Anon

rif. 3733009 — New York 1859. 16pp. 8vo. First edition and “Printed by Order of the Society.” Original printed wraps are darkened; general creases and soft fold lines from mailing and handling. bjcb 352231 Entirely in verse West Point Life: An Anonymous Communication Read Before a Public Meeting of the Dialectic Society… “details the intense social life at West Point on the eve of the Civil War with amusing accounts of balls and dances and courtships as well as learning soldiering.” Jenkins Authorship has been attributed to Horace C. Porter Class of 1860. The copy at hand gives this penciled inscription on its title-page: “To Miss Constant. With the compliments of Cadet Kilpatrick U.S.M.A.” In a later hand beneath: “Gen. Judson Kilpatrick.” Later nicknamed “Kill-Cavalry” the Irish-American Hugh Judson Kilpatrick 1836–1881 was a fellow member of the Dialectic Society who acted in numerous club performances. Martin p17 Kilpatrick graduated with the Class of 1861 as did Custer and it has been claimed that he was the first regular army officer to be wounded during the Civil War. Kilpatrick’s exploits during the War were numerous if not at times controversial or amusing. Surprised by Confederate forces while taking his bath purportedly sprang naked into his boots and onto his horse and then led a charge against the enemy. He served under Sherman as cavalry chief on the March to the Sea and as a “cavalry commander he was a brilliant leader having originated the saying that ‘cavalry can fight anywhere except at sea.’” DAB In 1874 Kilpatrick co-authored Allatoona: an historical and military drama in five acts and described by Benet’s as being “one of the earliest plays to deal with the Civil War . a tale in which two classmates at West Point fight on opposite sides in the great struggle.” The play was re-interpreted in 1930 by Christopher Morley and published as The Blue and the Gray: Or War is Hell. Kilpatrick’s inscription here as a twenty-three year old West Point cadet is one of the earliest examples one could hope to find for this colorful Union General. Ref. Farley West Point in the Early Sixties. With Incidents of the War. 1902. Martin Kill-Cavalry : The Life of Union General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick… 2000. unknown