In 1860, the rumblings of trouble over the slave question began to be heard even in the secluded Highlands of the Hudson. At first the Southern and Northern cadets ardently advocated the views of their respective States, arguing with all of the warmth and enthusiasm of their young natures but without any particular bitterness. Soon, however, the gathering of the war clouds and the noise of the storm that was brewing brought the Southern cadets face to face with a problem that of its nature was most difficult to solve. Each one had sworn allegiance to the Government and taken an oath to defend it against all enemies. What should they do? To remain and support the Federal Government meant to fight against their own flesh and blood, yet to resign was to break one’s sworn word. As a Southerner myself, I have often reflected upon the mental suffering that those fellow cadets of “the long grey line” must have experienced, trying to decide upon their duty. General Schaff, in _The Spirit of Old West Point_, gives us a vivid picture of those days at the Academy. So much has been written about the cadets who left West Point to fight with the Southern forces that the following data may prove interesting. At the outbreak of the Civil War there were from the Southern States eighty-six cadets. Of this number sixty-three resigned, from various causes connected with the war, leaving twenty-one who remained loyal to the Government. In the Army, it is a remarkable fact that of the officers of Southern blood appointed from civil life, one half went with the Confederacy, whereas only one fifth of the West Pointers went South. One hundred and sixty-two Southern graduates withstood the terrible strain of fighting their own people, and remained true to the flag. Although up to the time of the Civil War no graduates of West Point had been appointed to the rank of general officer, the war had not been in progress a year before the country eagerly turned to men from the Academy to lead its armies. In September, 1861, six of the eleven generals in the Regular Army were graduates. At the conclusion of the war sixteen of the seventeen Regular general officers of the line were graduates. Sixty-six graduates rose during the war to the grade of major-general and 112 to that of brigadier-general of volunteers, which means that more than one third of the graduates engaged in the war rose to the grade of general officer. Nine received the thanks of Congress for conspicuous gallantry. Turning to the Confederate forces, we find a similar state of affairs. Of the West Pointers in the Confederate service, eighteen were made full generals, fifteen lieutenant-generals, forty major-generals, and eighty-eight brigadier-generals. In command of all was Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, and a West Pointer.