And the next instant I fell sprawling inside the barrack yard

I sprang back against the cabin




I


UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY, WEST POINT

It may seem presumptuous that so young a man as myself should propose
to write his life and memoirs, for, as a rule, one waits until he has
accomplished something in the world, or until he has reached old age,
before he ventures to tell of the times in which he has lived, and of
his part in them. But the profession to which I belong, which is that
of a soldier, and which is the noblest profession a man can follow, is
a hazardous one, and were I to delay until to-morrow to write down
what I have seen and done, these memoirs might never be written, for,
such being the fortune of war, to-morrow might not come.

So I propose to tell now of the little I have accomplished in the
first twenty-three years of my life, and, from month to month, to add
to these memoirs in order that, should I be suddenly taken off, my
debit and credit pages may be found carefully written up to date and
carried forward. On the other hand, should I live to be an old man,
this record of my career will furnish me with material for a more
complete autobiography, and will serve as a safeguard against a