi | 3| 2| 1| | | 1| 1| 1| 1|

Missouri | 3| 3| | | | | | | |

New Hampshire | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

New Jersey | 2| 2| | | | | | | |

New York | 11| 9| 2| | | 2| 2| 1| 2|

North Carolina | 2| 1| 1| | | 1| 1| | |

Ohio | 5| 3| 2| | | 1| 2| | |

Pennsylvania | 5| 1| 4| 1| | 3| 3| 3| 2|

Rhode Island | 1| | 1| 1| | | | | |

South Carolina | 2| 1| 1| | | | 1| | |

Tennessee | 5| 3| 2| 1| | | | | |

Vermont | 2| 1| 1| | | 1| 1| | |

Virginia | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Wisconsin | 2| 2| | | | | | | |

Arizona Ter. | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Montana Ter. | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

New Mexico Ter. | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Washington Ter. | 1| 1| | | | | | | |

Foreign | *1| 1| | | | | | | |

At Large | 17| 15| 2| | | 1| 2| 1| 1|

----------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---

Total | 97| 71| 26| 3| | 15| 21| 11| 10|

----------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---

[* A Japanese student.]

ARTILLERY SCHOOL AT FORTRESS MONROE

HISTORICAL NOTICE.

The Artillery School of the United States Army at Fortress Monroe, was

organized and opened April 1, 1868, under a code of regulations and

programme of instruction drawn up by Col. William F. Barry (who was

placed in command from the start), and approved by the General of the

Army. After two years of experience the code and programme were revised,

and the present system established. The class of 1868 and of 1869,

consisted, each, of twenty lieutenants of artillery, and of the whole

number, thirty-eight were sent back to their regiments after having

passed a satisfactory examination. To this number at the close of the

school year (April) 1871, sixteen more out of the class of twenty were

found qualified to return to their respective regiments; twenty more are

now in the progress of instruction, constituting together one-half of

all the officers of that grade belonging to the artillery.

COURSE OF INSTRUCTION.[16]

[Footnote 16: Report of Col. Barry, dated September 12, 1871.]

The course of theoretical instruction embraces the subjects of

mathematics, ordnance, and gunnery, military engineering and surveying,

military history, and military, constitutional, and international law.

The method of pursuing these studies is very similar to that pursued at

the Military Academy at West Point, viz., by recitations, questions, and

demonstrations at the blackboard. In military history each officer is

required, in addition to his regular recitations, to prepare and read

before the class and staff of the school two essays or memoirs upon some

battle, campaign, or the military events of some epoch of peculiar

interest.

The topics for these essays are selected by the instructor in military

history, with the approval of the commandant and superintendent of

instruction, and are generally confined to events not prior to the last

two decades of the eighteenth century.

The necessary maps, instruments, and apparatus for the elucidation or

practical application of the various subjects of the entire range of the

theoretical course have to a considerable extent been supplied to the

school by requisitions upon the Engineer and Ordnance Departments of the

Army. They are kept in active use, and are of the greatest value.

Instructions in the theoretical course is confined to the months of

autumn, winter, and the early spring, except instruction in mathematics,

which unavoidably has to be given during the months of May, June, July,

and August.

The course of practical instruction is pursued, as the weather permits,

throughout the entire year, but is more closely attended to during the

months of summer and autumn. This course consists of the service of

every species of gun, howitzer, or mortar in use in the United States

military service; of the use of the various kinds of projectiles and

fuses; the laying of platforms; the use of plane-tables, and telemeters,

for ascertaining ranges; of mechanical manœuvres; transportation and

other handling of all kinds of ordnance, and particularly of the 15-inch

guns and their carriages, and of 13-inch mortars and their beds, and of

other heavy material which has been adopted into the artillery of the

United States.

The practical course also includes very full target practice with every

description of ordnance; the duties of the laboratory, as far as they

immediately concern officers of artillery; and the study of and

recitation in the tactics for light and heavy artillery, and as much of

the tactics for infantry as is essential for artillery officers.

Guns, carriages, ammunition, platforms, artillery machines, including

hydraulic-jacks of greater or less power, and other appliances, are

supplied by requisition on the Ordnance Department in such number and

variety as may be desired. The school is compelled to be indebted to the

Ordnance Department for the occasional use, when necessary, of some of

its instruments and apparatus for determining initial velocities,

pressures, densities, etc.

Instruction in the practical course is designed to be as thorough as

possible, and no officer leaves the school who has not become

practically familiar with the tools of his trade, and able to use them

intelligently.

A school for non-commissioned officers, and for such other enlisted men

as may desire to avail themselves of its advantages, is also

established. Every non-commissioned officer belonging to the five

instruction batteries is required to attend the school for one year’s

full course of instruction; all other enlisted men are permitted to

attend. But their attendance upon school is entirely voluntary. Enlisted

men of good character, and belonging to batteries not stationed at the

post where the Artillery School is established, are also permitted to

enjoy the benefits of one year’s course of instruction at the school.

Such men, on their own application, are nominated by their battery

commanders to their regimental commanders, on whose approval they are

detached from their batteries, by orders from the head-quarters of the

Army, and directed to report themselves in person to the commanding

officer of the school. Of this last-named class of men twenty-two have

undergone or are now undergoing instruction at the school.

The course of instruction for the non-commissioned officers is both

practical and theoretical. The practical course is pursued _pari passu_

with that of the commissioned officers, but is not carried to the same

extent, being restricted to the scope of the necessary duties and

requirements of non-commissioned officers of artillery, and to the

average capacity of enlisted men of that grade in our Army.

The theoretical course of instruction for the non-commissioned officers

embraces mathematics, history of the United States, geography, reading,

and writing. The subject of mathematics includes the entire field of

arithmetic, and, for the more advanced scholars, it is carried as far as

equations of the second degree in algebra. The instruction in most of

the branches is conducted as in the school for commissioned officers, by

recitations at the blackboard, and by questions.

Since the commencement of the duties of the Artillery School one hundred

and three enlisted men (chiefly non-commissioned officers) have gone

through the entire course of practical and theoretical instruction for

one year, and have been awarded by the staff of the school engraved

certificates, signed by each of its members, setting forth that fact.

The following-named officers constitute the staff and instructors at the

school at the present date, and, with the above-stated exceptions, have

been thus on duty since its first establishment:

_Commandant._--Colonel W. F. Barry, Second Artillery.

_Superintendent of Theoretical Instruction._--Lieutenant-Colonel I.

Roberts, Fourth Artillery.

_Superintendent of Practical Instruction._--Major G. A. De Russy, Third

Artillery.

_Member of Staff._--Major T. G. Baylor, Ordnance Department.

_Adjutant of School and Secretary of Staff._--First Lieutenant I. C.

Breckinridge, Second Artillery.

_Instructor in Mathematics, Ordnance, and Gunnery._--Captain R. Lodor,

Fourth Artillery.

_Instructor in Military, International, and Constitutional Law, and in

Tactics._--Captain S. S. Elder, First Artillery.

_Instructor in Mathematics and Military Engineering._--Captain S. N.

Benjamin, Second Artillery.

_Instructor in Mathematics and Military History._--Captain E. R. Warner,

Third Artillery.

_Instructor in Tactics._--Captain J. W. Piper, Fifth Artillery.

A library of books of reference, professional instruction and general

reading, to the number of 2,050 volumes, belongs to the school, made up

of duplicates from the libraries of the War Department and the Military

Academy, and a bequest of Col. Archer.

A museum of field, siege, and sea-coast artillery; specimens of primers,

fuses, and projectiles; different varieties of small arms of this and

other countries; instruments for inspecting cannon and projectiles, has

been commenced by the Superintendent, as a useful aid to the course of

practical and theoretical instruction in the school. It now numbers over

4,000 articles.

The Artillery School has been organized and conducted thus far to the

satisfaction of the Department, and favor, with this arm of the service,

without any special pecuniary expense to the Government by the present

Commandant, Col. William F. Barry--who closes his annual Report with the

remarkable paragraph:--“No special appropriation (beyond the ordinary

requirements of this Military Post) for the maintenance of this school

are now needed, and none are required.”

VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE AT LEXINGTON.

HISTORICAL NOTICE.

The VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE at Lexington, was established in 1839,

and was organized and conducted from the start on the plan of the

Military Academy at West Point, by Col. Francis H. Smith, a graduate of

that institution of the class of 1833, and professor there from 1834 to

1836.

The State makes an annual appropriation of $15,000 for its support, on

the basis of which a certain number (usually 36) cadets are admitted

without charge; in consideration of which they are required to teach in

some school of the State for two years after graduation. In the

selection of State cadets regard is had to their capacity to profit, and

inability to pay the expenses of tuition and board, and an equal

representation of each senatorial district. Any commissioned officer of

the militia of the State can become a student for a period not exceeding

ten months, and receive instruction in any or all departments of

military science taught therein, without charge for tuition.

The course of instruction was from the start distinctly scientific, and

since its return [from Richmond where it was removed after the

destruction of its building and library, when Lexington was taken

possession of by Gen. Hunter] in 1866, and its reorganization on its

present basis of a general School of Applied Science, it has become even

technic in reference to all the chief industries and natural resources

of Virginia.

The origin and military character of the Institute are thus set forth by

the Superintendent in an address to the Corps of Cadets, Sept. 10, 1866:

Peculiar circumstances gave to this Institution its distinctive

military character. Here the State had a deposit of arms, in an arsenal,

which had been established for many years before the organization of the

Institution, and the annuity which had been formerly given to the public

guard by the State, was transferred to the Virginia Military Institute,

as the basis of its support. Upon this foundation the Virginia Military

Institute was established, and as the duty imposed upon the cadet was

military, so military discipline and military instruction became an

essential and distinctive feature in the education it supplied. Besides

daily exercises in the school of the soldier, company, and battalion in

_infantry_, and of the piece and battery in _artillery_ tactics, minute

instruction is given in the class-room, upon all the theoretic branches

of the military art, embracing, in addition to those enumerated,

_ordnance_ and _gunnery_, _military strategy_ and _military history_,

and the principles and practice of field and permanent fortifications.

It is not necessary that I should say any thing, at this time, to

vindicate the completeness of the arrangements made in this institution

for theoretical and practical military education. The sanguinary

conflict which has just closed has fully tested its efficiency.

_One-tenth_ of the Confederate Armies was commanded by the éléves of

this school, embracing three _major generals_, thirty _brigadier

generals_, sixty _colonels_, fifty _lieutenant colonels_, thirty

_majors_, one hundred and twenty-five _captains_, between two and three

hundred _lieutenants_; and the terrible results of the battles, in

numbering one hundred and twenty-five of these among the _killed_, and

three hundred and fifty among the _wounded_, show that the éléves of

this institution met the call of their country with an earnestness of

devotion which places them in most honorable distinction for their

heroic defense of what they believed to be right.[17]

[Footnote 17: Although no one institution contributed so large a

number of officers to the Confederate Armies, the Military

Institute at Frankfort, Ky., the Cadet Corps connected with the

arsenals in Norfolk, Richmond, and other Southern cities, and the

State Military Institutes in Alabama and Louisiana, furnished a

large number of subordinate officers, which facilitated the early

organization of the armed forces of the South.]

We give the organization and course of instruction from the latest

Circular, issued by the Superintendent.

_Academic Staff._

_Superintendent, and Professor of Mathematics and Moral

Philosophy_--General Francis H. Smith, A.M.

_Professor of Latin, and, English Literature_--Col. John T. L.

Preston, A.M.

_Professor of Practical Engineering, Architecture, and Drawing_--Col.

Thomas H. Williamson.

_Professor of Agriculture_--Col. Wm. Gilham, A.M., (Philip St. George

Cocke).[18]

[Footnote 18: Gen. Cocke, in 1866, gave $20,000 to endow this

professorship.]

_Professor of Animal and Vegetable Physiology applied to

Agriculture_--Col. Robert L. Madison, M. D. (Mercer).[19]

[Footnote 19: Dr. Mercer of Louisiana, made a donation of $11,800

to this chair.]

_Commandant of Cadets, Instructor of Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery

Tactics, and Professor of Military History and Strategy_--Col. Scott

Ship.

_Professor of Mathematics_--Col. James W. Massie.

_Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy_--Col. William B.

Blair, (Jackson).

_Professor of Civil and Military Engineering and Applied

Mechanics_--General G. W. C. Lee.

_Professor of Practical Astronomy, Geology, Descriptive and Physical

Geography and Meteorology_--Col. John M. Brooke.

_Professor of Geology, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy_--Col. Marshall

McDonald.

_Professor of General and Applied Chemistry_--Col. M. B. Hardin.

_Professor of Modern Languages_--Col. Thomas M. Semmes.

_Professor of Physics and Superintendent of Physical Survey of

Virginia_--Commodore M. E. Maury, LL. D.

_Professor of Fine Arts_--Col. William D. Washington.

_Assistant Professors._

_Assistant in Physics_--Col. W. E. Cutshaw.

_Assistant Professor of French Language_--Capt. O. C. Henderson.

_Assistant Prof, of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology_--Capt. J. H.

Morrison.

_Assistant Professor of English, and Drawing_--Lieut. James H.

Waddell.

_Assistant Professor of Latin_--Capt. Win. M. Patton.

_Assistant Professor of Mathematics_--Lieut. R. H. Cousins.

_Assistant Prof. of Geography, Drawing and Tactics_--Capt. Wm. B.

Pritchard.

_Assistant Professor of Mineralogy, Latin, and Tactics_--Capt. W. H.

Butler.

_Assistant Professor of Natural Philosophy and Latin_--Lieut. R. E.

Nelson.

_Assistant Professor of Mathematics_--Lieut. W. C. Powell.

_Assistant Professor of Latin_--Lieut. James E. Heath.

_Assistant Professor of Drawing_--Lieut. M. Palmer.

_Assistant Professor of Tactics_--Capt. W. Denham.

_Assistant Professor of Mathematics, &c._,--Capt. G. K. Macon.

_Military Staff._

_Surgeon_--Col. R. L. Madison.

_Ass’t Surgeon_--H. T. Barton, M.D.

_Act’g Treasurer_--Capt. W. A. Deas.

_Com. and Steward_--Capt. J. T. Gibbs.

_Adjutant_--Capt. F. H. Smith, Jr.

III. SCHOOLS AND COURSES OF INSTRUCTION.

_Academic Schools._

_First Year_--_Fourth Class._--Arithmetic (Smith and Duke’s); Algebra

(Smith’s); Geometry (Smith’s Legendre); Plane and Spherical Trigonometry

(Smith’s); French (Levizac and La Porte’s Grammar, Gil Blas, Pinney No.

5, Fasquelle); Geography (Maury); Pencil and Pen Drawing: Composition

and Declamation; Latin (Cæsar, Virgil, Cicero, Horace).

_Second Year_--_Third Class._--Descriptive Geometry (Smith’s);

Analytical Geometry (Smith’s Biot); Shades, Shadows and Perspective

(Lectures): Differential and Integral Calculus (Courternay and La

Croix); Surveying (Field Exercise); French (Noel and Chapsal, Laporte

and Collot, French Classics); Latin (Cæsar, Virgil, Livy, and Cicero);

Mechanical Drawing, Composition, and Declamation; Physics (Ganot).

_Third Year_--_Second Class._--Natural Philosophy (Bartlett and

Bouchalat’s Mechanics, Bartlett’s Optics and Acoustics, Bartlett and

Gummere’s Astronomy); Latin (Terence and Horace); Chemistry (Fownes, and

Practical Instruction in Laboratory); Physical Geography (Somerville);

Infantry Tactics.

_Fourth Year_--_First Class._--Civil Engineering (Mahan, Rankine, and

Lectures); Military Engineering (Laisne, aide memoire); Architecture

(Lectures and Drawing); Human Physiology (Kirke); Military History and

Strategy (Jomini); Rhetoric (Blair); Intellectual Philosophy (Wayland);

Logic (Whately); Moral Philosophy (Paley and Butler); Constitution of

United States (Kent); Mineralogy (Dana); Geology (Gray and Adams);

Infantry tactics (Hardee); Artillery and Ordnance (Benton and United

States Tactics).

_Special School of Applied Science._

The Special School of Applied Science, in the Virginia Military

Institute, is arranged in seven _Courses_, which may be prosecuted

separately or in combination: 1. Architecture; 2. Civil Engineering;

3. Machines; 4. Mining; 5. Analytical and Applied Chemistry;

6. Metallurgy; 7. Agriculture.

I. ARCHITECTURE.--1. _Drawing_--Including pen and colored topography,

mechanical lettering and coloring. 2. _Materials_--Stone, brick, wood,

mortar, mastics, glue, paints, &c. 3. _Masonry_--Retaining walls, walls

of inclosure, edifices, ornaments, arches, stone-cutting. 4.

_Carpentry_--Timbers, framing, beams, joints, floors, partitions, roofs,

domes, centres, windows, stairways. 5. _Foundations_--In water, on land.

6. _Classical Architecture_--Orders, Egypt, Rome, Greece. 7. _Design._

8. _Romanesque._ 9. _Gothic._

II. CIVIL ENGINEERING.--1. _Drawing_--Pen and colored topography,

mechanical, etc. 2. _Materials_--Same as in Course of Architecture. 4.

_Carpentry_--Same as in Course of Architecture. 5. _Foundation_--Same as

in Course of Architecture. 6. _Surveying_--Running lines and curves for

common and railroads, canals, leveling profiles, estimates, &c. 7.

_Bridges_--Stone, Wooden, Iron. 8. _Common Roads._ 9. _Railroads._ 10.

_Tunnels._ 11. _Locomotives._ 12. _Canals._ 13. Rivers, Docks, Harbors.

14. _Mining._

III.--MACHINES--GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF MACHINES.--_Muscular

Power_--Power of men, Power of horses, etc. _Water Power and Wind

Power_--Sources of water for Power. Water-Power Engines in general.

Water-Bucket Engines. Water-Pressure Engines. Vertical Water-wheels.

Turbines. Fluid-on-Fluid, Impulse-Engines, Windmills. _Steam and other

Heat Engines_--Relations of the Phenomena of Heat. Combustion and Fuel.

Principles of Thermodynamics, Furnaces and Boilers. Steam-Engines.

Electro-Magnetic Engines.

IV.--MINING.-- _Course of Lectures on Mining_--Embracing prospecting,

breaking ground, boring, blasting, tubing, sinking shafts, driving

tunnels, ventilating and lighting; the different methods of working

mines; mining machinery and motors, engines, horses, pumps, wagons,

drums, etc.; dressing and concentration of Minerals, crushers, stamps,

washers, amalgamators, etc.; quarrying and open workings; details of

mining in this country and statistics.

_Drawing._--Geological maps and sections; coloring the same; and plans

and sections of mines, quarries and other open workings; mining

machinery and implements; plans of ventilation.

V.--METALLURGY.--_Geology_ of Coal, Iron, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Salt,

etc.

_Metallurgy_--Review of more important metals and their ores;

Metallurgical implements, structures, and processes, crucibles,

furnaces, blowing machines; details of the smelting and manufacture of

Iron, Copper, Lead, Silver, Gold, etc.

_Drawing_--Coloring of maps and sections; drawing of furnaces,

refiners, cokeing ovens; Metallurgical apparatus.

VI.--ANALYTICAL AND APPLIED CHEMISTRY.--In the Laboratory facilities

are afforded for prosecuting the various branches of practical

Chemistry. Each student will work independently of the others, receiving

personal guidance and instruction from the Professors. In the last year

the course may be varied according to the special object the student has

in view.

The following is an outline of _Systematic Course for Students in

Mining and Metallurgy:_ 1. Qualitative Analysis. 2. Quantitative

Analysis; (_a._) Analysis of substances of known composition; (_b._)

Analysis of ores, slags, etc. 3. Assayers--Ores of Lead, Silver, Gold,

Iron, Copper, etc.

VII.--AGRICULTURE.--1. _Chemistry_--General and applied to

Agriculture. 2. _Mineralogy._ 3. _Histology._ 4. _Vegetable Physiology._

5. _Agricultural Botany._ 6. _Zöology._ 7. _Civil Engineering_--Applied

to farm bridges, roads, drainage. 8. _Rural Architecture._ 9. _Drawing._

10. _Anatomy and Physiology of Sub-Kingdom_--Vertebrata. 11. _Human

Physiology._ 12. _Hygiene and Dietetics._ 13. _General Botany._ 14.

_Animal Toxicology._ 15. _Veterinary Practice._ 16. _General

Principles._ _Chemistry, Geology, Mechanics, and Domestic Economy._

IV. SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION AND GOVERNMENT.

The System of Instruction and Government is founded upon that of the

United States Military Academy at West Point.

As soon as a young man enters the Institution, it assumes over him an

entire control, and not only directs his moral and intellectual

education, but provides every thing required for his personal wants or

comfort. A Cadet, may, if his parents desire it, remain in charge of the

Institution for the entire term of four years, as the system of

government keeps it always in operation. The months of July and August,

in each year, are devoted exclusively to Military Exercises. Furloughs

are granted to those who may desire it, in turn, during this period. The

Cadets are lodged and boarded in the Institution, their Clothing, Books,

and other supplies, being provided by the Quartermaster of the

Institute, _at cost_. The sick are under the special care of the

Surgeon, with Hospital and other facilities for nursing.

The energy, system, subordination, and self-reliance which the

military government of the Institute cultivates, give a practical

character to the education which it supplies. The high reputation which

its Alumni have established for the School is the evidence of its value.

V. DEGREES.

A Diploma, signed by the Governor of Virginia and by the Visitors and

Faculty, is awarded to all Cadets who may pass approved examinations on

all the studies of the Academic School, with the title of “_Graduate of

the Virginia Military Institute_.” A like Diploma is awarded to all who

may complete the course prescribed for either of the _Special Schools of

Applied Science_, with the title of “_Graduate_” in such school.

MILITARY TACTICS IN STATE SCHOOLS OF SCIENCE.

INTRODUCTION.

In the Act of Congress (July, 1862) making grants of public lands to the

several States for the endowment of State Schools of Agriculture and the

Mechanic Arts, it is provided that military tactics shall be included in

their schemes of instruction; and by an Act of March, 1869, the

President is authorized to detail an army officer to each institution,

to instruct in such tactics. On these two provisions, with further

cooperative legislation, State and National, a system of military

instruction can be gradually developed, which, for economy, efficiency,

and uniformity, will meet all the conditions of a national armament, and

compare favorably, as against foreign invasion or domestic insurrection,

with that of Switzerland or Prussia. Thus far the subject has received

only slight attention, and the connection of these departments with the

State militia, or volunteer companies, or the appointment of cadets to

our national military schools or to vacancies in the army, has not been

discussed. We state briefly what is attempted in a few of these schools:

CORNELL UNIVERSITY AT ITHACA, N.Y.

In Cornell University (to which the United States Land Grant of 989,000

acres of land was assigned by the Legislature of New York, and which Mr.

Ezra Cornell has endowed with the sum of $525,000, securely invested and

drawing interest at seven per cent.), the military tactics is

incorporated into the general organization of the students, and made the

basis of the College of Military Science. (1.) Attendance on military

exercises is made obligatory on every able-bodied student; and for this

purpose the whole number is organized into a military corps--arms and

equipments being furnished by the State--under the Military Professor,

who has the title of Commandant, and is aided in his duties by a staff,

selected in view of military aptitude, general deportment, and

proficiency in studies. (2.) All students are required to observe and

conform to such regulations as may, from time to time, be promulgated by

the Commandant; provide themselves with the university cap for ordinary

wear, and with the blouse or fatigue cap for parade; and are held to

strict accountability for the proper use of the arms and other property

issued to them. (3.) The practical instruction for all students embraces

infantry and artillery tactics, and special exercises with the sabre,

sword, and bayonet; and (4.) for those who elect, a military course

consisting of (a.) _Military Engineering_, (b.) _the Art of War_, and

(c.) _Military Law_. At the close of each year, after the graduating

exercises, the Faculty will recommend to the Governor of the State a

list (not exceeding one in every ten of such graduates), distinguished

for general proficiency in any one of the complete University courses,

special attainments in military science, expertness in military

exercises, and of good moral character and of sound health, with a

request to transmit the same to the President of the United States for

his consideration in making appointments for positions in which such

qualifications are demanded.

STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AT AMHERST, MASS.

The Military features of the Course of Study were originally

administered by Capt. Henry E. Alvord, of the United States Army, who

had been specially charged with this instruction in the Military

Institute and University at Norwich, Vt. The specifications are:

FRESHMAN YEAR.--_First Term_--Military Drill; Infantry Tactics; School

of the Soldier; _Second Term_--Do.; and School of the Company and Manual

of Arms. _Third Term_--Do.; and School of the Company and Battalion.

SOPHOMORE YEAR.--_First Term_--Military Drill; Infantry Tactics;

Manual of the Bayonet and Instruction in duty as Skirmishers. _Second

Term_--Do.; and Bayonet Exercise. _Third Term_--Do.; and Skirmish and

Battalion Drill; Guard Duty; and Forms of Parade and Review.

JUNIOR YEAR.--_Third Term_--Military Drill; Artillery Tactics; School

of the Piece. _Second Term_--Do.; and Artillery and Cavalry Tactics;

Manual of the Sabre; School of the Trooper dismounted; Instruction in

Heavy Artillery Tactics and Gunnery. _Third Term_--Do.; School of the

Section; Infantry Tactics; Battalion Drill.

SENIOR YEAR.--_First Term_--Military Drill and Cavalry, Artillery and

Infantry Tactics; Duty as Drill Masters and Officers in Infantry and

Artillery Drill; Theoretical Instruction in Cavalry Tactics, and the

organization and uses of Cavalry. _Second Term_--Military Drill and

Cavalry Tactics; Sabre Exercise. _Third Term_--Military Drill; Target

Practice; Sword Play: and General Drill.

The Committee of Examination for 1870 report as follows:

Your Committee can not refrain from alluding to the interest which all

the young men take in the drills, the evident beneficial effect upon

their bearing and health, and the value of the accomplished soldiers and

officers thus, made for the future service of the Commonwealth, in the

event of another call to send forth her sons for herself or the nation.

Were no other result accomplished by this institution, the money of the

Commonwealth could be no more judiciously expended, and yet this is but

an incident to the regular course.

The Principal, Col. Clark, writes: “We have a fine hall for in-door

exercise, and are furnished by the State with cannon, breech-loading

rifles, sabres, &c., and consider our course a decided success. Our

graduates are able to act as officers in infantry and artillery

regiments, and I believe our system, as we are organized and taught by a

West Point graduate, a most excellent and economical substitute for the

ordinary militia system.”

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY.

The Louisiana State University was founded as “a State Seminary of

Learning and Military Academy” by the Legislature in 1855, near

Alexandria, in the Parish of Rapides, on endowments of land made by the

General Government at different times, from 1806 to 1827, for

establishing “a Seminary of Learning.” It was opened for the reception

of students, January 2, 1860, and organized on a military basis, under

the superintendence of Col. W. T. Sherman (now General-in-Chief, United

States Army), who resigned his position, February 2, 1861, on the

hostile demonstration of the State of Louisiana against the authority of

the United States. The instruction of the institution continued under

Col. W. E. M. Linfield, till April 22, 1863, when its operations were

closed by the disasters of the War, to be reopened on the first of

October, 1865, only to be closed again by the utter destruction of its

extensive buildings by fire on the 15th of October, 1869. On the 1st of

November following, its exercises were resumed at Baton Rouge, in the

extensive building of the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, which was placed

temporarily for the occupancy of the classes, and a portion of the

students. The session of 1871, under the superintendence of Col. D. F.

Boyd, closed with 217 matriculated Cadets, of whom 128 were admitted on

the State Cadet warrants.

The Law of March 16, 1870, relative to the appointment of Beneficiary

Cadets, provides that each parish shall delegate two, and the city of

New Orleans, by its Board of School Directors, twenty cadets, to be

selected from the members of the highest class in the public school of

such parishes and city, distinguished for their scholarship and good

conduct, and whose parents may not be able to provide for their

necessary expenses for tuition and maintenance at the State Seminary;

and at the expiration of their residence at the University which can not

exceed four years, these Beneficiary Cadets are required to teach school

within the State for two years, on penalty of default to the amount of

the sum paid by the State.

WABASH COLLEGE, CRAWFORDSVILLE, INDIANA.

By arrangement with the Trustees of Wabash College, the Legislature of

Indiana has authorized the County Commissioners of each county to

appoint one person to receive the advantages of the institution for five

years, free of tuition, in consideration of a portion of the State’s

quota of the United States Land Grant, for agricultural and mechanical

Arts Colleges; and to meet the requirements of the law of Congress, the

college has established a Scientific Course, and under the

superintendence of a Professor of Military Science, daily instruction in

Tactics and Gymnastics is given to the students by divisions with a

weekly drill of all, as a battalion. The _College Courant_ thus notices

the new hall for Gymnastics and Tactics:

The physical culture of this institution is under the charge of the

Chair of Military Science, and for the purpose of this culture a

building has been erected which is more comprehensive than usual in

gymnasiums, and is quite unique in some particulars. Work was commenced

last August, and in fifty days the roof was receiving the slate. The

building presents the form of a cross, of equal members, and the ground

service of seven thousand five hundred feet, is thus divided: A marching

and running course, of three hundred feet, twelve feet wide, and

seventeen feet high; a gymnasium sixty feet by twenty-six, and

twenty-four feet high, ventilated and lighted by a central tower fifty

feet in height; an armory and gun-room, for care of small arms and

artillery; and a room for fencing, boxing, quoits and other manly

exercises. In the four transepts above, are topographical room, model

room; reading room, for maps, charts, etc., and bath rooms. All these,

through interior glass fronts, furnish a full view of the Exercise Hall,

within and below. The small-arms used are the “light, cadet,

breech-loading rifle,” similar to those last issued to the Military

Academy at West Point, and were manufactured by the United States at the

Springfield Arsenal for the use of students receiving their instruction.

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY.

The University of the State of California has a Military Department to

meet the requirements of the Act of Congress, under the directions

(1871) of Professor (General) Welcker and Assistant Professor F. Soulé,

graduates of the West Point Academy. The Adjutant General (Thos. N.

Cazneau) of the State in his Report to the Governor, dated September 1,

1870, remarks:

The gratifying success with which the military department of the State

University has been conducted is worthy of special notice, and I am

happy to announce that perfect discipline and a high state of

proficiency pervade the department of military study at that

institution. The cadets were incorporated with the National Guard of the

State by Act of the last legislature, and have been formed into four

companies of infantry, and instructed most fully and perfectly in that

branch of military service. A personal inspection of the battalion

enables me to speak of its condition with confidence. I find both

officers and cadets thoroughly up to the requirements of the infantry

soldier, perfect in carriage, most proficient in the use of arms, steady

in marching and all company formations, and, in the manœuvres of the

battalion, challenging an admiration worthy to be elicited by a veteran

soldiery. Their _ensemble_ is striking, and the effect of a thorough

military training upon the young gentlemen of the University is largely

manifested in their erect and graceful personal appearance and

movements, apparent not only when upon duty but in their ordinary walks

of every-day occupation; while the gentlemanly and high-toned courtesy

that pervades the whole body may not unjustly be attributed, in a large

degree, to their military studies and military habits. The young

officers evince excellent characteristics of command, great dignity of

deportment and admirable ability in imparting instruction. I can not too

highly commend to your attention the whole military condition of the

cadets of the State University, and to ask for them your fostering care

and encouragement, and that of the Legislature.

There are several colleges in California in which military instruction

is introduced; prominent among them is St. Augustine College at Benicia,

and McClure’s Academy at Oakland. At each there are about 100 boys,

fully equipped and drilled as infantry soldiers.

INDIVIDUAL AND CORPORATE INSTITUTIONS FOR MILITARY INSTRUCTION.

ALDEN PARTRIDGE.

Alden Partridge, Captain in the United States Corps of Engineers,

Professor and Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point, and

the Founder of a class of institutions in which the military element is

recognized and provided for as an essential part of the training of the

American citizen, was born at Norwich in Vermont, on the 12th of

January, 1785. His father was a farmer, in independent circumstances,

served in the war of the Revolution, and took part in the capture of

Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga. He brought up his son in the New

England fashion, at such district school as the times and the country

afforded in the winter, and at all sorts of work about the house and on

the farm at other seasons, until he was sixteen years of age, when,

being of studious turn, and fond of reading, he was allowed to fit for

college, and entered Dartmouth in August, 1802. We have no knowledge of

his studies in college, but it is presumed that his predilections were

for the mathematics, and from the lateness with which he commenced his

Latin and his subsequent declarations, his aversion was for the

languages. Before completing his collegiate course he received the

appointment of cadet[20] in the regiment of artillerists in the United

States service, with orders to repair to West Point, and report himself

to the commanding officer of the Military Academy at that place.

[Footnote 20: A _Cadet_ in the military organization of the Army

denoted a junior officer between the grade of lieutenant and

sergeant, and was introduced from the French service. An Act of

Congress, passed May 7th, 1794, provided for a Corps of

Artillerists and Engineers, to consist of four battalions, to each

of which eight _cadets_ were to be attached, and authorized the

Secretary of War to procure at the public expense the necessary

books, instruments and apparatus for the use and benefit of said

corps. In 1798, an additional regiment of Artillerists and

Engineers was raised, increasing the number of Cadets to

fifty-six. In 1798, the President was authorized to appoint four

teachers of the Arts and Sciences necessary to Artillerists and

Engineers. No appointment was made till 1801, and in 1802, the

Military Academy was established at West Point, where the corps of

Engineers was directed to repair with fifty Cadets, and the Senior

Officer of the Corps was constituted Superintendent. Col. Williams

was then Senior Officer of Engineers, and became, _ex-officio_,

Superintendent, and continued such until 1812.]

The Military Academy at the time Cadet Partridge arrived at West Point

was very inadequately equipped with the men and material aids of

instruction, although the two teachers appointed were abundantly capable

in their respective departments. Jared Mansfield, especially, the

teacher of natural philosophy, had won such reputation in mathematical

studies that he received his commission as a captain of engineers from

Mr. Jefferson for the very purpose of becoming a teacher at West Point,

which he did by appointment in 1802, although in reality he did not

perform his duties regularly, and then only for one year, having been,

in 1808, appointed by President Jefferson to the responsible post of

Surveyor-General of the North-western territory. Such instruction as was

given was received by Cadet Partridge in 1806, and in July of that year,

he was transferred to the Corps of Engineers, and in October,

commissioned as first lieutenant. In November, 1806, he was appointed

assistant professor of mathematics, Fedinand K. Hassler, a little later,

having been made Professor in place of Capt. Barron, retired. From Prof.

Hassler, he received great help in his mathematical studies, as he

afterwards repeatedly acknowledged. In 1808, Prof. Partridge was called

to act in place of the Superintendent in the absence of Col. Williams,

and continued to do so, with brief intervals, until January, 1815, when

he was appointed to the office which he filled till March, 1816. In

1809, Mr. Hassler resigned the professorship of mathematics, and the

instruction before given by him devolved on his assistant, Mr.

Partridge. In 1810, he succeeded, after repeated applications to the

Secretary of War, in obtaining two field pieces, for practical

instruction of the Cadets as Artillerists.

In 1812, the Academy was re-organized, and was made to consist of the

Corps of Engineers and the following Professors, in addition to the

teachers of the French language and drawing, viz.: “one professor of

natural and experimental philosophy; one professor of mathematics; and

one professor of the art of engineering; each professor to have an

assistant taken from the most prominent of the Officers or Cadets.” The

number of Cadets was increased to two hundred and fifty, and were

directed to be arranged into companies of non-commissioned officers and

privates, according to the directions of the commandant of Engineers,

and be officered from that corps, “for the purposes of military

instruction, in all the duties of a private, non-commissioned officer,

and officer, and to be encamped at least three months of each year, and

taught all the duties incident to a regular camp.” The age of admission

was fixed, the minimum at fourteen, and maximum at twenty-one, and

preliminary knowledge to be well versed in reading, writing, and

arithmetic. It was further provided that any Cadet who shall receive a

regular degree from the Academical Staff, after going through all the

classes, shall be considered among the candidates for a commission in

any corps, according to the duties he may be judged competent to

perform. The sum of $25,000 was appropriated towards the buildings,

library, implements, &c. On this broad basis the Academy was

progressively enlarged to its present capabilities of usefulness.

Under the new arrangement of 1812, Mr. Partridge was appointed professor

of mathematics, with the pay and emoluments of a major, which

appointment was soon after, at the request of the Secretary of War,

exchanged for that of professor of engineering, it being found more

difficult to fill the latter post than the former. The duties of this

professorship he continued to discharge from September 1, 1813, till

December 31, 1816.

In 1808, Capt. Partridge was ordered by Col. Williams to take charge of

the internal direction and control of the Military Academy as

Superintendent, which duties he discharged until January 3, 1815, when,

by regulations of that date, he was made the permanent Superintendent,

which post he held-till November 25th, 1816, and was finally relieved on

the 13th of January, 1817.

By the regulation of January 3, 1815, the commandant of the Corps of

Engineers was constituted _Inspector_ of the Academy, and made

responsible for instruction, and to report to the Department of War. Out

of this appointment, and the instructions relating thereto, grew a

difference of opinion, which resulted in the final withdrawal of Capt.

Partridge from the institution, the resignation of his commission in the

military service of the United States, and his subsequent devotion to

the dissemination by lectures and personal efforts of the views which he

had formed of the education required by the American citizen, and the

establishment of institutions in which these views could be carried out.

After resigning his commission in the military service of the United

States, Capt. Partridge was engaged, in the summer of 1818, as military

instructor to a volunteer corps, and in giving a course of lectures on

fortifications and other branches of military science to a class of

officers and citizens in the city of New York. The views which he then

presented on the best means of national defense were in advance of the

“piping times of peace” in 1818, but have been since demanded to be

eminently sound and practical by the terrible experience of 1861-1862.

His chief reliance for national defense was in the _military habits_ of

the great body of the American people--organized into suitable militia

departments corresponding in the main to the limits of the several

states, officered by men of the right capacity, scientific education,

and military training. The officers were required to assemble annually

at stated periods, either in camps or rendezvous, at some central point

in the department, to receive instruction from a few competent teachers

of the military art. We give the plan in his own language as published

at the time.

I. Let the United States be divided into military departments, say

thirty in number; each of those departments to be wholly comprised

within the same state, whenever this can be done.

II. To each of those departments let there be attached a military

instructor, (under the authority of the United States,) who should

receive the pay and emoluments of a colonel of infantry, and have the

brevet-rank of a brigadier-general. These instructors to be gentlemen of

established character and reputation, and who have received a regular

scientific military education.

III. Let the officers of each brigade of militia in the United States

be required to assemble annually at stated periods, either in camp or

rendezvous at some central point in the brigade, there to remain six

days, for the purpose of military instruction. Let each instructor

attend in succession at the several camps or places of rendezvous in his

department, and devote himself assiduously to the instruction of the

officers there assembled. One portion of the day might be devoted to

practical drills, and field evolutions--also to the turning off,

mounting, and relieving guards and sentinels, while the remainder could

be most usefully employed in explaining and illustrating the principles

of tactics generally, of artillery, of permanent and field

fortification, the duties of troops in camp and in garrison, and such

other branches as time and circumstances might permit, by means of

familiar explanatory lectures.

IV. Let each officer receive from the government a reasonable

allowance for his expenses while attending the instruction, and also

while going to, and returning from, the camp or rendezvous.

Some of the principal advantages that would result from the adoption

of the foregoing plan, I conceive would be as follows; viz.:--

1. The same system of tactics and discipline would pervade the whole

mass of the militia--the instructors being imperatively required to

adhere to one system. This would be a very important advantage.

2. By this means the country, in the course of a few years, would be

furnished with a well organized military force, of at least one million

of men, composed of the best materials in the world for soldiers; the

whole of which, the officers having been regularly and correctly

instructed, might be rendered, in the course of a few weeks, after being

called into service, perfectly competent to the efficient discharge of

all the duties of the field. This assertion is not founded upon

conjecture. An experience of nearly fifteen years in military

instruction, has convinced me, that any of our regiments of militia, in

their present state of discipline, if brought into the field and placed

under competent officers, could, by three weeks instruction, be prepared

for discharging all the duties of regular troops. The instruction, then,

in time of peace, of the officers, becomes an object of great

importance;--that of the privates is of secondary consideration. There

is no difficulty in making soldiers, when officers understand their

duty, and are disposed to perform it.

It may perhaps be objected to the foregoing plan, that the time

proposed for the officers to remain in camp or rendezvous is too limited

to admit of their deriving much advantage therefrom. In answer to this I

will observe, that a due share of experience in this species of

instruction, has fully convinced me, that they would acquire more

correct military information in six days, under a competent and

systematic instructor, than they usually acquire under the present

system, during the whole period from eighteen to forty-five years of

age; and that, after attending two or three similar courses, the great

body of them would be perfectly competent to the correct, efficient, and

useful discharge of all the duties of the field. From the best

calculation I have been able to make, I feel confident, that the whole

necessary expense of carrying this plan into full and effective

operation, would not exceed six hundred thousand dollars--it would

probably fall short of that sum. Whether the expense, then, is to be

considered as disproportionate to the object in view, and therefore to

constitute a barrier to its accomplishment, must be decided by the sound

discretion of the representatives of the people. It appears to me,

however, to bear no greater ratio to it, than does a grain of sand to

the globe we inhabit. The cultivation of military science must also be

viewed as of the first importance in a system of military defense for

our country. The plan already detailed, is calculated for the general

dissemination of practical military information throughout the

community, but is not adapted to the investigation of principles. This

can only be done at seminaries, where it constitutes a branch of regular

attention and study; and where theory and practice can, in due

proportion, be combined. At those seminaries would be formed our

military instructors, our engineers, and our generals; and from those,

as from so many foci, would all the improvements in the military art be

diffused throughout the country.

In the lectures delivered in 1818, Capt, Partridge, in view of the

Inevitable disintegration by frost and moisture, and the improvements in

the science of attack, anticipated the insufficiency of permanent

fortifications--of works of masonry, no matter how expensively or

strongly constructed--to the defense of our principal harbors against

the attacks of a foreign foe; his reliance was on the general diffusion

of military science and training amongst the militia, on an efficient

navy, and the following plan of marine defense.

I. At the most important and exposed points on our seaboard, let one

or two principal works of the most permanent kind be erected: these

works to be kept in perfect repair, to be plentifully supplied with all

the munitions of war, and the gun’s and carriages well secured from the

weather by means of pent houses.

II. In the vicinity of all the most exposed and vulnerable points on

the seaboard, let spacious and permanent arsenals be constructed, in

which, let there be deposited ample supplies of cannon, mortars, gun

carriages, materials for platforms, and other munitions of war, where

they would remain perfectly safe from the weather.

III. In case of war or threatened invasion, let temporary works,

either of earth, or of wood, be constructed at all the most vulnerable

points, which could be readily furnished with cannon, gun carriages,

platforms, and all the necessary implements and munitions from the

arsenals in their vicinity.

IV. As soon as peace is restored, these works should be dismantled,

and all their apparatus returned to the arsenals from whence it was

taken. In case of future emergencies, they could be restored, or others

of the same descriptions, constructed in their places, which could be

supplied from the arsenals in the manner above stated. The efficacy in

marine defense, of works of the above description, I presume will not be

doubted by any scientific military man. Should any one, however, be

disposed to doubt it, I would beg leave to refer him to the defense of

Fort Moultrie, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, when

attacked by the British shipping, during the Revolutionary war, and also

to the defense made by the small fort at Stonington, Connecticut, when

attacked in a similar manner during the last war.

By adopting this system, I think the following advantages would

result:--

1. A more secure defense would be obtained. By knowing the description

of force we had to encounter, we should be enabled to construct our

temporary works in a manner the best calculated to repel it; and as the

gun carriages, platforms, and implements, when taken from the arsenals,

would be sound and in perfect order, we might reasonably calculate these

works would make a more vigorous resistance than permanent ones, which,

with their apparatus, are in a state of partial dilapidation and decay.

2. The system would be much less expensive than the one by permanent

fortification. Those temporary works could ordinarily be constructed by

the troops with very little, if any, additional expense; but in case of

pressing emergency, the zeal and patriotism of the people might be

relied upon with safety, to supply any amount of labor that might be

necessary, as was the case at New York in 1814. As it is not proposed

they should be retained as military stations in time of peace, the

expense of keeping them in repair would be nothing.

In the early part of 1819, Capt. Partridge was engaged in the exploring

survey of the North Eastern boundary, under the fifth article of the

treaty of Ghent. While on this survey he determined from barometrical

and thermometrical observations of the altitudes of the Highlands

dividing the rivers which flow northerly into the St. Lawrence, from

those which flow southerly into the Atlantic ocean; he also made a

profile of the country between several points on the St. Lawrence, and

corresponding position in the state of Maine.

In 1820, Capt. Partridge resigned his position in this survey, for the

purpose of carrying into practical effect a plan of education, which had

occupied much of his attention since 1810, and which in its main

features was, doubtless, suggested by his experience at Hanover, and

West Point, and was calculated to supply certain deficiencies which he

and others had already noticed in our American colleges and higher

seminaries of learning. His views both of the deficiencies and their

remedies were set forth in a lecture delivered at this time, which was

subsequently printed. After defining “education in its most perfect

state to be the preparing a youth in the best possible manner for the

correct discharge of the duties of any station in which he may be

placed,” in this lecture he proceeds to characterize the existing plan

of instruction.

1. It is not sufficiently practical, nor properly adapted to the

various duties an American citizen may be called upon to discharge.

Those of our youth who are destined for a liberal education, as it is

called, are usually put, at an early age, to the study of the Latin and

Greek languages, combining therewith a very slight attention to their

own language, the elements of arithmetic, &c.; and after having devoted

several years in this way, they are prepared to become members of a

college or university.

Here they spend four years for the purpose of acquiring a knowledge of

the higher branches of learning; after which, they receive their

diplomat, and are supposed to be prepared to enter on the duties of

active life. But, I would ask, is this actually the case? Are they

prepared in the best possible manner to discharge correctly the duties

of any station in which fortune or inclination may place them? Have they

been instructed in the science of government generally, and more

especially in the principles of our excellent Constitution, and thereby

prepared to sit in the legislative councils of the nation? Has their

attention been sufficiently directed to those great and important

branches of national industry and sources of national wealth--

agriculture, commerce, and manufactures? Have they been taught

to examine the policy of other nations, and the effect of that policy on

the prosperity of their own country? Are they prepared to discharge the

duties of civil or military engineers, or to endure fatigue, or to

become the defenders of their country’s rights, and the avengers of her

wrongs, either in the ranks or at the head of her armies? It appears to

me not; and if not, then, agreeably to the standard established, their

education is so far defective.

2. Another defect in the present system, is, the entire neglect, in

all our principal seminaries, of physical education, or the due

cultivation and improvement of the physical powers of the students.

The great importance and even absolute necessity of a regular and

systematic course of exercise for the preservation of health, and

confirming and rendering vigorous the constitution, I presume, must be

evident to the most superficial observer. It is for want of this, that

so many of our most promising youths lose their health by the time they

are prepared to enter on the grand theatre of active and useful life,

and either prematurely die, or linger out a comparatively useless and

miserable existence. That the health of the closest applicant may be

preserved, when he is subjected to a regular and systematic course of

exercises, I know, from practical experience; and I have no hesitation

in asserting, that in nine cases out of ten, it is just as easy for a

youth, however hard he may study, to attain the age of manhood, with a

firm and vigorous constitution, capable of enduring exposure, hunger and

fatigue, as it is to grow up puny and debilitated, incapable of either

bodily or mental exertion.

3. A third defect in our system is, the amount of idle time allowed

the students; that portion of the day during which they are actually

engaged in study and recitations, under the eye of their instructors,

comprises but a small portion of the whole; during the remainder, those

that are disposed to study, will improve at their rooms, while those who

are not so disposed, will not only not improve, but will be very likely

to engage in practices injurious to their constitutions and destructive

to their morals. If this vacant time could be employed in duties and

exercises, which, while they amuse and improve the mind, would at the

same time invigorate the body and confirm the constitution, it would

certainly be a great point gained. That this may be done, I shall

attempt in the course of these observations, to show.

4. A fourth defect is, the allowing to students, especially to those

of the wealthier class, too much money, thereby inducing habits of

dissipation and extravagance, highly injurious to themselves, and also

to the seminaries of which they are members. I have no hesitation in

asserting, that far the greater portion of the irregularities and

disorderly proceedings amongst the students of our seminaries, may be

traced to this fatal cause. Collect together at any seminary, a large

number of youths, of the ages they generally are at our institutions,

furnish them with money, and allow them a portion of idle time, and it

may be viewed as a miracle, if a large portion of them do not become

corrupt in morals, and instead of going forth into the world to become

ornaments in society, they rather are prepared to become nuisances to

the same. There is in this respect, an immense responsibility resting on

parents and guardians, as well as on all others having the care and

instruction of youth, of which it appears to me they are not

sufficiently aware.

When youths are sent to a seminary, it is presumed they are sent for

the purpose of learning something that is useful, and not to acquire bad

habits, or to spend money; they should consequently be furnished with

every thing necessary for their comfort, convenience and improvement,

but money should in no instance be put into their hands. So certainly as

they have it, just so certainly will they spend it, and this will, in

nine cases out of ten, be done in a manner seriously to injure them,

without any corresponding advantage. It frequently draws them into

vicious and dissolute company, and induces habits of immorality and

vice, which ultimately prove their ruin. The over-weening indulgence of

parents, has been the cause of the destruction of the morals and future

usefulness of many a promising youth. They may eventually discover their

error, but alas, it is often too late to correct it. Much better does

that person discharge the duties of a real friend to the thoughtless,

unwary youth, who withholds from him the means of indulging in

dissipated and vicious courses.

5. A fifth defect is the requiring all the students to pursue the same

course of studies.

All youth have not the same inclinations, nor the same capacities; one

may possess a particular inclination and capacity for the study of the

classics, but not for the mathematics and other branches of science;

with another it may be the reverse. Now it will be in vain to attempt

making a mathematician of the former, or a linguist of the latter.

Consequently, all the time that is devoted in this manner, will be lost,

or something worse than lost. Every youth, who has any capacity or

inclination for the acquirement of knowledge, will have some favorite

studies, in which he will be likely to excel. It is certainly then much

better that he should be permitted to pursue those, than, that by being

forced to attend to others for which he has an aversion, and in which he

will never excel, or ever make common proficiency, he should finally

acquire a dislike to all study. The celebrated Pascal, is a striking

instance of the absurdity and folly of attempting to force a youth to

attend to branches of study, for which he has an utter aversion, to the

exclusion of those for which he may possess a particular attachment. Had

the father of this eminent man persisted in his absurd and foolish

course, France would never have seen him, what he subsequently became,

one of her brightest ornaments.

6. A sixth defect is the prescribing the length of time for

completing, as it is termed, a course of education. By these means, the

good scholar is placed nearly on a level with the sluggard, for whatever

may be his exertions, he can gain nothing in respect to time, and the

latter has, in consequence of this, less stimulus for exertion. If any

thing will induce the indolent student to exert himself, it is the

desire to prevent others getting ahead of him. It would be much better

to allow each one to progress as rapidly as possible, with a thorough

understanding of the subject.

Having stated what appeared to him the most prominent defects in the

academies and colleges as organized and conducted, he next proceeds to

point out the remedies.

1. The organization and discipline should be strictly military.

Under a military system, subordination and discipline are much more

easily preserved than under any other. Whenever a youth can be impressed

with the true principles and feelings of a soldier, he becomes, as a

matter of course, subordinate, honorable, and manly. He disdains

subterfuge and prevarication, and all that low cunning, which is but too

prevalent. He acts not the part of the assassin, but if he have an

enemy, he meets him openly and fairly. Others may boast that they have

broken the laws and regulations of the institution of which they are, or

have been members, and have escaped detection and punishment, by mean

prevarication and falsehood. Not so the real soldier. If he have broken

orders and regulations, he will openly acknowledge his error, and

reform; but will not boast of having been insubordinate. Those

principles, if imbibed and fixed in early youth, will continue to

influence his conduct and actions during life; he will be equally

observant of the laws of his country, as of the academic regulations

under which he has lived; and will become the more estimable citizen in

consequence thereof. I shall not pretend, however, that all who wear a

military garb, or live, for a time, even under a correct system of

military discipline, will be influenced in their conduct by the

principles above stated; but if they are not, it only proves that they

have previously imbibed erroneous principles, which have become too

firmly fixed to be eradicated; or that nature has not formed them with

minds capable of soaring above what is low and groveling.

2. Military science and instruction should constitute a part of the

course of education.

The constitution of the United States has invested the military

defense of the country in the great body of the people. By the wise

provisions of this instrument, and of the laws made in pursuance

thereof, every American citizen, from eighteen to forty-five years of

age, unless specially exempted by law, is liable to be called upon for

the discharge of military duty--he is emphatically a citizen soldier,

and it appears to me perfectly proper that he should be equally prepared

by education to discharge, correctly, his duties in either capacity. If

we intend to avoid a standing army, (that bane of a republic, and engine

of oppression in the hands of despots,) our militia must be patronized

and improved, and military information must be disseminated amongst the

great mass of the people; when deposited with them, it is in safe hands,

and will never be exhibited in practice, except in opposition to the

enemies of the country. I am well aware there are amongst us many worthy

individuals, who deem the cultivation of military science a sort of

heresy, flattering themselves, and endeavoring to induce others to

believe, that the time has now arrived, or is very near, when wars are

to cease, and universal harmony prevail amongst mankind. But, my

fellow-citizens, be not deceived by the syren song of peace, peace,

when, in reality, there is no peace, except in a due and constant

preparation for war. If we turn our attention to Europe, what do we

behold? A league of crowned despots, impiously called holy, wielding a

tremendous military force of two millions of mercenaries! Ill-fated

Naples, and more ill-fated Spain, have both felt the effects of _their

peaceable_ dispositions, and were it not for the wide-spreading

Atlantic, which the God of nature in his infinite goodness has

interposed between us, we also, ere this, should have had a like

experience. The principles of liberty are equally obnoxious to them,

whether found in Europe, Asia, Africa, or America. If rendering mankind

ignorant of the art of war, (as a science,) would prevent wars, then

would I unite most cordially with those, usually termed peace-men, for

the purpose of destroying every vestige of it. But such, I am confident,

would not be the result. Wars amongst nations do not arise because they

understand how to conduct them skillfully and on scientific principles;

but are induced by the evil propensities and dispositions of mankind. To

prevent the effect, the cause must be removed. We may render nations

ignorant of the use of the musket and bayonet; we may carry them back,

as respects the art of war, to a state of barbarism, or even of

savageism, and still wars will exist. So long as mankind possess the

dispositions which they now possess, and which they ever have possessed,

so long they will fight. To prevent wars, then, the disposition must be

changed; no remedy short of this, will be effectual. In proportion as

nations are rude and unskilled in the art of war, will their military

code be barbarous and unrelenting, their battles sanguinary, and their

whole system of warfare, destructive. War, therefore, in such a case,

becomes a far greater evil, than it does under an improved and refined

system, where battles are won more by skill than by hard fighting, and

the laws of war are proportionally ameliorated. What rational man, what

friend of mankind, would be willing to exchange the present humane and

refined system of warfare, for that practiced by an Attila, a Jenghis

Khan, a Tamerlane, or a Mahomet, when hundreds of thousands fell in a

single engagement, and when conquest and extermination were synonymous

terms. On the principles of humanity, then, it appears to me that, so

long as wars do exist, the military art should be improved and refined

as much as possible; for, in proportion as this is done, battles will be

less sanguinary and destructive, the whole system more humane, and war

itself a far less evil. But independent of any connection with the

profession of arms, or of any of the foregoing considerations,

I consider a scientific knowledge of the military art, as constituting a

very important part of the education of every individual engaged in the

pursuit of useful knowledge, and this for many reasons; viz.:--

_First._ It is of great use in the reading of history, both ancient

and modern.

A large portion of history is made up of accounts of military

operations, descriptions of battles, sieges, &c. How, I would ask, is

the reader to understand this part, if he be ignorant of the

organization of armies, of the various systems of military tactics, of

the science of fortification, and of the attack and defense of fortified

places, both in ancient and modern times? Without such knowledge it is

evident he derives, comparatively but little information from a large

portion of what he reads.

_Second._ It is of great importance in the writing of history.

I presume it will not be denied, that in order to write well on any

subject, it must be understood. How, then, can the historian give a

correct and intelligible account of a campaign, battle, or siege, who is

not only unacquainted with the principles on which military operations

are conducted, but is also ignorant of the technical language necessary

for communicating his ideas intelligibly on the subject? This is the

principal reason why, as it appears to me, the ancient historians were

so much superior to the modern. Many of their best historical writers

were military men. Some of them accomplished commanders. The account of

military operations by such writers as Xenophon, Thucydides, Polybius

and Cæsar, are perfectly clear and intelligible, whereas when attempted

by the great body of modern historians, the most we can learn is, that a

fortress was besieged and taken, or that a battle was fought and a

victory won, but are left in entire ignorance of the principles on which

the operations were conducted, or of the reasons why the results were as

they were.

_Third._ It is essentially necessary for the legislator.

The military defense of our country is doubtless one of the most

important trusts which is vested by the constitution in the general

government, and it is a well known fact, that more money is drawn from

the people and disbursed in the military, than in any other department

of the government. Now as all must be done under the sanction of the

law, I would beg leave to inquire, whether it be not of the greatest

importance, that those who are to make such laws should be in every

respect well prepared to legislate understandingly on the subject? That

there has been, and still is, a want of information on this subject

amongst the great body of the members of Congress, I think will be

perfectly evident to any one who is competent, and will take the trouble

to examine our military legislation since the conclusion of the

Revolutionary war. I feel little hesitation in asserting, that from want

of this information, more than from any other cause, as much money has

been uselessly expended in our military department alone, as would

cancel a large portion of the national debt.

_Fourth._ It is of great use to the traveler.

Suppose a young man, with the best education he can obtain at any of

our colleges or universities, were to visit Europe, where the military

constitutes the first class of the community, and where the

fortifications constitute the most important appendages to nearly all

the principal cities, how much does he observe, which he does not

understand? If he attempt a description of the cities, he finds himself

embarrassed for want of a knowledge of fortification. If he attempt an

investigation of the principles and organization of their institutions,

or of their governments, he finds the military so interwoven with them

all, that they can not be thoroughly understood without it. In fine, he

will return with far less information, than with the aid of a military

education he might have derived. As it respects the military exercises,

I would observe, that were they of no other use than in preserving the

health of students, and confirming in them a good figure and manliness

of deportment, I should consider these were ample reasons for

introducing them into our seminaries generally; they are better

calculated than any others for counteracting the natural habits of

students, and can always be attended to, at such times as would

otherwise be spent in idleness or useless amusements. Having expressed

my views thus fully on this subject, I will next proceed to state more

specifically the other branches which I would propose to introduce into

a complete course of education: and--

1. The course of classical and scientific instruction should be as

extensive and perfect as at our most approved institutions. The students

should be earnestly enjoined and required to derive as much of useful

information from the most approved authors, as their time and

circumstances would permit.

2. A due portion of time should be devoted to practical geometrical

and other scientific operations in the field. The pupils should

frequently be taken on pedestrian excursions into the country; be

habituated to endure fatigue, to climb mountains, and to determine their

altitudes by means of the barometer as well as by trigonometry. Those

excursions, while they would learn them to walk, (which I estimate an

important part of education,) and render them vigorous and healthy,

would also prepare them for becoming men of practical science generally,

and would further confer on them a correct _coup d’œil_ so essentially

necessary for military and civil engineers, for surveyors, for

travelers, &c., and which can never be acquired otherwise than by

practice.

3. Another portion of their time should be devoted to practical

agricultural pursuits, gardening, &c.

In a country like ours, which is emphatically agricultural, I presume

it will not be doubted, that a practical scientific knowledge of

agriculture would constitute an important appendage to the education of

every American citizen. Indeed the most certain mode of improving the

agriculture of the country will be to make it a branch of elementary

education. By these means, it will not only be improved, but also a

knowledge of their improvements generally disseminated amongst the great

mass of the people.

4. A further portion of time should be devoted to attending familiar

explanatory lectures on the various branches of military science, on the

principles and practice of agriculture, commerce and manufactures, on

political economy, on the constitution of the United States, and those

of the individual states, in which should be pointed out particularly

the powers and duties of the general government, and the existing

relations between that and the state governments, on the science of

government generally. In fine, on all those branches of knowledge which

are necessary to enable them to discharge, in the best possible manner,

the duties they owe to themselves, to their fellow men, and to their

country.

5. To the institution should be attached a range of mechanics’ shops,

where those who possess an aptitude and inclination might occasionally

employ a leisure hour in learning the use of tools and acquiring a

knowledge of some useful mechanic art.

The division of time, each day, I would make as follows, viz.:--

Eight hours to be devoted to study and recitation; eight hours allowed

for sleep. Three hours for the regular meals, and such other necessary

personal duties as the student may require. Two hours for the military

and other exercises, fencing, &c. The remaining three hours to be

devoted, in due proportion, to practical agricultural and scientific

pursuits and duties, and in attending lectures on the various subjects

before mentioned.

Some of the most prominent advantages of the foregoing plan would, in

my opinion, be the following; viz.:--

1. The student would, in the time usually devoted to the acquirement

of elementary education, (say six years) acquire, at least, as much, and

I think I may venture to say more, of book knowledge, than he would

under the present system.

2. In addition to this, he would go into the world an accomplished

soldier, a scientific and practical agriculturist, an expert

mechanician, an intelligent merchant, a political economist, legislator

and statesman. In fine, he could hardly be placed in any situation, the

duties of which he would not be prepared to discharge with honor to

himself and advantage to his fellow-citizens and his country.

3. In addition to the foregoing, he would grow up with habits of

industry, economy and morality, and, what is of little less importance,

a firm and vigorous constitution; with a head to conceive and an arm to

execute--he would emphatically possess a sound mind in a sound body.

After much correspondence Capt. Partridge decided to carry out his

principles of education in an institution organized on his own plan and

conducted by himself, with such assistance as he could command, in his

native village of Norwich, Vermont. Here he opened, on the 4th of

September, 1820, the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy,

on which the pupils or their parents had their choice of studies, out of

a course as extensive as that of any academy and college in New England

combined--in which military training formed a prominent feature, and the

mathematics, especially as applied to surveying and engineering,

received special attention. During the four years and half of its

continuance in Norwich the Academy was attended by 480 pupils,

representing twenty-one out of the twenty-four states, and of these, and

especially of such as continued on an average two years at the

institution, a large proportion became distinguished in military,

public, and business life--as large it is believed as the records of any

other institution for the same period of time can show. Its success

demonstrated beyond cavil, that military exercises and duties are not

inconsistent with ardent devotion, and the highest attainments in

literary and scientific studies.

In 1824, the citizens of Middletown, Connecticut, made a liberal

subscription to secure the location there, of a college about to be

established in that State, under Episcopal auspices. Failing in that

object, by the location of the institution at Hartford, where it now

exists under the name of Trinity College, they invited Capt. Partridge

to remove his Academy to their city, and offered to erect and place at

his disposal suitable buildings for his accommodation. This invitation

and offer were accepted, and on the 1st of April, 1825, he closed his

institution at Norwich, and on the 1st of September following, opened

his new course of instruction at Middletown, with an attendance of two

hundred and ninety-seven pupils in the first year. During the three

years--up to September 1828, the American Literary, Scientific, and

Military Academy at Middletown remained under his superintendence, there

were nearly twelve hundred pupils representing every State and Territory

of the United States, the British Provinces, Mexico, several of the

South American States, and the West Indies. This attendance shows

conclusively, that the military and scientific element, together with an

optional course of study, and a term of residence limited by the ability

of the pupil to complete the course, met a want not provided for in

existing colleges. Of those who completed the full course of study begun

at Norwich, as large a proportion, as the corresponding graduates of any

American college, attained a high degree of usefulness and eminence in

widely diversified fields of labor. Among its graduates are to be found

the founders or professors of several State Military Institutes, many

officers of the highest rank in the military service of the United

States, several eminent civil engineers, superintendents, of railroads,

members of Congress, lawyers, and men of practical efficiency and

success in every line of business.

One of the characteristic features of Captain Partridge’s system of

instruction and discipline at Middletown, was the military marches and

pedestrian excursions for scientific and recreating purposes conducted

under his personal command, or in his company. Several of these

excursions occupied three or four weeks, extending in one instance to

Washington. The military marches amounted in the aggregate to over two

thousand miles, and these and the various pedestrian excursions,

included visits to nearly all points of military and historical interest

in New England and New York. The immediate and controlling reasons which

induced Capt. Partridge to leave Middletown, are not known to the writer

of this memoir. He has however, understood it was owing partly to a

desire for temporary relief from the cares and confinement of immediate

superintendence, that he might start a similar institution in the

neighborhood of New York, and partly from disgust at the refusal of the

Legislature of Connecticut in 1828, to grant to the institution at

Middletown, the usual privileges and powers of a college.

In 1833,1834, 1837, and 1839, Capt. Partridge was elected representative

from the town of Norwich, to the Legislature of Vermont, and in that

capacity labored to give efficiency to the military system of the State.

In 1834, he secured for certain petitioners a charter for the Norwich

University, in which the Trustees are required “to provide for a

constant course of instruction in military science and civil

engineering,” and are “prohibited from establishing any regulations of a

sectarian character, either in religion or politics.” Of this

corporation, consisting of twenty-five trustees, Capt. Partridge was a

member, and in organizing the institution in 1825, he was elected

president of the Faculty. He continued to instruct in his own department

of military science and engineering, and administered the affairs of the

university till 1844, when owing to some difficulties arising out of the

use of the building, arms, and accourtrements, which were his private

property, he resigned.

In 1838, he was influential in calling together a convention of military

officers and persons interested in giving greater efficiency to the

organization of the militia of the several states, to meet for

consultation. This convention met at Norwich on the 4th of July; and

continued to meet annually for many years, to discuss plans for the

organization and discipline of the militia, for the dissemination of a

knowledge of military science, for the defense of the coast, &c. Many

reports of this body were drawn up by him, and the proceedings were

forwarded to, and printed by order of the Congress of the United States.

In 1839, on the request of many influential citizens, he visited

Portsmouth, Virginia, to establish a Military School, which he did, and

which was soon after recognized by the Legislature of the State as the

Virginia Literary, Scientific, and Military Institute, and aided by an

appropriation out of the Literary Fund. This Institute, with an

Institute of a similar character at Lexington, in the western part of

the State, has been greatly instrumental in diffusing widely in Virginia

a knowledge and taste for military affairs. The success of this

institution, and the personal influence of many of his own scholars at

Norwich and Middletown, led to the establishment of similar schools in

other southern states.

In May, 1842, Capt. Partridge accepted the position of Camp Instructor

for a large body of officers and men of the Pennsylvania volunteer

militia in encampment at Reading, Berks County. Each evening he

delivered a lecture to officers assembled in the General’s marquee, and

during the day exercised the troops in the manual of arms, and in

company, regimental, and brigade movements in the field. On this, and

many similar occasions, he demonstrated the correctness and

practicability of his theory of national defense, so far as testing the

qualifications of officers for command, and giving accuracy, rapidity,

and steadiness of exercise and movements to troops, by assembling

officers and men of the State Militia, once or twice in the year, in

convenient numbers and places, under instructors properly qualified for

the work. A few instructors, themselves trained in the best military

institutions, and familiar with every improvement in military

organization, equipment, and movement, and especially when clothed with

the reputation of success in actual service, would soon bring the entire

militia of the states into a uniform system, and give respectability and

efficiency to this department of the public service. This result would

be more speedily realized if a number of educational institutions

similar to those which he had organized under many disadvantages and

against many prejudices, could call out and cultivate military taste and

accomplishments among a portion of the young men of each state.

In 1853, he opened at Brandywine Springs, near Wilmington, in the State

of Delaware, another institution in which he fondly hoped his ideal of a

National school of education would be realized--an institution in which

physical training in connection with military exercises and movements,

should accompany the acquisition of practical knowledge of the great

principles of science that underlie all the arts of peace and war, and

resorted to by students from every state of the American Union. His plan

as developed in conversation with those directly interested, embraced

his old ideas of scientific, and literary studies with systematic

pedestrian excursions,[21] and marches in vacations to the great objects

of natural, economical, and historical interest in different parts of

the country. In this latter particular, he unconsciously applied the

suggestion of Milton in his letter to Samuel Hartlib, that “the students

of his Academy should go out in companies with prudent and staid guides

to all quarters of the land, learning and observing all places of

strength, and all commodities (facilities) of building and of soil, for

towns and tillage, harbors and ports of trade,--even sometimes taking

sea as far as to our navy to learn there also, what they can in the

practical knowledge of sailing and sea-fight.” Arrangements were made

for a class of ten or twelve of the most advanced and matured cadets to

accompany him to Europe to study the strategy of the great battles of

the world, and the armies, armories, and resources of the great nations

of Europe--thus again realizing Milton’s plan of gratifying “the desire

of the more hopeful youth” “to see other countries at three or four and

twenty years of age, not to learn principles, but to enlarge experience

and make wise observation.” But these hopes were darkened for a time by

a great disaster, and soon extinguished in the sudden death of the great

projector. In the autumn of 1853, the buildings at Brandywine Springs,

were consumed by fire, and although arrangements were at once made to

secure suitable accommodations at Bristol, Pennsylvania, and upwards of

one hundred pupils enrolled their names to attend for a year at that

place, still the great motive power of the enterprise was stricken down.

[Footnote 21: Captain Partridge attached much importance to

pedestrian excursions in reference both to hygenic, and

educational considerations. To these excursions he attributed his

own robust health, and his familiar knowledge of all the details

of American battles. In one year, (1830,) he made four excursions

from Norwich, each occupying from four to six days--and from one

hundred and fifty to four hundred miles--the last day’s walk

generally averaging over sixty miles. He had ascended and measured

the altitude of all the highest mountain elevations in the

Northern States.]

At the close of the year, 1853, Capt. Partridge returned to Norwich,

where his family still resided, in apparently good health and the best

spirits. A few days after he reached home, he was attacked by sharp and

excruciating pains in his back, which were soon subdued by anodynes, but

from the prostration and the cause, which proved on a post-mortem

examination to be an aneurism near the base of the spine, and which had

been exhausting his vitality for years--he never rallied, and on the

17th of January, 1854, he breathed his last--widely and deeply mourned

by troops of friends, who loved and admired him as their teacher, or

looked up to him as the best expounder of principles of military science

and education, and of national defense.

Although living most of his life in the discharge of educational and

public duties, under circumstances inconsistent with “a local

habitation,” he had strong domestic tastes and attachments, and was a

genial companion in his own room and home. In 1837, he married Miss

Swazey, the daughter of a merchant in Claremont, New Hampshire, and to

this happy union were born two children. The oldest boy, George, was

educated by the father on his own system, and had displayed vigorous

health, and strong partialities and attainments in mathematical studies

and their applications; but he survived his father only a few

months--“long desolate months they were to the widow and children ”--and

the tenement of that bright intellect was laid by the side of that of

his hardy and indefatigable father in the little village burying-ground.

The other son Henry, as he grew up, showed a partiality for the

profession of law, and was pursuing his studies in Warren, Penn., when

the call of the President of the United States for volunteers, summoned

him to the defense of the flag of the country. He enlisted for the war,

and was promoted to a captaincy in a Pennsylvania regiment, which was

attached to the army of the Potomac, whose varying fortunes he shared

till, greatly weakened by exposure and disease, he was honorably

discharged from the service. His superior officer in writing to his

mother, says: “He is in every respect a model officer. How could he be

otherwise? He has it all by right of inheritance, and I fully appreciate

that you have made a very great contribution to the government and the

country in sending him forth to fight the battles which have been forced

upon us.”

POPULAR OBJECTIONS TO A NATIONAL MILITARY SCHOOL.

NOTE.

As an Appendix to our Memoir of Capt. Alden Partridge, we republish the

following Memorial by him to the Congress of the United States, not

because we approve the objects or the arguments of either document, but

as part of the educational history of the country.

MEMORIAL OF ALDEN PARTRIDGE,

_Relating to the Military Academy at West Point, and praying that

young men educated at other military schools may have an equal chance

for admission to the army as those young men have who are educated at

West Point. January 21, 1841. Referred to the Committee on Military

Affairs._

_To the Honorable Congress of the United States:_--The memorial of

Alden Partridge, President of the Norwich University, at Norwich, State

of Vermont, respectfully showeth:

That your memorialist holds it to be a cardinal principle of our

republican institutions, that stations of honor, trust, and emolument

should be equally open to all our citizens, to which all have an equal

right to aspire, and from which none can constitutionally be excluded by

any law, rule, or regulation whatever. Your memorialist has, however,

witnessed, with deep regret, a direct violation of this vital principle

of our constitution, by the rules and regulations adopted for the

organization and government of the Military Academy at West Point. The

cadets of that institution, all of whom are educated at the _public_

expense, have, for many years, _monopolized_ nearly, if not quite, all

of the stations of honor, trust, and emolument, above that of a

non-commissioned officer, in the military establishment of the United

States, to the utter exclusion of those who are equally well qualified,

equally meritorious, and who are educated at their _own_ expense. But,

in order to place this subject more clearly before your honorable body,

your memorialist would call your attention to the law of the 29th of

April, 1812, entitled, “An act making further provision for the corps of

engineers.” By the provisions of this act, no candidate can be admitted

into the Military Academy who is under fourteen, or over twenty-one,

years of age. The effect of this provision is to exclude every young man

in the United States who is above twenty-one years of age from the

appointment of cadet, while the rules of the War department require that

none except those educated at this academy can be commissioned in the

army of the United States. The effect, then, of the law and regulation

is to utterly exclude all the youth of our country, except such select

few as the President may think proper to place in this “public charity

school,” from the military service of their country, who are above

twenty-one years of age, unless they will enter in the humble capacity

of _privates_ or _non-commissioned officers_. And can such a system be

in accordance with the principles of our constitution? Your memorialist

believes not. On the contrary, he feels confident in the assertion that

it is a most flagrant and palpable violation of them. The direct and

certain effect of this institution is to extend _Executive patronage_;

for the President has the entire selection of the _chosen two hundred_

and _fifty_ who are to be placed in the institution, and also to

establish an _aristocracy_ of the most dangerous kind, viz.: a

_military_ aristocracy in the United States. What, your memorialist

would ask, is an aristocracy? Is it not where any particular class in a

State claims and exercises privileges of which the great body of the

people are deprived? And do not the cadets at West Point enjoy such

privileges? and if so, do they not constitute an aristocracy? Your

memorialist believes that neither the fact nor the inference can be

controverted. But your memorialist will go further, and aver that the

regulations at West Point have not only constituted an aristocracy in

the United States, but that this aristocracy has already become, in a

great degree, _hereditary_. How many individuals, your memoralist would

ask, who have held offices of honor, trust, or emolument, under the

Government, for the last twenty-five years, have had their sons,

brothers, nephews, or other relatives, educated at the public expense at

West Point, to the entire exclusion of those who (to say the least,)

were equally meritorious, and equally capable of rendering service to

the republic? And how many of those thus educated have ever rendered any

service whatever? A reference to the rolls of the institution will

answer these inquiries. Your memorialist has _personal_ knowledge of

many instances. Your memorialist is well aware that it has been

attempted, by the friends of this monstrous invasion of the rights of

the people, to cast around it the mantle of Mr. Jefferson. Your

memorialist is ready to grant that the institution was established

during the early part of the first term of Mr. Jefferson’s

administration; but denies that any inference can be drawn from that

circumstance to sustain the present system. The institution _then_

consisted only of the corps of engineers, which was limited to sixteen

officers and four cadets, without any of those exclusive privileges

which have since been conferred upon it. On the 29th of April, 1812,

(just previous to the declaration of war,) a law was, however, passed,

entitled “An act making further provision for the corps of engineers;”

by the provisions of which, the whole number of cadets, whether of

infantry, artillery, or riflemen, was not to exceed two hundred and

fifty; and the President to appoint a limited number of cadets, and

conferring on him a _discretionary_ power to attach them to the Military

Academy, was evidently induced by the certainty of immediate war with

Great Britain, and had a direct reference to a _war_ establishment. Your

memorialist would respectfully call the attention of your honorable body

particularly to the provisions of the law of 1812 just referred to; and,

if he does not much mistake, it will satisfactorily appear that the

President is not _required_, but simply authorized, to appoint a single

cadet; and that it is left entirely discretionary with him, after they

are appointed, to attach them to the Military Academy, or to attach them

to their respective companies, agreeably to the provisions of other laws

then in existence. And here your memorialist would observe that, in the

_peace_-establishment of the army previous to the late war, two cadets

were allowed to each company of artillery, light infantry, and infantry,

amounting, in the total, to a _larger_ number than was authorized by the

law of 1812. But neither President Jefferson, nor President Madison

considered that the law required of them to fill those vacancies so long

as they considered their services were not required; and they

consequently did not fill them. The largest number of cadets ever in

service at the same time, previous to the late war, did not exceed

forty, and seldom exceeded twenty-five. Do the necessities of the

country require that any larger number should be retained in service

now, than were deemed necessary by Presidents Jefferson and Madison

during a time of peace? Your memorialist believes not. But it is urged,

in favor of this academy, that it presents a most favorable opportunity

for the education of meritorious young men who are poor, and,

consequently, unable to educate themselves. Your memorialist, however,

has yet to learn by what _constitutional_ authority Congress is

empowered to appropriate any portion of the public revenue for the

support of a _national charity school_ for the education of the poor.

Besides, if this power did exist, (which your memorialist presumes no

reasonable person will contend does,) _all_ the poor in the United

States have an equal right to the benefits to be derived from its

exercise, and that, consequently, the institution at West Point is on

quite too limited a plan for the accomplishment of the contemplated

object. Either, then, the institution should be very much enlarged, or

several others established in different parts of the United States,

which would be far more convenient for the great body of the poor. If,

however, the rolls of this institution for the last twenty years be

examined, it will be found that many more of the _rich_ and

_influential_ have been educated there, than of the _poor_. Poverty,

however meritorious the subject of it may be, is but a sorry

recommendation for admission to this aristocratic establishment.

But it is further urged, that this institution is _necessary_ for the

education of the officers of the army; and that, were it abolished, the

candidates for commissions would not be properly qualified for the

discharge of their duties as officers. Before your memorialist proceeds

to examine the truth of this position, he would inquire, at what

institution, and at whose expense, Generals Washington, Greene, Knox,

Putnam, Lincoln, Sullivan, Morgan, Wayne, Sumter, Pickens, Marion, and

all the other officers of the revolutionary army, by whose valor, skill,

and patriotic exertions, these United States now constitute a free and

independent nation, received their education? The answer is ready: at

the ordinary institutions of the country, and at their _own_ expense;

just as every _American citizen_ should be educated. And have the

_proteges_ of the West Point Academy, on whose education so many

millions of dollars of the peoples’ money have been expended within the

last twenty years, exhibited more skill, more valor, or more patriotism,

than did the officers of the revolutionary army? Let the events of the

Florida war, as compared with those of the Revolution, answer the

question. The truth is, (and it can not be much longer concealed from

the view of the people, by the reports of _boards of visitors_,) that

the whole system of education at West Point is well calculated to form

_military pedants_ and _military dandies_, but will never form

_efficient soldiers_. Much more important to them is their attention to

the _cut_ of the _coat_, the placing of a _button_, and the _snowy

whiteness of gloves and pantaloons_, than to those _physical_ and _moral

qualities_ which are absolutely necessary to the correct and efficient

discharge of the active duties of the field.

But your memorialist denies the truth of the position, that the West

Point Academy is necessary for the education of young men for the army.

There are other institutions where military science and instruction

constitute a branch of education for the pupils. Of these institutions,

however, your memorialist will particularize but one--and that is the

Norwich University, at Norwich, Vermont, over which he has the honor to

preside. This institution was incorporated by the Legislature of

Vermont, in November, 1834, with full power to confer diplomas, &c. By

the act of incorporation, military science is made a part of the

education of all the pupils. They are consequently correctly and

thoroughly instructed in the theoretical part of military science, and

also in the _practical_ duties of the soldier, and every one who

graduates at this institution is well qualified to discharge the duties

of a company officer (and even, if necessary, to command a battalion) in

any corps of the army. In order further to prepare them to discharge the

more hardy and active duties of the soldier, they occasionally perform

military marches. In the month of July, 1840, they performed a march,

under the personal command of your memorialist, to the celebrated

_military post_ of Ticonderoga, carrying their arms, accoutrements,

knapsacks, &c.; the whole length of which was one hundred and sixty-five

miles. Of this distance, one hundred and forty miles was on foot, and

twenty-five miles by steamboat. The march on foot was performed in a

little more than five days, crossing the Green Mountain range twice, and

the ground, with the heavens for covering, constituted their only

resting-place at night. The weather, during the whole march, was hot;

and they were enveloped in a cloud of dust, occasioned by the severe

drought, nearly the whole distance. They all returned in excellent

health and spirits. The youngest member of the corps was thirteen years

of age. The other branches of literature and science are attended to as

extensively, and the latter much more practically, than at any other

institution in the United States; and the students are consequently

equally well qualified to discharge their duties in the _cabinet_ and in

the _field_. But notwithstanding the members of this institution are, to

say the least, as well qualified for commissions of any grade, and in

any corps of the army, as those of any other institution in the country,

and have also obtained the necessary qualifications at their own

expense, they are virtually excluded therefrom by the _arbitrary_ and

_monopolizing_ regulations (established without the least sanction of

law,) of the Military Academy at West Point. In the month of September,

1840, a member of the Norwich University, the son of a highly

respectable gentleman in the city of New York, well recommended, applied

to the Secretary of War for a commission in the army, but was informed

that there were _no vacancies_, and that the cadets from West Point were

_more than sufficient to fill all the vacancies_. On the 21st of

December, 1840, your memorialist wrote to the Secretary of War,

recommending three young gentlemen, members of the Norwich University,

for commissions in the army of the United States; and received an

answer, dated War Department, December 29, 1840, from which the

following is an extract: “I acknowledge the receipt of your letter of

the 21st instant, recommending Messrs. Morris, Stevens, and Dorne, for

appointments in the army; and I have here to inform you, in reply, that

there being no vacancies at present, the application will be filed for

consideration, when any occur, _to which they can be appointed_.” Now

your memorialist feels confident that the records of the War Department

will show that a large number of cadets at West Point are commissioned

every year; and he presumes that such will continue to be the case,

unless a radical change is effected. But when young gentlemen of equal

respectability and attainments, who have not been of the _favored few_

whom _Executive favor_ has admitted into this nursery of aristocracy, to

be educated at the expense of the honest working men of the country,

become applicants, their claims are entirely set aside. Against this

_unconstitutional_, _unequal_, and _monopolizing_ practice, your

memorialist deems it his duty respectfully, but most decidedly, to

protest; and to ask of your honorable body the establishment of some

rule whereby the members of the Norwich University, at least, (to whom,

in many respects, he stands in the relation of guardian,) may be

restored to their _constitutional rights_; that when they become

applicants for stations of honor, trust, or emolument, in the military

service of their country, they shall stand on terms of equality with the

cadets at West Point.

Your memorialist deems it proper here to remark, that in October,

1840, he addressed a communication to the President of the United

States, on this subject, requesting to be informed whether, in the

opinion of the President, he possessed the power to remedy the grievance

of which your memorialist complains; and, if so, whether such power

would be exercised for that purpose. To this communication no answer has

been received. Your memorialist, availing himself of the privileges

granted to every American citizen, by the first amendment of the

constitution of the United States, would beg leave to call the attention

of your honorable body to some subjects, which he considers grievances

of a high order, and respectfully but earnestly solicits that they may

be redressed, viz:

1st. Your memorialist considers the Military Academy at West Point a

grievance. Under its present organization, it is unconstitutional,

calculated to foster a military aristocracy in the country; calculated

to depress the militia, (our only constitutional defense,) by engrossing

all the patronage of government; and is entirely unnecessary, as

military science can be attained at other institutions, from which the

necessary officers for the army can be supplied without any tax on the

people. Your memorialist, therefore, asks that this institution may be

abolished, and that the money that is annually appropriated for its

support may be applied to aid in disciplining the militia, and

disseminating military information amongst the people, who are its

constitutional and safe depositories.

2nd. Your memorialist considers the Board of Visitors that annually

assemble at West Point a grievance. This board never had any _existence

whatever in law_, but was established by Executive usurpation; yet, to

pay the expense of this illegal board, your memorialist believes that

more than fifty thousand dollars has been drawn from the public

treasury. Your memorialist earnestly solicits that this appropriation,

the making of which is a direct sanction to Executive _usurpation_,

should be discontinued.

3rd. Your memorialist considers the removal of the head-quarters of

the corps of engineers from West Point to Washington a grievance,

because it is a direct violation of the law of the 16th of March, 1802,

establishing that corps. That law requires the commandant of engineers

to reside at West Point, unless ordered, by the President of the United

States, on duty at some other place in the line of his profession; and,

when, at West Point, the law makes him superintendent of the Military

Academy; and when he is absent, the next in rank (who is then present,)

is made the _legal_ superintendent. The appointment, therefore, of any

particular officer as permanent superintendent, is evidently illegal, as

the law has clearly specified who the superintendent shall be.

All of which is respectfully submitted,

A. PARTRIDGE,

_President of Norwich University_.

JANUARY, 13, 1841.

REMARKS BY THE EDITOR.

We publish the foregoing Memorial of Capt. Partridge, asking Congress to

redress “the grievance” of the Military Academy, not because we have the

slightest sympathy with the object or main arguments of the memorialist,

but as specimens of the opinions held and propagated by a graduate,

professor, and superintendent of the Academy, who did more than any

other individual to introduce military instruction and exercises in

schools not national or professionally military. We can not, however,

put it forth without accompanying it with a few brief remarks.

To Capt. Partridge, more than to any one man, and to his pupils, and

personal friends, as we believe, is due the popular objections which

prevail respecting the United States Military Academy, except so far as

the objections spring from the abuse of the mode of appointing Cadets.

For nearly twenty years Capt. Partridge was never known to express any

doubt of the constitutionality or usefulness of this institution. His

objections first took shape and utterance when he was superceded in the

superintendence by Colonel Sylvanus Thayer. Of the circumstances and

results of his removal, and of the appointment of Col. Thayer, and the

subsequent reorganization of the Academy, something has already been

said in the History of West Point, in this volume, (p. 17-48,) and more

will be said when we come to speak of the labors of Col. Thayer.

So far as these objections are directed to the constitutionality of the

laws for establishing the Cadet Corps, as distinct from any other Corps

of the army, or against training officers collected together and

organized as a school, we think them preëminently frivolous. If any

friend of the Academy would assure his doubtful faith in its

constitutionality, let him read Capt. Partridge’s Memorial, asking the

same Congress to establish a system of National Education, which he

petitions to redress the grievance of a special school, that every

civilized government holds to be indispensable to the right organization

of its armies.

So far as these objections are aimed at the mode of appointment and

promotion,--confining both to the patronage of one man in the country,

or one man in a Congressional District, acting in either case without

personal examination of the party to be admitted or promoted, and

excluding others, it may be, better qualified,--we hold them to be

valid. A more disgraceful record of failures, where an opportunity of

selecting the most meritorious candidates existed, can not be shown.

While we believe that candidates are too often recommended and nominated

to the appointing power, from family and party considerations, we have

seen no reason to believe that the social condition or occupation of

parents has influenced the appointments. On the other hand, the records

of the Academy, as made out in this particular by the Cadets themselves,

exhibit a fair representation from all classes and occupations of

society.

Military schools and courses of instruction in the science and art of war, in France, Prussia, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Sardinia, England, and the United States. Drawn from recent official reports and documents. Revised Edition · 第 17 / 20 章

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