The Colored Cadet at West Point | Page 9

C.
FREEMAN, M.C.
CIRCULAR.
I. Candidates must be actual bona fide residents of the Congressional
district or Territory for which their appointments are made, and must be

over seventeen and under twenty-two years of age at the time of
entrance into the Military Academy; but any person who has served
honorably and faithfully not less than one year as an officer or enlisted
man in the army of the United States, either as a Volunteer, or in the
Regular service, during the war for the suppression of the rebellion,
shall be eligible for appointment up to the age of twenty-four years.
They must be at least five feet in height, and free from any infectious or
immoral disorder, and, generally, from any deformity, disease, or
infirmity which may render them unfit for arduous military service.
They must be proficient in Reading and Writing; in the elements of
English Grammar; in Descriptive Geography, particularly of our own
country, and in the History of the United States.
In Arithmetic, the various operations in addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division, reduction, simple and compound
proportion, and vulgar and decimal fractions, must be thoroughly
understood and readily performed.
The following are the leading physical disqualifications:
1. Feeble constitution and muscular tenuity; unsound health from
whatever cause; indications of former disease; glandular swellings, or
other symptoms of scrofula. 2. Chronic cutaneous affections, especially
of the scalp. 3. Severe injuries of the bones of the head; convulsions. 4.
Impaired vision, from whatever cause; inflammatory affections of the
eyelids; immobility or irregularity of the iris; fistula, lachrymalis, etc.,
etc. 5. Deafness; copious discharge from the ears. 6. Loss of many teeth,
or the teeth generally unsound. 7. Impediment of speech. 8. Want of
due capacity of the chest, and any other indication of a liability to a
pulmonic disease. 9. Impaired or inadequate efficiency of one or both
of the superior extremities on account of fractures, especially of the
clavicle, contraction of a joint, extenuation, deformity, etc., etc. 10. An
unusual excurvature or incurvature of the spine. 11. Hernia. 12. A
varicose state of the veins of the scrotum or spermatic cord (when
large), sarcocele, hydroccle, hemorrhoids, fistulas. 13. Impaired or
inadequate efficiency of one or of both of the inferior extremities on
account of varicose veins, fractures, malformation (flat feet, etc.),

lameness, contraction, unequal length, bunions, overlying or
supernumerary toes, etc., etc. 14. Ulcers, or unsound cicatrices of ulcers
likely to break out afresh.
Every person appointed, upon arrival at West Point, is submitted to a
rigid medical examination, and if any causes of disqualification are
found to exist in him to such a degree as may now or hereafter impair
his efficiency, he is rejected.
No person who has served in any capacity in the military or naval
service of the so-called Confederate States during the late rebellion can
receive an appointment as cadet at the Military Academy.
II. The pay of a cadet is $500 per annum, with one ration per day, to
commence with his admission into the Military Academy, and is
sufficient, with proper economy, for his support.
III. Each cadet must keep himself supplied with the following
mentioned articles, viz.:
One gray cloth coatee; one gray cloth riding- jacket; one regulation
great-coat; two pairs of gray cloth pantaloons, for winter; six pairs of
drilling pantaloons for summer; one fatigue-jacket for the encampment;
one black dress cap; one forage cap; one black stock; *two pairs of
ankle-boots; *six pairs of white gloves; two sets of white belts; *seven
shirts and twelve collars; *six pairs winter socks; *six pairs summer
socks; *four pairs summer drawers; *three pairs winter drawers; *six
pocket-handkerchiefs; *six towels; *one clothes- bag, made of ticking;
*one clothes-brush; *one hair-brush; *one tooth-brush; *one comb; one
mattress; one pillow; *two pillow-cases; *two pairs sheets; one pair
blankets; *one quilted bed-cover; one chair; one tumbler; *one trunk;
one account-book; and will unite with his room- mate in purchasing,
for their common use, one looking-glass, one wash-stand, one
wash-basin, one pail, and one broom, and shall he required to have one
table, of the pattern that may be prescribed by the Superintendent.
The articles marked thus * candidates are required to bring with them;
the others are to be had at West Point at regulated prices, and it is better

for a candidate to take with him as little clothing of any description as
is possible (excepting what is marked), and no more money than will
defray his travelling expenses; but for the parent or guardian to send to
"The Treasurer of the Military Academy" a sum sufficient for his
necessary expenses until he is admitted, and for his clothes, etc.,
thereafter.
The expenses of the candidate for board, washing, lights, etc., prior to
admission, will be about $5 per week, and immediately after being
admitted to