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, althought 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.
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