Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 1.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[269] others could be divided into two classes. The first, who were by far the most numerous, being conscious of their deficiencies, desired to improve themselves, and had all the intelligence necessary for learning their profession even in the midst of the difficulties of the war; such must be retained. The others, as presumptuous as they were incapable, set a fatal example in the positions they had courted only to gratify their cupidity or vanity; the examining commissions were directed to rid the army of them. They were instructed to subject all the officers of the various contingents to a rigid examination before they were finally accepted by the President. These examinations only took place several months after those contingents had been formed into divisions, so that the generals who had them under their respective commands were able to furnish the commissioners with suggestions in regard to the officers about to be examined, which more or less controlled their decisions.

The examiners always favored those who were known to be disposed to learn their profession, but those convicted of downright ignorance had no mercy shown to them. During the early stages of the war, those who found themselves thus deprived of their rank begged for favor, threw themselves at the feet of their judges; for, apart from the disgrace, it was a great pecuniary loss to them. They were told in reply to go and learn, and a few rigorous examples determined a large number of officers to avoid the disgrace of failure at a public examination in the presence of their comrades and their subordinates by a prompt resignation. This summary mode of proceeding may have caused some injustice, but the most cruel injustice would have been to expose the lives of soldiers by allowing the army to be filled with men incapable of commanding.

It was thus that discipline and respect for authority began to take root in the army, and their salutary influence was soon felt, although the observer, judging only from appearances, might not yet have been able to realize the fact. Indeed, what may be called the hierarchical sentiment has never existed in the United States, where the uncertain rounds of the social ladder offer to no one a pedestal so high but that a man may descend from it without ruin, where the citizen who has deserved well of his