Chapter XVIII: Appendix (2)

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Cadets of the first, second, and third classes not undergoing examination are allowed short leaves at Christmas, if their conduct during the preceding year has been satisfactory. Excepting these short leaves for good conduct, cadets are allowed but one leave of absence during the four years’ course. This leave is granted to those cadets who have successfully completed the third-class course of study, and extends from the middle of June to the 28th of August.

PAY OF CADETS

The pay of a cadet is $600 per year and one ration per day, or commutation therefor at 30 cents per day. The total is $746.00 to commence with his admission to the academy. The actual and necessary traveling expenses of candidates from their homes to the Military Academy are credited to their accounts _after_ their admission as cadets.

No cadet is permitted to receive money, or any other supplies, from his parents, or from any person whomsoever, without the sanction of the Superintendent. A _most rigid_ observance of this regulation is urged upon all parents and guardians, as its violation would make distinctions between cadets which it is the especial desire to avoid; the pay of a cadet is sufficient for his support.

Candidates are authorized to bring with them the following articles: Hairbrush, nailbrush, toothbrush, shoebrush, comb, 8 drawers (summer), 12 handkerchiefs (white), 4 nightshirts or pajamas, 8 socks (black cotton), 6 bath towels, 6 face towels, 1 trunk, 8 undershirts (summer), whisk broom, shaving mug, winter underwear, and athletic uniforms, shoes, and goods.

Cadets are required to wear the prescribed uniform. All articles of their uniform are of a designated pattern, and are sold to cadets at West Point at regulated prices.

DEPOSIT PRIOR TO ADMISSION

Immediately after admission candidates must be provided with an outfit of uniform, etc., the cost of which is about $160. This sum, or at least $100 thereof, _must be deposited with the treasurer of the academy before the candidate is admitted_. It is best for the candidate to take with him no more money than he needs for traveling expenses and for his parents to send the required deposit by draft, payable to the Treasurer, United States Military Academy. The deposit is credited at once to the cadet’s account. Upon graduation a cadet who has exercised proper economy will have sufficient money to his credit with the treasurer of the academy to purchase his uniform and equipment as an officer.

PROMOTION AFTER GRADUATION

The attention of applicants and candidates is called to the following provisions of an Act of Congress approved May 17, 1886, to regulate the promotion of graduates of the United States Military Academy:

That when any cadet of the United States Military Academy has gone through all its classes and received a regular diploma from the academic staff, he may be promoted and commissioned as a second lieutenant in any arm or corps of the Army in which there may be a vacancy and the duties of which he may have been judged competent to perform; and in case there shall not at the time be a vacancy in such arm or corps he may, at the discretion of the President, be promoted and commissioned in it as an additional second lieutenant, with the usual pay and allowances of a second lieutenant, until a vacancy shall happen.

ACADEMIC DUTIES

There axe two terms of academic instruction: September 1-December 23, and January 2-June 4. A semiannual examination is held December 26-31, and an annual examination June 5-12. At the December examination cadets, who are found to be proficient in subjects they have completed during the preceding term are arranged according to merit in each subject. At the June examination they are similarly arranged and they are also assigned general standing in the class as determined by their standings in the various subjects. When a subject of study is completed during a term an examination concluding the work in that subject is sometimes held. Cadets deficient in studies at any examination are discharged from the academy unless for special reasons the academic board recommends otherwise. Cadets exceeding at any time the maximum number of demerits allowed for six months are reported to the academic board as deficient in conduct.

THE ACADEMIC CALENDAR

First term, September 1-December 23.
Second term, January 2-June 4.
Semiannual examination, December 26-31.
Annual examination, June 5-12.

DEPARTMENT OF TACTICS

ALL CLASSES

New cadets, upon reporting for duty, are given infantry recruit instruction, with gymnastic and calisthenic exercises, until they join the battalion.

Practical instruction is given during the summer encampment, and from September 1st to November 1st, and from March 15th to June 1st, in infantry, artillery and cavalry drill regulations, in target practice with the rifle, revolver, mountain gun and field gun, and in military engineering.

During the summer encampment, cadets of the third and fourth classes are also taught swimming and dancing, and those of the first class, the service of seacoast artillery and submarine defense at fortifications. The first, third, and fourth classes participate in exercises in minor tactics, practice marches, problems and practical field work, in which the employment of all arms is exemplified.

Practical instruction in fencing and gymnastic exercises and in boxing and wrestling is given to the fourth class from October 1st to June 1st, and to the other classes from November 1st to March 15th.

Instruction in riding is given to the first class during the encampment and from September 1st to June 1st, excepting the month of February; to the second and third classes, from November 1st to March 15th and also to the third class during the summer encampment. Instruction with English pad saddles is given to the first class, and in polo to the first and second classes.

During the academic season recitations in hippology are held for the first class and in drill regulations for the second, third, and fourth classes. Instruction is also given in writing orders and in solving problems involving the disposition of small forces.

Previous to graduation, lectures are given the first class upon uniforms and equipments, and upon etiquette and customs of the service.

TEXTBOOKS

Infantry Drill Regulations, U. S. Army.
Field Artillery Regulations, U. S. Army.
Mountain Artillery Drill Regulations, U. S. Army.
Cavalry Drill Regulations, U. S. Army.
Elements of Hippology. Marshall.
Coast Artillery Drill Regulations, U. S. Army.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE

U. S. Army Regulations.
Field Service Regulations, U. S. Army.
Small Arms Firing Manual, U. S. Army.
Drill Regulations for Machine Gun, Infantry.
Drill Regulations for Machine Gun, Cavalry.
Manual of Interior Guard Duty, U. S. Army.
Manual of Physical Training, U. S. Army.
Regulations for Field Maneuvers, U. S. Army.
Manual of Instruction for Pack Transportation.
Regulations, U. S. M. A.

ISSUED TO FIRST CLASS BEFORE GRADUATION

U. S. Army Regulations.
Regulations for the Uniform of the U. S. Army.
Manual of Courts-Martial, U. S. A.
Army Register, U. S.
Engineer Field Manual.

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND MILITARY ENGINEERING

FIRST CLASS

The course in civil and military engineering and the art of war is confined to the first-class year.

The course in civil engineering begins September 1st and is completed during the first term, which closes with the Christmas holidays. It comprises brief treatises on the mechanics of civil engineering, framed and masonry structures, the materials of engineering, water supply, and sewerage.

The course in military engineering and the art of war begins on January 2nd and closes on the 3rd of June. Military engineering embraces the study of field and permanent fortifications and siege works. The art of war embraces the study of the organization of armies, employment of the different arms in combination, logistics, and strategy. To familiarize the students with its principles, lectures are delivered on military subjects and the principal operations of about twenty selected campaigns are studied. During this course the students are taken to the battlefield of Gettysburg to familiarize them with the effects of topography on the employment of troops in the field.

TEXTBOOKS

Civil Engineering. Fiebeger.
Field Fortifications. Fiebeger.
Permanent Fortifications. Fiebeger.
Elements of Strategy. Fiebeger.
Army Organization. Fiebeger.
Siege Works. Mercur.
Field Service Regulations, U. S.
Campaign of Gettysburg. Fiebeger.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE

Campaigns and Battles. Department.
Story of the Civil War. Ropes. Cambria Steel.

The department has a well selected reference library on civil engineering, military engineering, and the art of war.

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY

SECOND CLASS

The course in natural and experimental philosophy begins with and continues throughout the third academic year. Mechanics is studied during the first term. The text used is Gordon’s _Mechanics_. Many of the principles are illustrated by apparatus in the lecture and section rooms, and the students are required to repeat and explain these experiments. The course aims to be as complete as possible with the limitation that it can be properly covered in a term of about 90 to 100 days by students having a proficient knowledge of the calculus; the treatment is sufficiently mathematical to furnish a confident basis for advanced work in the technical staff after graduation.

During the second term about 120 lessons are allotted to this department. The first half of this time is devoted to the subjects of sound and light. The authorized textbook is Gordon’s _Sound and Light_.

Astronomy is studied in the remainder of the second term. The text used are Young’s _General Astronomy_ and Michie and Harlow’s _Practical Astronomy_. The principal aim of this course, in addition to its important value in educational development, is to furnish an ample basis for the establishment of stations in explorations and surveys.

The class attends daily throughout the year, except eight days, during which half the class attends daily.

TEXTBOOKS

Sound and Light. Gordon.
Mechanics. Gordon.
General Astronomy. Young.
Practical Astronomy. Michie and Harlow.

Numerous standard works on the general subjects covered by the course are available for reference.

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS

THIRD AND FOURTH CLASSES

The course in mathematics begins with the fourth-class year and continues through the third-class year.

In the fourth-class year, algebra is completed in alternation; first with geometry, then with trigonometry. Plane analytical geometry is begun.

In the third-class year, plane and solid analytical geometry and descriptive geometry are completed in alternation. The calculus and least squares finish the course.

The course in algebra covers the entire subject as generally taught in colleges, but the student is expected to have already mastered elementary algebra to include the progressions and the solution of the quadratic equation. The course in elementary geometry includes the books that relate to the plane and those that relate to space, but the student is expected to have mastered the former. Plane and spherical trigonometry includes the complete solution of the plane and spherical triangles. The course in analytical geometry includes the discussion of the general equation of the second degree in the plane and the particular forms of the equation of the second degree in space.

Descriptive geometry includes the orthographic projections of the right line, the plane, ruled surfaces and surfaces of revolution, tangent planes and intersections of surfaces. It also takes the subjects of shades and shadows, perspective, isometric projections and spherical projections.

The course in differential and integral calculus covers the ground of the usual college textbook, including briefly the subject of ordinary differential equations.

TEXTBOOKS

Elements of Geometry. Phillips and Fisher.
Advanced Course in Algebra. Wells.
Quadratics and Beyond. Fisher and Schwatt.
Elements of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry. Crockett.
Logarithmic Tables. Newcomb.
Conic Sections, Coördinate Geometry. C. Smith.
Coördinate Geometry. Fine and Thompson.
Elements of Analytical Geometry (Solid). Smith and Gale.
Descriptive Geometry. Church.
Linear Perspective. Pillsbury.
Differential and Integral Calculus. Granville.
Integral Calculus. D. A. Murray.
Differential Equations. D. A. Murray.
Method of Least Squares. Johnson.

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY, MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY

SECOND CLASS

This department embraces two branches of physics not included in its title, namely heat and electricity.

The course begins September 1st of the third academic year and extends throughout this year; exercises, recitations, laboratory work or lectures take place on all week days.

Commencing September 1st, general chemistry, alternating with lessons in heat, occupy the time until the close of the term in December, recitations or other exercises being had daily.

During this term all members of the class whose progress, as shown by their recitations, warrants it, are given laboratory practice in chemistry. This practice begins with chemical manipulations and proceeds in the usual general order of elementary laboratory work. The laboratory exercises are one hour and fifty minutes long. It is generally possible to give all parts of the class some laboratory experience; the amount of this work, however, varies with the aptitude of the student from a few hours to forty-five or fifty hours.

This term closes with an examination upon the essential parts of the entire course, which all cadets who have not shown a required proficiency in daily work must take.

In chemistry the course is a descriptive general one, based upon a concise statement of the more essential principles of chemistry, and includes that class of information deemed most important to non-specialists, together with an accurate and logical treatment of many useful applications of chemistry.

The course in heat is short, but it is a comprehensive elementary course intended to embrace what is most applicable to subsequent work at the academy and what is most useful in general education.

Beginning January 2d the daily exercises alternate between geology, mineralogy, and electricity. This term also closes with an examination, covering the essential parts of the subjects studied during the term, which all cadets who have not shown a required proficiency in daily work must take.

The course in geology is a brief but scientific presentation of the essential elements of this branch of science.

The mineralogy is an eminently practical course consisting of the descriptive study and the practical determination of the important minerals. The lithological and palæontological part of geology is accompanied in study by the continued practical examination of the objects described.

The course in electricity is a brief exposition of the leading electrical phenomena and their relations to each other. It includes a study of the general principles of the subject and of the typical machines, generators, motors and transformers, together with the more important uses of electricity. The laboratory exercises give experience with a number of the machines and in the use of a great variety of apparatus employed in the numerous forms of electric measurements. In this term the laboratory work is a part of the electrical course and all cadets enter the laboratory. All laboratory work is performed under the immediate supervision of an instructor.

TEXTBOOKS

Elementary Lessons in Heat. Tillman.
Descriptive General Chemistry. Tillman.
Practical Chemistry. (Laboratory Guide.) Clowes.
Elements of Geology. Le Conte.
Important Minerals and Rocks. Tillman.
Elements of Electricity. Robinson.

During all terms standard works on the respective subjects are available for reference both to cadets and instructors.

DEPARTMENT OF DRAWING

THIRD AND SECOND CLASSES

The course in drawing extends through the third- and second-class years, attendance on alternate afternoons for a period of two hours during the full academic year.

The order of instruction is as follows:

_Third Class Year_

1. Use of drawing instruments.

2. Problems in plane geometry.

3. Problems in descriptive geometry.

4. Lettering. Exercises in this subject continue throughout the
course.

5. Building construction drawing.

6. Isometric and oblique projection.

_Second Class Year_

1. Elementary problems in third angle projection.

2. Machine drawing, third angle projection.

3. Assembly and working drawings from models.

4. Topographical sketching and drawing.

Instruction is mainly through a loose-leaf system of printed instruction sheets covering the various drawings and phases of the work. These are supplemented by short section-room lectures and blackboard illustrations when necessary. Personal instruction is given when needed.

DEPARTMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES

THIRD, SECOND, AND FIRST CLASSES

The course in modern languages comprises instruction in French and in Spanish.

FRENCH

THIRD CLASS

Instruction is given in reading, in composition, and in conversation. The course opens September 1st, and continues until June 4th, some 219 lessons in all.

SPANISH

SECOND AND FIRST CLASSES

Instruction is given in reading, in composition, and in conversation, to which special attention is paid.

The course opens October 4th, of the second-class year and closes June 4th of the first-class year, 176 lessons all told.

The present textbooks are:

THIRD CLASS

French:--Martin’s French Verbs.

Grammar. Essentials of French, François.

Elements of French Pronunciation, Jacobs. Bercy’s La Langue
Française.

Introductory French Prose Composition, François. Mérimée’s Colomba.

About’s Roi des Montagnes.

Marchand’s French Idioms. L’Illustration. Lecture pour Tous.

Labiche and Martin’s Voyage de M. Perrichon.

Daudet’s Lettres de Mon Moulin.

Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac.

Pattou’s Causeries en France.

French Conversation Exercises. Military Reading.

Dupont’s En Campagne.

SECOND AND FIRST CLASS

Spanish:--Spanish Grammar, Olmsted and Gordon. A Spanish Reader,
Bramby.

Crawford’s Spanish Composition.

A Trip to South America--Waxman.

Por Esos Mundos, monthly, published in Madrid.

“A B C,” Spanish Daily Newspaper.

Spanish Conversation and Idioms, Department of Modern Languages, U.
S. M. A.

Scientific and Technical Spanish Reader, Willcox.

Lecturas Modernas--Charles Alfred Downer.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE

French:--Cassell’s French Dictionary.

Military Technical Dictionary. Willcox.

Spanish:--New Spanish-English and English-Spanish Dictionary, by
Cuyás. Appleton.

DEPARTMENT OF LAW

FIRST CLASS

The course in law, which is carried throughout the entire first-class year, embraces the following subjects:

1. Elementary Law.
2. Constitutional Law.
3. International Law.
4. Military Law.
5. The Law of War.

The quiz method of instruction is employed in the section room. The authorized textbooks are supplemented from time to time by means of lectures, and important principles are emphasized by requiring an examination and analysis of a considerable number of leading cases. Some time is also devoted to library work, with a view to familiarizing students with the use of a law library in the solution of practical questions. The purpose in view in the course is to give the student an elementary knowledge of the fundamental principles of law, with special emphasis upon those subjects a knowledge of which is essential to the proper understanding of his obligations and duties as a citizen and as an officer of the Army.

TEXTBOOKS

Elements of Law. Davis, G. B.
International Law. Davis, G. B.
Constitutional Law. Davis, E. G.
Military Law. Dudley.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE

The department has a law library of about 2,500 volumes, accessible to cadets.

DEPARTMENT OF PRACTICAL MILITARY ENGINEERING, MILITARY SIGNALING AND TELEGRAPHY

FOURTH, THIRD, AND FIRST CLASSES

_Fourth Class._--This class is given an elementary course in the theory and practice of surveying, instruction in this subject alternating with mathematics during the last 66 recitation days of the academic year. From May 1st to June 4th the entire morning is devoted to practical instruction in the methods of surveying and in the use and adjustment of instruments. During this period cadets apply in the field the principles and methods taught them in their theoretical study of the subject. The course includes instruction in the use of chains and tapes, in profile and differential leveling and in earthwork computations, in the use of compass, plane table, transit and stadia with special reference to the employment of these instruments in military topographic surveying. The slide rule used to facilitate the work of computation, and the principles upon which it is based are discussed during the theoretical course.

_Third Class._--During the period of the summer encampment the cadets of this class receive practical instruction in military field engineering and military signaling. The course in field engineering comprises knots and lashings, rowing, construction of floating bridges with wooden pontoons, canvas pontoons and rafts, and instruction in military camp expedients. The course in signaling is limited to visual means only, including the flag, the heliograph, and the acetylene lantern. The International Morse Code is applied in the transmission of short messages both plain and cypher.

Simple exercises in topographic and hydrographic surveying are also given.

_First Class._--During the summer months cadets of the first class are instructed in military reconnaissance and map making. This work follows close upon the fundamental instruction in the same subject given in the Department of Drawing, extends the instruction in sketching to include road and position sketching, mounted and on foot, individual and combined. Demonstrations and limited instruction are given in the various processes of map reproduction.

In the fall instruction is given in all classes of improvised bridges and stream crossing, the use of cordage and tackle, erection of derricks, flagpoles, etc., and the use of explosives in military demolitions.

The spring course is on field fortification work including the principles of locating, tracing, and profiling field works, the construction of trenches, revetments, obstacles, head cover, splinter and bomb proofs. This instruction is arranged in a progressive series of exercises, resulting finally in the construction of a section of a simple infantry redoubt.

Military signaling is taught this class in both the fall and spring periods; the work covers the construction and operation of field-wire and buzzer lines and the radio-communication equipment.

TEXTBOOKS

Theory and Practice of Surveying (17th Edition).--Johnson--Smith.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE

Plane Surveying. Tracy.

The Engineer Field Manual. Office of the Chief of Engineers, U. S.
A.

Signal Book, U. S. Army. Office of Chief Signal Officer, U. S. A.

The Slide Rule. Alexander. The Slide Rule. Clark.

DEPARTMENT OF ORDNANCE AND GUNNERY

FIRST CLASS

The subject of ordnance and gunnery is studied by the cadets of the first class throughout the academic year.

The course of instruction covers the principles involved in the construction and use of war material. It is broadly divided into three parts: the theoretical, the descriptive, and the practical. The theoretical part includes the study of the action of explosives, the study of interior and exterior ballistics, the theories of gun and carriage construction, and the principles of gunnery. The theoretical part of the course is not the same for all cadets, those showing the necessary proficiency taking a special course in the time devoted by the remainder of the class to review work.

The descriptive part of the course covers the processes of manufacture of powders, guns, projectiles, and armor; and describes the small arms, cannon, machine and rapid-fire guns in use in the United States service, with the carriages, ammunition and accessory appliances required for their service. The department is well supplied with models, which are used in conjunction with the text.

The practical part of the course covers the operation of machines and appliances used in the fabrication of modern ordnance, the latter work being in effect a short but valuable course in manual training.

In connection with the course, visits are made to Watervliet Arsenal, where the process of gun construction is observed, and to the Ordnance Proving Ground at Sandy Hook, where actual firings from the several classes of guns are observed, including usually one or more shots against armor, and where the latest developments in war material are seen.

TEXTBOOKS

Ordnance and Gunnery. Lissak.
Exterior Ballistics. O’Hern.
Stresses in Wire-Wrapped Guns and in Gun Carriages. Ruggles.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE

Ballistic Tables. Ingalls.
Mathematical Tables. Newcomb.
Publications of Ordnance Department. U. S. Army.

DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY HYGIENE

THIRD CLASS

The course in military hygiene begins with the second academic year and consists of 13 recitations and 6 demonstrations.

The textbook used is Keefer’s _Military Hygiene_; the instruction covers the essentials in the care of troops from the point of view of the line officer, particular attention being given to personal hygiene, transmissible diseases, post and camp sanitation, clothing, and the effects of alcohol and other narcotics.

Practical demonstration in the field is given of the methods of construction and operation of the various camp sanitary appliances such as latrines, water sterilizers, incinerators, etc.

Instruction in first-aid is given to cadets in small groups by practical demonstrations in the treatment of wounds, hemorrhage, fractures, drowning, poisoning, and other emergencies.

During the summer practice march, practical instruction is given in camp sanitation.

TEXTBOOKS

A Textbook of Military Hygiene and Sanitation. Keefer.

REFERENCE BOOKS

Military Hygiene. Havard.
Elements of Military Hygiene. Ashburn.
Practical Hygiene. Harrington.

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND HISTORY

FOURTH CLASS

The course in English and History begins with the fourth class in September and continues throughout the academic year, the whole class attending daily except Saturday. The class is divided into two parts, which alternate in reciting English and History.

In English, the course of instruction is planned to inculcate the essential principles of rhetoric, both by study of the textbook and by frequent practice in the various forms of composition (including practice in personal and official correspondence), to create an intelligent appreciation of the best in English Literature by the study of selected literary masterpieces, and to impart a knowledge of the important facts in the history of English literature and language by the study of a textbook and by lectures.

In History, the course of instruction is planned to acquaint the student with the political, social, and economic history of Europe from the beginning of the French Revolution to the present day, to make him familiar with the fundamental principles of civil government, with special reference to the United States, and to give him knowledge of various typical forms of modern national and municipal governments.

TEXTBOOKS--ENGLISH

English Composition in Theory and Practice (new and revised
edition). Henry S. Canby and others.

Leading English Poets, Ed. by Holt.

Shakespeare’s Works.

History of English Literature, by W. J. Long.

The Major Dramas of Sheridan.

Selections from Addison.

Selections from the Prose of Macaulay.

Selections from Stevenson.

TEXTBOOKS--HISTORY

The Development of Modern Europe, Vol. I. By J. H. Robinson and C.
A. Beard.

Europe since 1815. C. D. Hazen.

Introduction to the Study of Government. Holt.

THE LIBRARY

Cadets and officers have free access to the library, which comprises over 95,000 books, maps, and manuscripts. The collection contains substantially all standard books on the subjects taught in the Academy and is especially complete in military subjects. Its card catalogues (about 338,000 cards) are arranged with the special object of saving the time of cadets. The library is open on week-days from 8 A.M. to 7:30 P.M.; Saturdays from 8 A.M. to 9:30 P.M.; on Sundays and Holidays from 2 to 6 P.M.

(A. O., M. A., July, ’16.)

SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY

NOTE.--The selection of the Superintendents of the Military Academy
was confined to the Corps of Engineers from the establishment of
the Institution, March 16, 1802, till the passage of the law of
July 13, 1866, which opened it to the entire Army. By the Act of
June 12, 1858, the local rank of Colonel was conferred upon the
Superintendent.

A DICTIONARY OF CADET SLANG

A. B., _n._ Area Bird, term used to designate one who regularly
walks the area.

B. A., _n._ Busted aristocrat. Title given to a cadet officer who
has been deprived of his chevrons.

B-ache, _n._ An official explanation of a report.

B-ache, _v._ To submit an explanation, to talk.

Beast, _n._ Name given to new cadets during their first few weeks
at M. A.

Beast Barracks, _n._ Designation for the period of time a man is a
beast: the first three weeks when he is quartered in barracks.

Bird, _n._ See A. B.

B. J., _a._ Literally means “bold before June”; as applied to a
fourth classman who is impertinent and fresh.

Black Book, _n._ Regulations, U. S. M. A.

Blasé, _a._ Indifferent. Syn. B. J.

Bone, _v._ To study.

---- check book. To be economical.

---- dis. To try to avoid getting demerits.

---- efficiency. To be military for no apparent reason.

---- files. To strive for class standing.

---- make. To strive for chevrons.

---- muck. To endeavor to increase in brawn.

---- tenths. To study hard for a better mark.

Boodle, _n._ General term used to designate all eatables,
contraband.

Boodler’s, _n_. The confectioner’s.

Bootlick, _v._ To curry favor obsequiously, to praise.

Bootlick, _n._ A “stand in.”

Bootlick Alley, _n._ A street passing in front of the officers’
tents in camp (off limits to plebes).

Brace, _n._ Term applied to muscular efforts of fourth classmen to
look military.

Brace, _v._ To assume an excessive military position. Obsolete.

B. S., _n._ Loquaciousness; superfluity of talk.

B. S., _v._ To be loquacious.

Buck, _n._ Cadet in ranks; one who has no chevrons.

Bugle, _v._ To stand at the board all the period to escape
reciting. (Not applicable to first-class year).

Bump, _v._ To deprive cadet officer of chevrons.

Butt, _n._ The remainder of anything, as the butt of a skag; of a
month.

Cit., _n._ A Civilian.

Cits., _n._ Civilian clothing.

Clean Sleeve, _n._ A cadet who has never worn chevrons.

Com., _n._ Commandant of Cadets.

Con., _n._ Confinement.

Corp., _n._ Corporal.

Crawl, _v._ To correct or rebuke someone (especially fourth
classmen) in a severe manner.

Crawling, _n._ A rebuke.

Deadbeat, _n._ An easy job; one who deadbeats.

Deadbeat, _v._ To avoid some distasteful duty.

Dis., _n._ Discipline.

Dissy, _a._ Lacking in demerits.

Div., _n._ A division of barracks.

Doughboys, _n._ The infantry.

Drag, _v._ To escort a lady; to pull a man out of bed; to pull off
a pair of white trousers.

Drag, _n._ A puff of skag.

Femme, _n._ A member of the fair sex.

Fess, _v._ To fail.

Fess, _n._ A failure.

File, _n._ A member of the male sex; one of the successive grades
in military rank.

Find, _v._ To find deficient and discharge.

Flirtation, _n._ Flirtation Walk.

Formation, _n._ Any military function or military gathering.

Fried Egg, _n._ The crest of the U. S. M. A. used on the cap and
full dress hat.

Gig, _v._ To report for a delinquency.

Gig List, _n._ The delinquency list.

Goat, _n._ A low ranking man in any subject.

Grind, _n._ A joke.

West Point Grind, _n._ A practical joke of the kind in which the
victim sees no humor.

Gross, _a._ Lacking in intelligence.

Growley, _n._ Tomato catsup.

Growley, _v._ To blush.

Gum, _v._ To make a mistake.

Gumstick, _n._ One who is in the habit of gumming it.

Hell Cats, _n._ The U. S. M. A. detachment of field music.

Hell Dodgers, _n._ Active members of the Y. M. C. A.

Hive, _v._ To understand; to discover.

Hivey, _a._ Smart, brainy, able to understand things.

Ignorance and Gummery, _n._ Ordnance and Gunnery.

Juliet, _n._ A cadet who enters in July.

Laundry Spike, _n._ An especially long pin used by the laundry; a
girl who works in the laundry.

Limits, _n._ The boundary beyond which a cadet may not go.

L. P., _n._ A person who is undesirable.

L. P., _v._ To give an undesirable task to anyone.

Make, _n._ A cadet officer.

Max, _n._ A perfect mark.

Max, _v._ To finish a job in a perfect manner.

Missouri National, _n._ A tune supposed to bring rain.

Muck, _n._ Muscle.

O. C., _n._ The Officer in Charge.

O. D., _n._ The Officer of the Day.

O. G., _n._ The Officer of the Guard.

--oid. A suffix added to a noun or a verb to denote the agent by
which the action in the noun or verb is accomplished, _i. e._
Ridoid--one who rides; Hopoid--one who attends hops.

P., _n._ A Professor.

P. C. S., _n._ Previous condition of servitude. Occupation before
entering.

P. D., _n._ Pennsylvania Dutchman.

Pipe, _v._ To look forward to anything; to build castles in the air.

Plebe, _n._ A fourth classman.

Plebeskin, _n._ A flannel blouse issued to new cadets. Very badly
fitting.

Plebeskin, _n._ A report for hazing.

P. M. E., n. Practical Military Engineering.

Podunk, _n._ A cadet’s home town. A name applied to any small town
to denote its insignificance; a local newspaper.

Police, _v._ To discard; to relegate to the scrap pile; to throw
from a horse’s back; to clean up, as to police a room.

Poop, _v._ To memorize verbatim.

Poop, _n._ One who memorizes by heart.

Poop Deck, _n._ The balcony of the south cadet guard house, used by
the officer in charge.

Pred., _n._ Predecessor; a cadet’s forerunner in office.

P. S., _v._ To spoon on the post.

Quill, _n._ A person addicted to reporting cadets on every
opportunity; subject matter for a report.

Recognize, _v._ To admit a fourth classman to the upperclass status.

Reverse, _n._ A position of disfavor, as to get a reverse on the
tac.

Run-it-on, _v._ To take advantage of.

Scavenge, _v._ To acquire something that someone else no longer
wants or has thrown away.

Skag, _n._ A cigarette.

Skin, _n._ A report for delinquency.

Skin, _v._ To report a delinquent.

Skin list, _n._ The delinquency list.

Slug, _n._ A disagreeable duty; an award of special punishment for
some major offense.

Soirée, _n._ An unpleasant task or duty.

Soirée, _v._ To cause inconvenience or annoyance.

Speck, _v._ To commit to memory.

Speck, _n._ One who commits to memory.

Slum, _n._ Mess Hall stew (unknown ingredients).

Soundoff, _n._ A voice capable of being heard at long range.

Sound off, _v._ To bellow; to use the voice to the limit of its
capacity.

Spoon, _v._ To court, amuse, entertain, or converse with a femme.

Spoony Up, _v._ To make neat or attractive.

Step Out, _v._ To hurry.

Sub-div., _n._ A subdivision of barracks: a cadet officer in charge
of a subdivision.

Supe, _n._ The Superintendent.

Tac, _n._ A Tactical Officer.

T. D., _n._ The Department of Tactics.

Tarbucket, _n._ The full dress hat.

Tenth, _n._ The smallest division of the West Point system of
marking.

Tie Up, _v._ To get a thing gloriously mixed up.

Turnback, _n._ A cadet who has been turned back to join the next
succeeding class.

Walri, _n._ One who cannot swim.

Writ, _n._ A written review recitation.

Yearling, _n._ A third classman.

[1] Fort Clinton was originally named Fort Arnold in honor of Benedict Arnold, but after his defection its name was changed. It stood in the N. E. corner of the Plain at West Point.

[2] Fort Putnam was named for Colonel Rufus Putnam whose regiment, the Fifth Massachusetts, commenced it and did much toward putting it in shape.

[3] The Sterling Iron Works are still in operation at Sterlington, N. Y., on the Erie R. R., where the remains of the Revolutionary furnace are still standing.

[4] The Robinson House was situated on the eastern shore of the Hudson about two miles below West Point. It was built in 1750 by Beverly Robinson, a man of note and wealth. He had been a personal friend of Washington until the Revolution separated them, when he went to New York and raised a regiment known as the “Loyal American” for service under the British. He assisted Arnold and André in their negotiations. At the close of the Revolution, Robinson went to England. This house was destroyed by fire, March 17, 1892.

[5] “Fess” means a complete failure at a recitation. It is an abbreviation of “confess.”

[6] In the Philippine Department the preliminary examination will be held between December 1st and December 15th.

[7] The board before which a candidate is directed to appear will be the one convened at the place nearest or most convenient to his home, or to the school at which he is in regular attendance at the time of appointment.

[8] Major Williams resigned June 20, 1803, on a point of command, and pending its settlement until April 19, 1805, when he again returned to service as Chief Engineer, no permanent Superintendent of the Military Academy was appointed, the command devolving upon the senior officer of the Corps of Engineers present for duty.

[9] Bvt. Major P. G. T. Beauregard, Corps of Engineers, by order of John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, relieved Colonel Delafield, Jan. 23, 1861, from the superintendency of the Military Academy, but was himself displaced five days later, Jan. 28, 1861, by direction of the succeeding Secretary of War, Joseph Holt, the command again devolving upon Colonel Delafield.

[Transcriber’s Note:

TOC entry “VIII.—Growing Muscles 174” changed to read “VIII.—Growing Muscles 194” to match actual page.

Obvious printer errors corrected silently.

Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]

End of Project Gutenberg's West Point, by Robert Charlwood (Jr.) Richardson

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West PointChapter XVIII: Appendix (2)

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