Personal Memoirs of General Sheridan | Page 6

under the
direction of Mr. William Clark; my old teachers, McNanly and Thorn,
having disappeared from Somerset and sought new fields of usefulness.
The intervening months passed rapidly away, and I fear that I did not
make much progress, yet I thought I should be able to pass the
preliminary examination. That which was to follow worried me more
and gave me many sleepless nights; but these would have been less in
number, I fully believe, had it not been for one specification of my,
outfit which the circular that accompanied my appointment demanded.
This requirement was a pair of "Monroe shoes." Now, out in Ohio,
what "Monroe shoes" were was a mystery--not a shoemaker in my
section having so much as an inkling of the construction of the
perplexing things, until finally my eldest brother brought an idea of
them from Baltimore, when it was found that they were a familiar
pattern under another name.
At length the time for my departure came, and I set out for West Point,
going by way of Cleveland and across Lake Erie to Buffalo. On the
steamer I fell in with another appointee en route to the academy, David
S. Stanley, also from Ohio; and when our acquaintanceship had ripened
somewhat, and we had begun to repose confidence in each other, I
found out that he had no "Monroe shoes," so I deemed myself just that
much ahead of my companion, although my shoes might not conform
exactly to the regulations in Eastern style and finish. At Buffalo,
Stanley and I separated, he going by the Erie Canal and I by the
railroad, since I wanted to gain time on account of commands to stop in
Albany to see my father's uncle. Here I spent a few days, till Stanley
reached Albany, when we journeyed together down the river to West
Point. The examination began a few days after our arrival, and I soon
found myself admitted to the Corps of Cadets, to date from July 1,
1848, in a class composed of sixty-three members, many of whom--for
example, Stanley, Slocum, Woods, Kautz, and Crook- -became
prominent generals in later years, and commanded divisions, corps, and

armies in the war of the rebellion.
Quickly following my admission I was broken in by a course of hazing,
with many of the approved methods that the Cadets had handed down
from year to year since the Academy was founded; still, I escaped
excessive persecution, although there were in my day many
occurrences so extreme as to call forth condemnation and an endeavor
to suppress the senseless custom, which an improved civilization has
now about eradicated, not only at West Point, but at other colleges.
Although I had met the Academic board and come off with fair success,
yet I knew so little of Algebra or any of the higher branches of
mathematics that during my first six months at the Academy I was
discouraged by many misgivings as to the future, for I speedily learned
that at the January examination the class would have to stand a test
much severer than that which had been applied to it on entering. I
resolved to try hard, however, and, besides, good fortune gave me for a
room-mate a Cadet whose education was more advanced than mine,
and whose studious habits and willingness to aid others benefited me
immensely. This room-mate was Henry W. Slocum, since so signally
distinguished in both military and civil capacities as to win for his
name a proud place in the annals of his country. After taps--that is,
when by the regulations of the Academy all the lights were supposed to
be extinguished, and everybody in bed--Slocum and I would hang a
blanket over the one window of our room and continue our studies--he
guiding me around scores of stumbling-blocks in Algebra and
elucidating many knotty points in other branches of the course with
which I was unfamiliar. On account of this association I went up before
the Board in January with less uneasiness than otherwise would have
been the case, and passed the examination fairly well. When it was over,
a self-confidence in my capacity was established that had not existed
hitherto, and at each succeeding examination I gained a little in order of
merit till my furlough summer came round--that is, when I was half
through the four-year course.
My furlough in July and August, 1850, was spent at my home in Ohio,
with the exception of a visit or two to other Cadets on furlough in the
State, and at the close of my leave I returned to the Academy in the full
expectation of graduating with my class in 1852.
A quarrel of a belligerent character in September, ,1851, with Cadet

William R. Terrill, put an end to this anticipation,