to the usual classroom setup. All Munroe cadets wore uniforms, which helped foster a sense of camaraderie and put all the students on equal footing, giving them a chance to excel and be recognized.
“The Civil War marked a change in military warfare in this country that had been in place from the American Revolution to 1861.”
“Was it because of weaponry?” asked a female cadet.
Turning toward the front of the classroom, Xavier picked up a marker and jotted down the word artillery on the board. “The technological advancement in weapons was a key factor. But remember, weaponry is used in all wars—whether it’s pitchforks, axes, knives, swords, bows and arrows, bayonets, guns or cannon fire. Can anyone tell me about communications during this time?”
He was met with blank stares. Xavier enjoyed teaching the military course because it forced students to think. He’d set up a large storyboard with blue and gray toy soldiers. The rendering included mountain ranges, rivers, streams, seaports and railroads. He’d also pinned maps of the Americas, dating from the seventeenth century to the present on two of the four walls.
A rosy-cheeked boy glanced at his classmates and then raised his hand. “Had coded messages become more sophisticated?”
“In what way had they become more sophisticated, Mr. Lancaster?” Xavier responded.
“Spies no longer hid orders or maps in their boots,” Cadet Lancaster announced proudly.
“Where would they hide them?” asked the other female cadet, this one sporting neatly braided hair she’d tucked into a twist on the nape of her neck.
“That is a good question, Ms. Jenkins,” Xavier said, pausing before he wrote the word telegraph on the board, underlining it. “With every war there are intelligence officers, or as they are commonly referred to as—spies.”
Valerie Jenkins gestured for permission to speak. “I read the other day that if Major John André, who conspired with Benedict Arnold during the Revolutionary War, had been dressed as a soldier when he was captured, he would’ve been treated as a prisoner of war and not a spy.”
Xavier was hard-pressed not to show how impressed he was with Valerie’s eagerness to learn. “You’re right. As a student of history, I’ve always wondered why Benedict Arnold would give André papers, written in his own handwriting, papers detailing how the British could take West Point when the British general already knew the fort’s layout.”
“Do you think General Arnold set up André, Major Eaton?” Valerie asked.
Xavier angled his head. “We’ll never know. Major André sealed his own fate when he encountered a group of armed militiamen near Tarrytown, New York, assuming they were Tories because one man was wearing a Hessian soldier’s overcoat. He’d asked them if they belonged to the lower party, meaning the British, and they’d said they did. Then the major told them he was a British officer and he wasn’t to be detained. Imagine his shock when the men told him they were Americans and he’d become their prisoner. The men searched him, found the papers and he was detained as a spy. He’d asked to be executed by a firing squad, but the rules of war dictated that he be hanged.
“Fast forward eighty years and Americans are embroiled in another war—this one unlike any other fought on this soil because it was not an invasion. Widespread use of the telegraph for military communications began with the Civil War. The telegraph wire service was a private enterprise, but its operators were affiliated with the U.S. Army. Using his executive power, President Lincoln put it under federal jurisdiction reporting to the War Department.”
Another cadet raised his hand. “Yes, Mr. Tolliver,” Xavier said, pointing to him.
“Major Eaton, are you saying Confederate troops didn’t have access to the telegraph?”
“No, I’m not. Operators on both sides became adept at taping enemy lines and decoding messages, but the Confederates lacked the infrastructure of Union telegraphers who had more than fifteen thousand miles of telegraph wire and sent approximately six million military telegraphs.” He made a notation next to artillery. “The Minié ball, or minie ball, is a muzzle-loading, spin-stabilizing rifle bullet that came into prominence during the Civil War. Like the musket ball, the minie ball produced terrible wounds. The large-caliber rounds easily shattered bones, and in many cases the field surgeons amputated limbs rather than risk gangrene. The result was massive casualties. The Spencer repeating carbine and rifle and Colt revolver rifle also played a major part when it came to artillery.”
Xavier added photography, newspaper clippings, letters from soldiers, the railroad, transport troops and supplies, water transportation, topography and the science of embalming to the syllabus.
“The discovery that by combining arsenic, zinc and chloride to prevent bodies from decaying so quickly, meant that soldiers could be shipped home for burial rather than in mass graves. I want you to research each of these points and become familiar with their impact on the war for both the Union and Confederate armies.”
Cadet Valerie Jenkins raised her hand again. “There is no comparison when the Union Army controlled the telegraph lines.”
“Are you saying, Cadet Jenkins, that the Confederates were completely inept when it came to communications? And if they were, why then did the war last four years?”
She lifted her shoulders. “I don’t know.”
Xavier smiled. “That’s what I want you to find out. All of you have textbooks and access to the internet. Please use them. Remember, we’re going to cover every battle and skirmish beginning with the opening salvo of the shelling of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor on April 12, 1861 to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox April 12, 1865. You may think the issues I listed are inconsequential. But because of them battles were won and lost, heroes were revered and vanquished. Most of you have heard of the battles at Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Bull Run and Manassas. But there was also Mechanicsville, Sailor’s Creek, Missionary Ridge, Strasburg, Philippi, Rich and Cedar Mountain. We will go over military tactics and strategies from the point of view of both armies. What we will not discuss is the political or the moral implications of the war.”
He glanced at the wall clock. “You have fifteen minutes to copy the notes on the board.” The cadets opened their laptops, waited for them to boot, then began typing. Unlike some instructors, Xavier preferred his students not take notes during the lecture because it was a distraction. He wanted them to absorb as much information as possible before transferring it to their notes. Times truly had changed since he’d attended military school. Yes, there were computers, but not every cadet had their own laptop.
Xavier dismissed the class. He knew the cadets were anxious to start the weekend. Having the next two days off let them blow off some steam. Come Monday morning the rigorous military education would begin again. And it wasn’t the first time Xavier thought he was grateful he didn’t live on campus. Once he’d received his official discharge from the marines, he was a civilian now living the life of a civilian. He was well aware that the transition from almost three decades in a military to civilian life wasn’t going to be easy. But teaching at a military academy had made it easier.
A knock on the classroom door caught his attention. He looked up. “Have a good weekend, Major Eaton.”
Xavier nodded to an instructor who taught mathematics at Munroe. “Thank you, Captain Alston. You do the same.”
For Xavier, every weekend was good, because for the first time in his adult
