evidently used it, referred in some manner to
time, and with such reference I had not the
remotest idea of what it meant. I had no knowledge
whatever of military terms or customs. However, as
I was also told that I could do any thing--writing,
etc.--I might wish to do, I found sufficient to
keep me awake until he again returned and told me
it was then tattoo, that I could retire then or at
any time within half an hour, and that at the end
of that time the light must be extinguished
and I must be in bed. I instantly extinguished it
and retired.

Thus passed my first half day at West Point, and
thus began the military career of the fifth colored
cadet. The other four were Smith of South Carolina,
Napier of Tennessee, Howard of Mississippi, and
Gibbs of Florida.

What I had seen and experienced during the few hours
from my arrival till tattoo filled me with fear and
apprehension. I expected every moment to be insulted
or struck, and was not long in persuading myself that
the various reports which I had heard concerning Smith
were true--I had not seen him yet, or, if I had, had
not recognized him--and that my life there was to be
all torture and anguish. I was uneasy and miserable,
ever thinking of the regulations, verbal or written,
which had been given me. How they haunted me! I kept
repeating them over and over, fearful lest I might