Memoirs of General William T. Sherman | Page 6

I therefore
merely state that I went through the regular course of four years,
graduating in June, 1840, number six in a class of forty-three. These
forty-three were all that remained of more than one hundred which
originally constituted the class. At the Academy I was not considered a
good soldier, for at no time was I selected for any office, but remained
a private throughout the whole four years. Then, as now, neatness in
dress and form, with a strict conformity to the rules, were the
qualifications required for office, and I suppose I was found not to
excel in any of these. In studies I always held a respectable reputation
with the professors, and generally ranked among the best, especially in
drawing, chemistry, mathematics, and natural philosophy. My average
demerits, per annum, were about one hundred and fifty, which. reduced
my final class standing from number four to six.
In June, 1840, after the final examination, the class graduated and we
received our diplomas. Meantime, Major Delafield, United States
Engineers, had become Superintendent; Major C. F. Smith,
Commandant of Cadets; but the corps of professors and assistants
remained almost unchanged during our whole term. We were all
granted the usual furlough of three months, and parted for our homes,
there to await assignment to our respective corps and regiments. In due
season I was appointed and commissioned second-lieutenant, Third
Artillery, and ordered to report at Governor's Island, New York Harbor,
at the end of September. I spent my furlough mostly at Lancaster and
Mansfield, Ohio; toward the close of September returned to New York,
reported to Major Justin Dimock, commanding the recruiting
rendezvous at Governor's Island, and was assigned to command a
company of recruits preparing for service in Florida. Early in October
this company was detailed, as one of four, to embark in a sailing-vessel
for Savannah, Georgia, under command of Captain and Brevet Major
Penrose. We embarked and sailed, reaching Savannah about the middle
of October, where we transferred to a small steamer and proceeded by
the inland route to St. Augustine, Florida. We reached St. Augustine at

the same time with the Eighth Infantry, commanded by Colonel and
Brevet Brigadier-General William J. Worth. At that time General
Zachary Taylor was in chief command in Florida, and had his
headquarters at Tampa Bay. My regiment, the Third Artillery, occupied
the posts along the Atlantic coast of Florida, from St. Augustine south
to Key Biscayne, and my own company, A, was at Fort Pierce, Indian
River. At St. Augustine I was detached from the company of recruits,
which was designed for the Second Infantry, and was ordered to join
my proper company at Fort Pierce. Colonel William Gates commanded
the regiment, with Lieutenant William Austine Brown as adjutant of
the regiment. Lieutenant Bragg commanded the post of St. Augustine
with his own company, E, and G (Garner's), then commanded by
Lieutenant Judd. In, a few days I embarked in the little steamer William
Gaston down the coast, stopping one day at New Smyrna, held by John
R. Vinton's company (B), with which was serving Lieutenant William
H. Shover.
In due season we arrived off the bar of Indian River and anchored. A
whale-boat came off with a crew of four men, steered by a character of
some note, known as the Pilot Ashlock. I transferred self and baggage
to this boat, and, with the mails, was carried through the surf over the
bar, into the mouth of Indian River Inlet. It was then dark; we
transferred to a smaller boat, and the same crew pulled us up through a
channel in the middle of Mangrove Islands, the roosting-place of
thousands of pelicans and birds that rose in clouds and circled above
our heads. The water below was alive with fish, whose course through
it could be seen by the phosphoric wake; and Ashlock told me many a
tale of the Indian war then in progress, and of his adventures in hunting
and fishing, which he described as the best in the world. About two
miles from the bar, we emerged into the lagoon, a broad expanse of
shallow water that lies parallel with the coast, separated from it by a
narrow strip of sand, backed by a continuous series of islands and
promontories, covered with a dense growth of mangrove and
saw-palmetto. Pulling across this lagoon, in about three more miles we
approached the lights of Fort Pierce. Reaching a small wharf, we
landed, and were met by the officers of the post, Lieutenants George
Taylor and Edward J. Steptoe, and Assistant-Surgeon James Simons.
Taking the mail-bag, we walked up a steep sand-bluff on which the fort

was situated, and across the parade-ground to the officers' quarters.
These were six or seven log-houses, thatched with palmetto-leaves,
built on high