Letter from C. E. Chichester to Colonel Asbury Coward, April 13, 1898
Title
Letter from C. E. Chichester to Colonel Asbury Coward, April 13, 1898
Description
Letter from C. E. Chichester to Colonel Asbury Coward concerning the Cadet Rebellion of 1898, also known as the Cantey Rebellion.
Creator
Source
CP8, Box 5, Folder 2
Publisher
The Citadel Archives & Museum
Date
Rights
Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409.
Relation
Asbury Coward Collection
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
Type
Text
Identifier
https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/560
Date Valid
Text
[Page 1]
No. 1 Atlantic Street
Charleston S. C.
April 13th 1898.
Col. A. Coward,
Sup’t S. C. M. A.,
Dear Sir & Comrade: -
I desire to express to you my hearty approval and admiration of your conduct, and that of the Commander, & also of the Board of Directors, in the action taken in reference to the “mutiny” of a large portion of the members of the Corps of Cadets of the Academy.
It is to be regretted that it was not possible to inflict some severe corporal punishment. A little taste of “buck and gag,” “thumb tying,” or “solitary confinement on bread and water diet” ending with “reduction to the ranks,” and “drumming out of camp
[Page 2]
to the tune of the Rogue’s March” would have had a solitary effect.
The list of the names of the disgraced cadets should be filed in the Office of the Adjutant General of the State, and if there is no existing law to that effect, one should be enacted at the next session of the State Legislature, forbidding the issuing of a Military Commission ever being issued to any of them, for any position whatever in the Militia of the State.
South Carolina expects to draw her commissioned officers from graduates of the Academy, in the future as in the past, in both peace and war. But how can she ever place any reliance upon men who have shown
[Page 3]
such utter disregard for those in authority over them or en violated the rules of military discipline, in times of trial, as these men have done?
It is a well known military maxim, that “he who has not learned to obey, is not fit to command.”
Again expressing my approval, and wishing you and the Academy a large measure of future peace and prosperity, I remain
Your Sincere Friend,
C. E. Chichester
No. 1 Atlantic Street
Charleston S. C.
April 13th 1898.
Col. A. Coward,
Sup’t S. C. M. A.,
Dear Sir & Comrade: -
I desire to express to you my hearty approval and admiration of your conduct, and that of the Commander, & also of the Board of Directors, in the action taken in reference to the “mutiny” of a large portion of the members of the Corps of Cadets of the Academy.
It is to be regretted that it was not possible to inflict some severe corporal punishment. A little taste of “buck and gag,” “thumb tying,” or “solitary confinement on bread and water diet” ending with “reduction to the ranks,” and “drumming out of camp
[Page 2]
to the tune of the Rogue’s March” would have had a solitary effect.
The list of the names of the disgraced cadets should be filed in the Office of the Adjutant General of the State, and if there is no existing law to that effect, one should be enacted at the next session of the State Legislature, forbidding the issuing of a Military Commission ever being issued to any of them, for any position whatever in the Militia of the State.
South Carolina expects to draw her commissioned officers from graduates of the Academy, in the future as in the past, in both peace and war. But how can she ever place any reliance upon men who have shown
[Page 3]
such utter disregard for those in authority over them or en violated the rules of military discipline, in times of trial, as these men have done?
It is a well known military maxim, that “he who has not learned to obey, is not fit to command.”
Again expressing my approval, and wishing you and the Academy a large measure of future peace and prosperity, I remain
Your Sincere Friend,
C. E. Chichester
Collection
Citation
Chichester, C. E., “Letter from C. E. Chichester to Colonel Asbury Coward, April 13, 1898,” The Citadel Archives Digital Collections, accessed April 19, 2024, https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/560.