Post by Herb on Nov 24, 2007 12:00:47 GMT -5
Military Training was (and still is) predominately conducted during the summer months, during the academic year, there was very little military training conducted, the exception being military engineering.
First Year Cadets reported early in the summer before their first academic year where they went through the individual and squad drill and lived in tents out on the "Plain".
Sylvanus Thayer was the Superintendent at West Point from 1817- 1833. The Program of Instruction he established remained largely unchanged until Douglas MacArthur became Supt in 1919.
I know they're out there, but I can't think of any good books on West Point History. A brief summary of West Point Life can be found in Douglas Southall Freeman's R. E. Lee Volume 1.
Lee began his first year in June 1825. (An interesting sidenote it includes the then Oath of Office that Lee took - the current Oath of Office was written after the Civil War - even a casual reading shows that Lee did not violate his oath, has is often claimed today).
My personal opinion is that in Fannin's year at West Point, he was exposed to all of the evolutions and drill to train and lead a company and in fact Fannin was an excellent company commander.
During our visit to Goliad, Stuart and I speculated that Fannin had received enough of a military education to realize the mess he was in, but not necessarily enough to know how to correct the situation. Your copy of Chadwick's sketch shows that much more was done in fact to prepare Goliad, then today's reconstruction shows.
I've thought for years that Fannin was getting undeserved censure, after finally visiting the battlefield, and seeing Goliad in person, I'm even more convinced much of the criticism is misplaced. Another leader may have done better, but most probably would have done far worse.
First Year Cadets reported early in the summer before their first academic year where they went through the individual and squad drill and lived in tents out on the "Plain".
Sylvanus Thayer was the Superintendent at West Point from 1817- 1833. The Program of Instruction he established remained largely unchanged until Douglas MacArthur became Supt in 1919.
I know they're out there, but I can't think of any good books on West Point History. A brief summary of West Point Life can be found in Douglas Southall Freeman's R. E. Lee Volume 1.
Lee began his first year in June 1825. (An interesting sidenote it includes the then Oath of Office that Lee took - the current Oath of Office was written after the Civil War - even a casual reading shows that Lee did not violate his oath, has is often claimed today).
My personal opinion is that in Fannin's year at West Point, he was exposed to all of the evolutions and drill to train and lead a company and in fact Fannin was an excellent company commander.
During our visit to Goliad, Stuart and I speculated that Fannin had received enough of a military education to realize the mess he was in, but not necessarily enough to know how to correct the situation. Your copy of Chadwick's sketch shows that much more was done in fact to prepare Goliad, then today's reconstruction shows.
I've thought for years that Fannin was getting undeserved censure, after finally visiting the battlefield, and seeing Goliad in person, I'm even more convinced much of the criticism is misplaced. Another leader may have done better, but most probably would have done far worse.