Forty-Six Years in the Army | Page 6

a good soldier than perfect subordination
and zealous service to him whom the national will may have made the
official superior for the time being. I now think it one of the most
important lessons of my own experience that, while I had no difficulty
whatever in securing perfect subordination and obedience in a large
public school when I was only seventeen years old, or ever afterward in
any body of troops, from a squad of cadets up to a body of men, others
did not find it by any means so easy to discipline me. What I needed to
learn was not so much how to command as how to obey.
My observation of others has also taught much the same lesson. Too
early independence and exercise of authority seem to beget some
degree of disrespect for the authority of others. I once knew a young
major-general who, in his zeal to prevent what he believed to be the
improper application of some public funds, assumed to himself the
action which lawfully belonged to the Secretary of War. The question
thus raised was considered paramount to that of the proper use of the
funds. The young officer lost his point, and got a well-merited rebuke.
But it is not to be expected that complete military education can be
obtained without complete military experience. The rules of
subordination and obedience in an army are so simple that everybody
learns them with the utmost ease. But the relations between the army
and its administrative head, and with the civil power, are by no means
so simple. When a too confident soldier rubs up against them, he learns
what "military" discipline really means. It sometimes takes a civilian to
"teach a soldier his place" in the government of a republic. If a soldier
desires that his own better judgment shall control military policy, he
must take care not to let it become known that the judgment is his. If he
can contrive to let that wise policy be invented by the more responsible
head, it will surely be adopted. It should never be suspected by
anybody that there is any difference of opinion between the soldier and
his civil chief; and nobody, not even the chief, will ever find it out if

the soldier does not tell it. The highest quality attributed to Von Moltke
was his ability to make it clearly understood by the Emperor and all the
world that the Emperor himself commanded the German army.
A TRIP TO NEW YORK ON A WAGER
My constitutional habit once led me into a very foolish exploit at West
Point. A discussion arose as to the possibility of going to New York
and back without danger of being caught, and I explained the plan I had
worked out by which it could be done. (I will not explain what the plan
was, lest some other foolish boy try it.) I was promptly challenged to
undertake it for a high wager, and that challenge overcame any scruple
I may have had. I cared nothing for a brief visit to New York, and had
only five dollars in my pocket which Jerome N. Bonaparte loaned me
to pay my way. But I went to the city and back, in perfect safety,
between the two roll- calls I had to attend that day. Old Benny Havens
of blessed memory rowed me across the river to Garrison's, and the
Cold Spring ferryman back to the Point a few minutes before evening
parade. I walked across the plain in full view of the crowd of officers
and ladies, and appeared in ranks at roll-call, as innocent as anybody. It
is true my up-train did not stop at Garrison's or Cold Spring, but the
conductor, upon a hint as to the necessity of the case, kindly slackened
the speed of the express so that I could jump off from the rear platform.
In due time I repaid Bonaparte the borrowed five dollars, but the wager
was never paid. The only other bet I made at West Point was on
Buchanan's election; but that was in the interest of a Yankee who was
not on speaking terms with the Southerner who offered the wager. I
have never had any disposition to wager anything on chance, but have
always had an irresistible inclination to back my own skill whenever it
has been challenged. The one thing most to be condemned in war is the
leaving to chance anything which by due diligence might be foreseen.
In the preparations for defense, especially, there is no longer any need
that anything be left to chance or uncertainty.
THE WEST POINT BIBLE-CLASS
I attended the Bible-class regularly every Sunday after I went to West
Point, and rejoiced greatly in that opportunity to hear the