"We publish this morning an
account of Cadet Smith s standing at West
Point, which should be taken with a few
grains of allowance. The embryo colored
soldier and all his friends black, white and
tan believe that the administrationists have
used him shamefully, especially in view of
their professions and of the chief source of
their political strength. Grant went into
the White House by means of colored votes,
and his shabby treatment of the first member
of the dusky army who reached the point of
graduation in the country s military school,
is a sore disappointment to them.
"Cadet Smith has been a thorn in the side of
the Administration from the start. He could
not be bullied out or persecuted out of the
institution by the insults or menaces of
those who, for consistency s sake, should
have folded him to their bosoms. He stood
his ground bravely, and much against the
will of its rulers. West Point was forced to
endure his unwelcome presence up to the time
of graduation. At that point a crisis was
reached. If the odious cadet were allowed to
graduate, his commission would entitle him
to assignment in our much officered army,
which contains Colonel Fred Grant and a host
of other favorites whose only service has
been of the Captain Jinks order. The army
revolted at the idea. Theoretically they
were and are sound on the nigger, but they
respectfully and firmly objected to a
practical illustration. The Radical General
Belknap was easily convinced that the
assignment of the unoffending Smith to duty
would cause a lack of discipline in any
regiment that would be fearful to
contemplate.
"Something must be done, and that something
was quickly accomplished. They saved the
army and the dignity of the horse marines by
sacrificing the cadet. To do so, some
tangible cause must be alleged, and a
deficiency in philosophy was hit upon.
"In vain did Smith appeal to the Secretary
of War for an opportunity to be re-examined;
in vain did he ask permission to go back and
join the class below all appeals were in
vain. Gentlemen, says the secretary, I don t
wish to be misquoted as saying that I can t
give Mr. Smith a re-examination, for I say I
won t do it. The victim of the army has
since published a three-column card in Fred
Douglass s paper, in which he says he was
dropped for politico military reasons, and
in the course of which he makes an almost
unanswerable case for himself, but the
Radicals have dropped him in his hour of
necessity, and he must submit."
(From the New York Sun.)
| Cadet Smith's
Expulsion. "James W. Smith, the first colored cadet appointed to the Military Academy of West Point, was dismissed after the June examination, having failed to pass an examination in some other studies. Recently the Sun received letters from South Carolina charging that the prejudices of the officers of the Academy led to the dismissal; and to ascertain the truth a Sun reporter went to West Point to investigate the matter. He accosted a soldier thus: " Were you here before Smith was dismissed? " Yes, sir; I've been here many years. " Can you tell me why he was dismissed? " Well, I believe he didn't pass in philosophy and some other studies. " What kind of a fellow was he? " The soldiers thought well of him, but the cadets didn't. They used to laugh and poke fun at him in Riding Hall, and in the artillery drill all of them refused to join hands with him when the cannoneers were ordered to mount. This is dangerous once in a while, for sometimes they mount when the horses are on a fast trot. But he used to run on as plucky as you please, and always got into his seat without help. Some of the officers used to try to make them carry out the drill, but it was no use. I never saw one of the young fellows give him a hand to make a mount. He was a proud Negro, and had good pluck. I never heard him complain, but his black eyes used to flash when he was insulted, and you could see easy enough that he was in a killin humor. But after the first year he kept his temper pretty well, though he fought hard to do it. |
"Captain Robert H. Hall, the
post adjutant, said: Young Smith was a bad
boy.
Naturally Bad
His temper was hot, and his disposition not
honorable. I can assure you that the
officers at this post did every thing in
their power to help him along in his
studies, as well as to improve his standing
with his comrades. But his temper interfered
with their efforts in the latter direction,
while his dulness precluded his passing
through the course of studies prescribed.
"Reporter He was always spoken of as a very
bright lad.
"Captain Hall He was not bright or ready. He
lacked comprehension. In his first year he
was very troublesome. First came his assault
upon, or affray with, another young
gentleman (Cadet Wilson), but the Court of
Inquiry deemed it inadvisable to court
martial either of them. Then he was insolent
to his superior on drill, and being called
upon for an explanation he wrote a
deliberate falsehood. For this he was court
martialled and sentenced to dismissal, but
subsequently the findings of the committee
were reversed, and Cadet Smith was put back
one year. This fact accounts for his good
standing on the examination next before the
last. You see he went over the same studies
twice.
"Reporter What was Cadet Smith found
deficient in?
"Captain Hall His worst failure was in
natural and experimental philosophy, which
embraces the higher mathematics, dynamics,
optics, mechanics, and other studies. He
missed a very simple question in optics, and
the examiners, who were extremely lenient
with him, chiefly, I believe, because he was
colored and not white, tried him with
another, which was also missed.
"Reporter Is optical science deemed an
absolutely essential branch of learning for
an officer in the army?
Deficient In His
Studies.
"Captain Hall It is useful to engineers, for
instance. But that is not the question. In
most educational institutions of the grade
of West Point, the standing of a student in
his studies is decided by a general average
of all studies in which he is examined. Here
each branch is considered separately, and if
the cadet fails in any one he cannot pass. I
will assure you once more that in my opinion
Cadet Smith received as fair an examination
as was ever given to any student. If
anything, he was a little more favored.
"Reporter What was his conduct in the last
year of his stay at the Academy?
"Captain Hall Good. He ranked twenty in a
class of forty in discipline. Discipline is
decided by the number of marks a cadet
receives in the term. If he goes beyond a
certain number he is expelled.
"Reporter This record seems hardly
consistent with his previous turbulent
career.
Captain Hall Oh! in the last years of his
service he learned to control his temper,
but he never seemed happy unless in some
trouble.
"Reporter Have you any more colored cadets?
Captain Hall Only one Henry O. Flipper, of
Georgia. He is a well built lad, a mulatto,
and is bright, intelligent, and studious.
"Reporter Do the cadets dislike him as much
as they did Smith?
"Captain Hall No, Sir, I am told that he is
more popular. I have heard of no doubt he
will get through all right. And here I will
say, that had Mr. Smith been white he would
not have gone so far as he did.
"Other officers of the post concur with
Captain Hall, but the enlisted men seem to
sympathize with Smith. One of them said, I
don t believe the officers will ever let a
Negro get through. They don t want them in
the army.
"Cadet Smith s career for the three years of
his service was indeed a most unhappy one,
but whether that unhappiness arose from
The Infirmities Of Temper or from the
persistent persecutions of his comrades
cannot be authoritatively said. One officer
attributed much of the pugnacity which Smith
exhibited early in his course to the
injudicious letters sent him by his friends.
In some of these he was advised to fight for
the honor of his race, and others urged him
to brook no insult at the hands of the white
cadets. The menial duties which the plebes
are called upon to do in their first summer
encampment were looked upon by Smith as
personal insults thrust upon him, although
his comrades made no complaint. Then the
social ostracism to a lad of his sensitive
nature was almost unbearable, and an
occasional outbreak is not to be wondered
at.
"Before he had been in the Academy a week he
wrote to a friend complaining of the
treatment he received from his fellows, and
this letter being published intensified the
hostility of the other cadets. Soon after
this he had a fight with Cadet Wilson and
cut his face with a dipper. Then followed
the breach of discipline on drill, the court
martial and sentence, and finally the
Congressional investigation, which did not
effect any good. Smith says that frequently
on squad drill he was detached from the
squad by the cadet corporal, and told that
he was not to stand side by side with white
men.
"West Point, June 19."
The Colored Cadet.
His Trials and Persecutions: Three Years of
Abuse Settled at Last "Eli Perkins" tells
the Story.
To the Editor of the Daily Graphic:
About the 20th of May, 1870, I saw the
colored Cadet, James W. Smith land at the
West Point Dock. He was appointed by a
personal friend of mine, Judge Hoge, Member
of Congress from Columbia, South Carolina.
The mulatto boy was about five feet eight
inches high, with olive complexion and
freckles. Being hungry he tipped his hat to
a cadet as he jumped from the ferry boat and
asked him the way to the hotel.
" Over there, boy, replied the cadet,
pointing to the Rose Hotel owned by the
government.
"On arriving there the colored boy laid down
his carpet bag, registered his name, and
asked for something to eat.
" What! A meal of victuals for a nigger?
asked the clerk.
" Yes, Sir, I'm hungry and I should like to
buy something to eat.
" Well, you'll have to be hungry a good
while if you wait to get something to eat
here, and the clerk of the government hotel
pushed the colored boy s carpet bag off upon
the floor.
"Jimmy Smith s father, who fought with
General Sherman, and came back to become an
alderman in Columbia, had told the boy that
when he got to West Point among soldiers he
would be treated justly, and you can imagine
how the hungry boy felt when he trudged back
over the hot campus to see Colonel Black and
General Schriver, who was then
Superintendent of the Academy.
"The black boy came and stood before the
commandant and handed him his appointment
papers and asked him to read them. Colonel
Black, Colonel Boynton, and other officers
looked around inquiringly. Then they got up
to take a good look at, the first colored
cadet. The colonel, red in the face, waved
the boy away with his hand, and, one by one,
the officers departed, speechless with
amazement.
"In a few moments the news spread through
the Academy. The white cadets seemed
paralyzed.
"Several cadets threatened to resign, some
advocated maiming him for life, and a
Democratic pleb from Illinois exclaimed, I d
rather die than drill with the black devil.
But wiser counsels prevailed, and the cadets
consented to tolerate Jimmy Smith and not
drown or kill him for four weeks, when it
was thought the examiners would bilge him.
"On the 16th of June, 1870, I saw Jimmy
Smith again at West Point and wrote out my
experiences. He was the victim of great
annoyance.
"At these insults the colored cadet showed a
suppressed emotion. He could not break the
ranks to chastise his assaulter. Then if he
had fought with every cadet who called him a
black hearted nigger, he would have fought
with the whole Academy. Not the professors,
for they have been as truly gentlemen as
they are good officers. If they had feelings
against the colored cadet they suppressed
them. I say now that the indignities heaped
upon Jimmy Smith would have been unbearable
to any white boy of spirit. Hundreds of
times a day he was publicly called names so
mean that I dare not write them.
"Once I met Jimmy Smith after drill. He bore
the insulting remarks like a Christian.
" I expected it, he said; but it was not so
at the Hartford High School. There I had the
second honors of my class. Then he showed me
a catalogue of the Hartford High School, and
there was the name of James W. Smith as he
graduated with the next highest honor.
"On that occasion I asked Jimmy who his
father was.
" His name is Israel Smith. He used to
belong to Sandres Guignard, of Columbia.
" Then he was a slave?
" Yes, but when Sherman s army freed him he
became a Union soldier.
" And your mother?
" She is Catherine Smith, born free. Here
Jimmy showed his mother s photograph. She
looked like a mulatto woman, with straight
hair and regular features. She had a
serious, Miss Siddons looking face.
" How did you come to "the Point?" I asked.
" Well, Mr. David Clark, of Hartford,
promised to educate me, and he got
Congressman Hoge to appoint me.
" How came Mr. Clark to become interested in
you?
" Well, a very kind white lady Miss Loomis
came to Columbia to teach the freedmen. I
went to school to her and studied so hard
and learned so fast that she told Mr. Clark
about me. My father is able to support me,
but Mr. Clark is a great philanthropist and
he has taken a liking to me and he is going
to stand by me.
" What does Mr. Clark say when you write
about how the cadets treat you?
"The colored boy handed me this letter from
his benefactor:
" Hartford, June 7, 1870.
" Dear Jemmy: Yours, 1st inst., is at hand
and noted. I herewith inclose stamps.
" Let them call "nigger" as much as they
please; they will laugh out of the other
corner of their mouth before the term is
over.
" Your only way is to maintain your dignity.
Go straight ahead. If any personal insult is
offered, resist it, and then inform me; I
will then see what I can do. But I think you
need have no fear on that score. Have been
out to Windham a few days. All well, and
send kind regards. Mary sails for Europe
Saturday. President Grant is to be here the
2d. He will be my guest or Governor Jewell
s.
" Yours, etc.,
" D. Clark.
" So Mr. Clark knows the
President, does he?
" Why, yes; he knows everybody all the great
men. He s a great man himself; and this poor
colored boy stood up, I thought, the
proudest champion David Clark ever had.
" Yes, David Clark is a good man, I mused,
as I saw the grateful tears standing in the
colored cadet s eyes.
"When I got back to the hotel I heard a
wishy washy girl, who came up year after
year with a party to flirt with the cadets
say:
" O dear! it is hawid to have this colod
cadet perfectly dre fful. I should die to
see my George standing next to him.
"But Miss Schenck, the daughter of General
Schenck, our Minister to the Court of St.
James, told Jimmy Smith that she hoped he
would graduate at the head of his class, and
when the colored boy told me about it he
said:
" Oh, sir, a splendid lady called to see me
today. I wish I knew her name. I want to
tell David Clark.
"Every white boy at West Point now agreed to
cut the colored boy. No one was to say a
single word to him, or even answer yes or
no. At the same time they would abuse him
and swear at him in their own conversation
loud enough for him to hear. It is a
lamentable fact that every white cadet at
the Point swears and chews tobacco like the
army in Flanders.
"Again I saw Jimmy Smith on the 9th of July.
The officers of the Academy had been
changed. Old General Schriver had given
place to young General Upton. The young
general is a man of feeling and a lover of
justice. He sent for the colored boy, and
taking his hand he said:
" My boy, you say you want to resign, that
you can stand this persecution no longer.
You must not do it. You are here an officer
of the army. You have stood a severe
examination. You have passed honorably and
you shall not be persecuted into resigning.
I am your friend. Come to me and you shall
have justice.
"Then General Upton addressed the cadets on
dress parade. He told them personal insults
against their brother cadet, whose only
crime was color, must cease.
"One day a cadet came to Jimmy and said he
would befriend him if he dared to, but you
know I would be ostracized if I should speak
to you.
" What was the cadet s name? I asked.
" Oh, I dare not tell? replied the colored
boy. He would be ruined, too.
" Did your father write to you when you
thought of resigning?
" Yes; here is his letter,
replied the colored boy:
" Columbia, S.C., July 3, 1870.
" My Dear Son: I take great pleasure in
answering your kind letter received last
night. I pray God that my letter may find
you in a better state of consolation than
when you wrote to me. I told you that you
would have trials and difficulties to
endure. Do not mind them, for they will go
like chaff before the wind, and your enemies
will soon be glad to gain your friendship.
They do the same to all newcomers in every
college. You are elevated to a high
position, and you must stand it like a man.
Do not let them run you away, for then they
will say, the "nigger" won t do. Show your
spunk, and let them see that you will fight.
That is what you are sent to West Point for.
When they find you are determined to stay,
they will let you alone. You must not resign
on any account, for it is just what the
Democrats want. They are betting largely
here that you won t get in. The rebels say
if you are admitted, they will devil you so
much that you can t stay. Be a man; don t
think of leaving, and let me know all about
your troubles. The papers say you have not
been received. Do write me positively
whether you are received or not.
" Times are lively here, for everybody is
preparing for the Fourth of July. There are
five colored companies here, all in uniform,
and they are trying to see who shall excel
in drill.
" Stand your ground; don t resign, and write
me soon.
" From your affectionate father,
" Israel Smith. "
"On the 11th of January I
visited West Point again. I found all the
cadets still against the colored boy. A
system of terrorism reigned supreme. Every
one who did not take sides against the
colored boy was ostracized.
"At drill one morning Cadet Anderson trod on
the colored boy s toes. When Smith
expostulated Anderson replied, Keep your
toes away. When Smith told about it Anderson
got two other white cadets to say he never
said so. This brought the colored boy in a
fix.
"Last July I saw the colored cadet again. He
was still ostracized. No cadet ever spoke to
him. He lived a, hermit life, isolated and
alone.
"When I asked him how he got on with his
studies he said: As well as I am able,
roaming all alone, with no one to help me
and no one to clear up the knotty points. If
there is an obscure point in my lesson I
must go to the class with it. I cannot go to
a brother cadet.
" If you should ask them to help you what
would they say?
" They would call me a nigger, and tell me
to go back to the plantation.
"Yesterday, after watching the colored cadet
for three years, I saw him again. He has
grown tall and slender. He talks slowly, as
if he had lost the use of language. Indeed
many days and weeks he has gone without
saying twenty lines a day in a loud voice,
and that in the recitation room.
"When they were examining him the other day
he spoke slowly, but his answers were
correct. His answers in philosophy were
correct. But they say he answered slowly,
and they will find him deficient for that.
Find him deficient for answering slowly when
the boy almost lost the use of language!
When he knew four hundred eyes were on him
and two hundred malign arts all praying for
his failure!
"The colored cadet is now in his third year.
The great question at West Point is, Will he
pass his examination? No one will know till
the 30th of June. It is my impression that
the young officers have marked him so low
that he will be found deficient. The young
officers hate him almost as bad as the
cadets, and whenever they could make a bad
mark against him they have done it.
" Does anyone ever speak to you now? I
asked.
" No. I dare not address a cadet. I do not
want to provoke them. I simply want to
graduate. I am satisfied if they do not
strike or harm me; though if I had a kind
word now and then I should be happier, and I
could study better, Then the colored boy
drew a long sigh.
"Today I met General Howard, who was present
at the colored cadet s court-martial. I
asked him to tell me about it.
" Well, Mr. Perkins, said the General, they
tried to make out that the colored boy lied.
" Yes, I interrupted, and they all say he
did lie at the Point now. How was it?
" It was this way: They accused him of
talking on parade, and, while trying to
convict him out of his own mouth, they asked
him "If on a certain day he did not speak to
a certain cadet while on drill?" "I did not
speak to this cadet while on drill the day
you mention," answered Cadet Smith, "for the
cadet was not in the parade that day."
"This answer startled the prosecutors, and,
looking over the diary of parade days, they
were astonished to find Cadet Smith correct.
" What then? I asked.
" Why they accuse him of telling a lie in
spirit, though not in form, for he had
talked on a previous day. Just as if he was
obliged to say any thing to assist the
prosecutors except to answer their
questions.
"General Howard believes Cadet Smith to be a
good, honest boy. I believe the same.
Henry Ossian Flipper, The Colored Cadet at West Point, 1878