Chapter IV: West Point.--Last Two Years

Returning to the Point after this brief respite, the young cadet resumed his studies with his accustomed vigor. He was appointed assistant professor of mathematics, a position of additional labor as well as honor, which he retained to the end of his course. Moreover, he took an active part in the Dialectic Society, which as a "plebe" he looked forward to joining. In a letter to Mr. Hazen he recounts his early efforts in debate:--

"You are probably aware that we have a debating society here, of
which I have the honor to be a member. Last evening (we hold our
meetings on Saturday evenings) we had an animated debate on the
expediency of studying the _dead languages_. It was the only
tolerable one we have had this fall. Some pretty good speeches were
made. One was particularly fine. Mr. Jennings, the person to whom I
allude, in my opinion was made for an orator. He is undoubtedly a
man of a large mind, and expresses himself admirably. His delivery
is very good, and his diction is choice and effective. Declamation
is one of the regular exercises; and as my turn came round, I had
the pleasure of unburdening myself of a short piece, and of being
most woefully used up by the critical, who are regularly appointed
for such performance. This is not very encouraging, to be sure. I
must, however, acquit myself better next time.

"You are probably aware of the great defects in our course of study.
It is not calculated generally to strengthen and improve the mind as
much as a four years' course of study should. Some of the faculties
are developed in a high degree, whilst others are almost entirely
neglected; its effect is--if the expression can be used--to cast the
mind in a rough, strong mould, without embellishing or polishing it.
Its effect is also (perhaps no more than any other regular course
of study) to confine our attention to particular pursuits, and make
us neglect all that general information which is essential to a man
of liberal education, and in fact absolutely indispensable for any
one who engages in the actual pursuits of life. Don't you believe it
is of greater advantage to a person to have a good idea of political
economy, or a knowledge of the elementary principles of composition,
than to be able to solve some abstruse problem in mathematics?

"I almost wish I could content myself with standing about fifth in
my class. I could then spend three or four hours a day in reading
and getting valuable information, and could improve myself in
composition. I might also cultivate a taste for the higher branches
of literature, my taste for all which at present, except novels, is
about at the zero point. As it is, I am obliged to work hard to get
an hour a day to devote to reading; and as I consider history and
solid works of that nature most valuable, I have been able to read
but one novel within the last three months. I have been reading some
of the speeches in 'British Eloquence' of late; also in the
'Eloquence of the United States.' Do you think the characters of
Pitt, Fox, and Burke, as described by the author in the former work,
are correct? My former ideas of Chatham were somewhat different. The
author makes him out a more selfish man than I supposed him to be. A
few days since I picked up a volume of Phillips's Speeches, and read
most of them. Is not his speech in the case of Blake v. Wilkins
admirable? What do you think of them generally? It seems to me there
is more of the pomp of words than real, effective oratory in them.
He has too much pathos in some of his speeches. A little of it, and
sometimes much of it, produces a very good effect; but where it is
nothing but a pathetic appeal to the feelings, the effect is
destroyed, at least with people of sense."

This letter shows that the youth was beginning to think for himself, and to weigh things according to his own ideas. The arduous course of study he was pursuing did not wholly engross his attention. He soon became the leading member of the Dialectic, active in getting up lectures and other literary exercises. Nor was he simply a bookworm. "The eleven of us, in contiguous rooms, who are all good friends, and enjoy ourselves as much as any other eleven men in the class," derived some of their enjoyment from breaking the rigid rules of the institution, and in hairbreadth escapes from detection. They used to run over to Benny's without leave. They would bring pies and other edibles into barracks buttoned up under their coats, and, after the post was wrapped in slumber, would indulge in these forbidden sweets. His companions ofttimes complained that Stevens would learn his lessons in a minute, and then come about, making a racket, and disturbing them in their studies. He used to take long walks and excursions about the neighboring country.

Naturally active and fearless, he became a fine horseman, and always appeared to best advantage when mounted, where his erect figure and soldierly bearing gave him the effect of higher stature than when on foot.

In winter the cadets were in the habit of skating on the river. Isaac, light, active, and fearless, and exceedingly adventurous, delighted to skim full speed over the thinnest ice he could find, which bent and crackled under his skates. His companions kept remonstrating with and forewarning him of a catastrophe, which in his case never occurred. One extremely cold day, however, one of his associates broke through the ice and fell into the river. They rescued him with some difficulty, and bore him dripping wet to the barracks in all haste, but the unlucky youth was nearly frozen when they carried him into his room. His mates at once set to work making a hot fire, and bringing blankets, etc. But Isaac now took the lead, as the commanding spirit always does in a real emergency. He caused them to put out the fire, throw open all the windows, and to vigorously rub the insensible youth with snow brought from the outside until his circulation was restored, and the frost taken out of his benumbed extremities, when he suffered them to rebuild the fire and renew the warm comforts, both solid and liquid.

His uncle Moses, a distinguished teacher, settled in Nashville, Tenn., visited West Point this fall; and his father writes, "Your uncle Moses speaks of your acquirements in rather extravagant terms."

During the winter his father's health was poor, and he suffered much from his injured leg. Oliver alone remained at home. Hannah was in Haverhill, attending school, and supporting herself by her needle; Sarah was in Lowell, working in a factory; Elizabeth was at Belfast, Maine, visiting an aunt, and attending school; Mary was at Methuen; and Susan was attending school at the South Parish. The latter, a girl of warm heart and lively sensibilities, had not been satisfied with the sober Unitarianism of her family, and had become attached to the "Orthodox," or ancient Puritan faith, a sincere and somewhat enthusiastic convert. The letters of these motherless girls, thus scattered about, reveal a touching picture of their earnest desire and efforts for study and self-improvement, their tender affection for their father, and their endeavor to treat their stepmother with respect and affection. It was to their brother Isaac that they resorted for comfort and guidance. They confided to his warm and sympathetic heart all their troubles, aspirations, and plans, and constantly sought his advice. The noble old man at the farm, too, had come to rely upon the manly character and sound judgment of the youth of nineteen at West Point. He writes of the difficulty of making both ends meet, of his earnest desire to give more schooling to his three younger daughters, and of preserving intact for his children the little property he had accumulated so laboriously. He asks Isaac to write and advise Susan, who he thinks lacks stability, and Hannah. He entreats his son to come home every summer vacation.

WEST POINT, December 17, 1836.

DEAR FATHER,--It was with much concern I heard of your lameness, and
I am very much afraid it will prove more serious than you seem to be
aware of. You ought not to think yourself obliged to work, when it
is of manifest injury to you. You are now getting to be along in
years, and you have done hard work enough. You ought now to think of
making yourself comfortable. I _do_ hope you will be careful about
exposing yourself, and will endeavor to enjoy the little property
which you have accumulated with so much toil. Your children, you may
be assured, had much rather that it should all be consumed in making
your declining years pleasant and happy, than receive a single cent
of it themselves. I think you will do wrong to feel the least
anxiety about leaving property to your children. You have evinced
the greatest affection for us, and the utmost disinterestedness in
consulting the welfare of your children, and it is our duty to make
every return in our power. Believe me, we will endeavor to exert our
utmost in order to secure the happiness of the remaining period of
your life, and we ask of you, as a favor, no longer to undergo the
toil and exposure to which you have hitherto been accustomed.

I wish I could have been at home Thanksgiving time. Three successive
Thanksgivings have seen my absence from home, and it is very
probable that three more will pass away without allowing me the
opportunity of spending them at home. As it is, I hope I shall be
enabled to pass two or three weeks at home next summer, but it is
very uncertain. The superintendent has come to the conclusion no
longer to permit the members of the first class to be absent on
leave during the encampment, and it will be very difficult to obtain
a leave unless the application is _backed_ by very urgent reasons.

At last Susan decided to go to Missouri, encouraged by the favorable reports of relatives who had moved thither, and hoping to find a more promising field as a teacher. In May, 1838, her father accompanied her to Port Labadie, situated on the Missouri River, some miles above St. Louis. Here she found kind friends, and met with tolerable success in her chosen vocation.

At the June examination of 1838 Isaac again stood at the head of his class. On the conduct roll he was number twenty-three, with twenty demerits. He spent part of the summer leave at home. Returning to the Point, he made a pedestrian trip to Philadelphia with a classmate, in the course of which they were thoroughly drenched in a rainstorm.

The following letter exhibits his patriotic indignation at the British aggressions on the Maine frontier, a precursor of the spirit with which he resisted and defeated similar aggressions on the extreme northwest in after years:--

WEST POINT, August 21, 1838.

DEAR FATHER,--You must have seen from the papers that the executive
of the State of Maine is making preparations to carry into effect
the resolutions of its legislature, and that the commissioners will
be supported in the running of the boundary line by the whole
military force of the State. Kent has pursued a course alike
honorable to himself and the State which he represents. If the
national government shows itself so regardless of the honor and
interests of a State as has been evinced by the cold indifference
with which negotiations for the last fifty years have been carried
on, it becomes the solemn duty of the sovereignty thus trampled upon
to rise and maintain its own rights. This fawning subserviency to
expediency in a matter of principle I despise. So does every
honorable man; better die in a just cause than live by an
abandonment of it. I have sufficient confidence in the virtue and
patriotism of the people of Maine to believe that they will
triumphantly sustain their executive in his energetic and honorable
measures. Should there be actual resistance and the difficulty
resolve itself into an open conflict, the government _dare_ not
withhold its prompt assistance. The whole Senate, without a single
dissentient voice, have borne witness to the fallacy and gross
injustice of the claim made by the British crown upon the lands in
question. Was this meant to vanish into thin air? The 4th regiment
of artillery are now in New York city. Why not send them to the
east? They are certainly wanted on the boundary.

He had frequently remonstrated with his father for treating Oliver with too exacting strictness, and he now urged him to send the boy to college as soon as he became old enough. In reply the father declares:--

"As to Oliver's going to college, it is out of the question. A great
many boys are ruined by going to college that would have made useful
men if they had been put to some trade, or compelled to be
industrious. By the most rigid economy I can adopt, the income of
the farm will not pay my expenses. I am willing to rise early, work
late, live on simple fare, but dunning letters I detest; rather live
on two meals a day. I would advise every young man, who means to be
punctual, and honest, to keep out of debt."

Oliver, however, in due time entered Bowdoin College, Maine, with the consent and aid of his father; graduated well, and became a successful lawyer in Boston, where he has held the position of district attorney for nearly thirty years.

He urges Oliver to cultivate a taste for solid reading, and assures him that a taste for any subject can be acquired when the determination is fixed upon it.

"Let me advise you to get Plutarch's Lives, and read them. Plutarch,
you know, is a celebrated Roman author. His Lives of the
distinguished men of Greece and Rome has justly immortalized his
name, and it will live as long as the men whose actions he has
related are admired. The style is simple and unaffected. He has
seized upon the principal events in the life of each; relates to us
many, anecdotes of their efforts, of their disappointments and
failures; then he describes in bold and feeling language that
untiring industry, that patient and ceaseless thought, which
overcame every difficulty. Read the lives of Cicero and
Demosthenes, Nicias and Phocion. When you next write, tell me what
you think of them. Another work I want you to read; it is Sparks's
'American Biography.' We should certainly be intimately acquainted
with the deeds and characters of our own great men. Have you ever
read any volumes of the 'Spectator'? There are, I think, ten
volumes of them, consisting of essays of four or five pages each
upon all subjects. The style is flowing and graceful, exceedingly
interesting; a vein of wit and sprightliness pervades them all.

"For myself, things have gone smoothly on since I was at home. My
daily duties are all sources of pleasure. This renders me satisfied
with myself and with all around me. I am never afflicted with low
spirits, or with feelings of discontent,--all this for the simple
reason that all my time is interestingly employed.

"Have you finished harvesting? Did you gather many walnuts? We have
a large number of chestnut-trees at West Point. I have gathered
quite an abundance of them."

TO HIS FATHER.

November 17.

DEAR FATHER,--I have just come from the meeting of our society. Our
proceedings are quite good; and there is an evident improvement
every evening. It is indeed much better to employ Saturday evening
in listening to, and participating in, a debate on some interesting
subject than staying in one's room reading novels, or perhaps doing
nothing. We had quite an animated discussion the other evening on
the justice of lynch law. We got very warm; indeed, the debate came
very near merging into the discussion of abolition. This, you are
aware, is a very tender subject, and, for our society, a very
improper one. For my own part I got very much excited, and my free
avowal of abolition principles did not tend to allay the feeling
which existed among the members.

You can well suppose that I am looking forward to graduating with
much interest. My entering this institution I consider my first
important step in life. I have succeeded better than I have ever had
any right to anticipate. I have endeavored to make it my rule never
to relinquish any undertaking, but always to _try_ till success
crowned my efforts. I have thus got along pretty well. I have not
the slightest doubt that I shall succeed well enough as long as my
efforts are carried on in a proper spirit, which is never to rely
too confidently on success, and to bear every disappointment with a
good grace.

I feel much anxiety to see Oliver improve. These long winter
evenings should not be trifled away. Oliver might study, read to the
family, or otherwise improve his time, till half past nine o'clock.
If he should be disposed to read any longer, let him have a good
warm fire, and his reading will not be thrown away. You are, I know,
a great admirer of Franklin. He used to study until twelve at night
when obliged to work hard all day. How could Oliver and the girls,
if any are at home, pass the time better than reading or studying
till perhaps ten in the evening?

TO HANNAH.

January 27, 1839.

DEAR SISTER,--It may be said that Scott and Addison are elegant
writers. Johnson, that intellectual giant, said that whoever wished
to become a perfect writer must give up his days and nights to
Addison. The style of Addison is peculiarly easy and harmonious, the
very music of composition; and although not so deep and original a
thinker as many whose styles are less attractive, his works will
always be admired for their sound views on moral and religious
subjects. Scott, you know, has been called the _magician_, and
excelled all his contemporaries in the ease, rapidity, and finish of
his performances. The last volume of his "Waverley" was written in
one week, and his novels were ushered into the reading community
with so rapid a succession as astonished every one. Some think that
Scott excelled as a poet, and, wonderful as he was as a writer of
romance, he was still more successful in verse. Some of his poetry
and a few of his novels are well worth reading. His "Lady of the
Lake" and "Ivanhoe" are much admired. The "Tales of my Landlord" and
"Guy Mannering" also are very fine. There is a little volume of
poetry, called "The Book of Pleasures," which I intend to read, the
first opportunity. It contains The Pleasures of Memory, of Hope, and
of the Imagination, all three beautiful poems. You had better read
them, if they are to be obtained.

Our examinations are finished, and we are again under full sail for
the next, and, for myself, last examination. The result of the
present is, head in three branches and second in the fourth. The
last five months I spend at West Point should be employed to better
advantage than any other five months before. I have marked out for
myself a pretty severe course of study, by which I shall endeavor to
abide. When I graduate, it will be a satisfaction to look back upon
my four years' course, and feel a consciousness that I have improved
my opportunities. After graduating, where I shall be stationed is
uncertain. But I shall endeavor to get ordered to Boston under
Colonel Thayer. There are extensive fortifications now erecting in
Boston harbor on George's Island. It would be a capital chance to be
employed upon them, particularly when the superintendent of the
works is so distinguished a man as Colonel Thayer. There are
reasons, which you can well imagine, why I wish to be near home.

He must have been an omnivorous and rapid reader to have mastered Franklin, Plutarch, Addison, Scott, Rollin's Ancient History, besides poetry, speeches, and novels; one wonders where he could have found the time, but he was ever working at high pressure. In addition to the hard work necessary to retain the headship of the class, and to discharge the duties of assistant professor, he took the most active and leading part in the Dialectic, and delivered the valedictory address at the graduation of the class. He also founded "The Talisman," a journal for the practice and improvement of the cadets in composition. In the introductory address, which he wrote as editor, he presents his views of the need for, and objects of, the paper in glowing language, concluding:--

"We have thus announced our intention of establishing a paper. Its
character will be readily understood from the preceding exposition
of our views. We shall hoist the white flag, emblematic of our
motives and intentions. On it shall be inscribed in golden letters
_The Talisman_. This flag will we defend with our life's blood; and
when expiring nature is about to give up her last hold upon us, we
will wave it aloft in triumph and die beneath its shadow."

In a letter to his uncle William he gives an amusing account of anonymously criticising his own effusions:--

"Several of us have amused ourselves in writing a paper, which we
have called 'The Talisman,' and having it read at the meetings of
the Dialectic. Our motto is, The Human Intellect the Universal
Talisman. The best of the joke is, no one can divine who are
concerned in it. Indeed, once I wrote a most famous blowing up of
one of my own performances, and was extremely amused to have several
of my friends console me; in fact, one told me he would not give a
fig for these criticisms, to which I assented, asking him if he had
any idea who were the editors of the paper, to which he replied in
the negative. When we graduate next June, we wish to have an address
delivered before the society by some able man. Do you think we could
get Governor Everett?"

As already stated, Cadet Stevens was put forward by his classmates to deliver this address himself.

He contributed to "The Talisman" a series of articles, written in a simple, direct, and forcible style, and marked by an earnest tone and elevated sentiments, among which were "Agency of Steam in Mechanical Operations;" "In Jury Trials, ought the Twelve Jurors to be required to be Unanimous?" "Has Man a Conscience?" "The Importance of a Good Style of Writing to an Officer of the Army;" "History;" "The Proper Study of Mankind is Man."

His most intimate friends at the Point were Henry L. Smith, Jeremy F. Gilmer, Zealous B. Tower, Henry W. Halleck, Stephen D. Carpenter, Bryant P. Tilden, William B. Greene, Franklin D. Callender, John D. Bacon, Paul O. Hebert. Among these high-spirited and intellectual young men he was an acknowledged leader; and even after leaving the academy, they were continually calling on him for advice in their own affairs, and for aid in efforts to benefit the service, to secure increased rank and pay, etc.

Thus the last term sped rapidly away. At the examination he was first, as usual. He stood thirty on the conduct roll, having sixteen demerits. It will be observed that in "conduct" during the course he stood but little above the average. Evidently, with his spirited and vigorous nature, he did not mind infringing the rules at times. When the Academic Board reviewed the standing of the members of the class to award to each his proper grade, it was found that Cadet Stevens stood at the head, not only generally, but in every one of the studies. Moreover, his standing, as compared with all who had ever graduated from the institution, was among the first. This remarkable achievement, together with his strong personality, deeply impressed the officers of the academy. They were proud of their pupil, they felt that he reflected honor upon the institution, and they vied with each other in encomiums and attentions which they deemed his due.

He invited his father and stepmother to attend the graduation exercises, and they came. When they arrived they were astonished to see the honors heaped upon their son, and the high estimation in which he was held. They, too, were overwhelmed with attentions on his account. Prominent seats were found for them, and the professors came up to pay their respects to the parents of the first graduate, and to congratulate them upon his remarkable talents and promise.