recognition unless it was made willingly. We would
be of them at least independent. We would mark out
for ourselves a uniform course of conduct and follow
it rigidly. These were our resolutions. So long as
we were in the right we knew we should be recognized
by those whose views were not limited or bound by
such narrow confines as prejudice and caste, whether
they were at West Point or elsewhere. Confident that
right on our own part would secure us just treatment
from others, that "if we but prove ourselves possessed
of some good qualities" we could find friends among
both faculty and students.

I came to West Point, notwithstanding I had heard
so much about the Academy well fit to dishearten
and keep one away. And then, too, at the time I
had no object in seeking the appointment other
than to gratify an ordinary ambition. Several
friends were opposed to my accepting it, and even
persuaded me, or rather attempted to persuade me,
to give up the idea altogether. I was inexorable.
I had set my mind upon West Point, and no amount
of persuasion, and no number of harrowing narratives
of bad treatment, could have induced me to relinquish
the object I had in view. But I was right. The work I
chose, and from which I could not flinch without
dishonor, proved far more important than either my
friends or myself at first thought it would be.

Let me not, however, anticipate. Of this importance