second, or junior class; and the corporals from the third, or Sophomore class.  I had not been “called out” as a corporal, but when I returned from furlough I found myself the last but one—­about my standing in all the tactics—­of eighteen sergeants.  The promotion was too much for me.  That year my standing in the class—­as shown by the number of demerits of the year—­was about the same as it was among the sergeants, and I was dropped, and served the fourth year as a private.

During my first year’s encampment General Scott visited West Point, and reviewed the cadets.  With his commanding figure, his quite colossal size and showy uniform, I thought him the finest specimen of manhood my eyes had ever beheld, and the most to be envied.  I could never resemble him in appearance, but I believe I did have a presentiment for a moment that some day I should occupy his place on review—­although I had no intention then of remaining in the army.  My experience in a horse-trade ten years before, and the ridicule it caused me, were too fresh in my mind for me to communicate this presentiment to even my most intimate chum.  The next summer Martin Van Buren, then President of the United States, visited West Point and reviewed the cadets; he did not impress me with the awe which Scott had inspired.  In fact I regarded General Scott and Captain C. F. Smith, the Commandant of Cadets, as the two men most to be envied in the nation.  I retained a high regard for both up to the day of their death.

The last two years wore away more rapidly than the first two, but they still seemed about five times as long as Ohio years, to me.  At last all the examinations were passed, and the members of the class were called upon to record their choice of arms of service and regiments.  I was anxious to enter the cavalry, or dragoons as they were then called, but there was only one regiment of dragoons in the Army at that time, and attached to that, besides the full complement of officers, there were at least four brevet second lieutenants.  I recorded therefore my first choice, dragoons; second, 4th infantry; and got the latter.  Again there was a furlough—­or, more properly speaking, leave of absence for the class were now commissioned officers—­this time to the end of September.  Again I went to Ohio to spend my vacation among my old school-mates; and again I found a fine saddle horse purchased for my special use, besides a horse and buggy that I could drive—­but I was not in a physical condition to enjoy myself quite as well as on the former occasion.  For six months before graduation I had had a desperate cough ("Tyler’s grip” it was called), and I was very much reduced, weighing but one hundred and seventeen pounds, just my weight at entrance, though I had grown six inches in stature in the mean time.  There was consumption in my father’s family, two of his brothers having died of that disease, which made my symptoms more alarming.  The brother and sister next younger than myself died, during the rebellion, of the same disease, and I seemed the most promising subject for it of the three in 1843.