Benét, Stephen Vincent (1827 – 1895). Student notebook, West Point, 1847-48. 25 leaves containing 29 pages of text. Original covers of marbled paper, with some loss, and handwritten label reading “Chaos / S. V. Benét / 1847.” Laid in is a bifolium with four additional pages of text. Chipping to pages, some leaves are loose.

A fascinating artifact of student life at the United States Military Academy at West Point by one of its distinguished alumni, with entries pertaining to military history, poetry, and horse racing.

Stephen Vincent Benet in later life (Library of Congress)

Born in Saint Augustine, Benét was the first Floridian to be admitted to the Military Academy at West Point, and he excelled there. An excellent student, he graduated third in his class of 1849. He served most of his career – from 1849 to 1891 -- as an ordnance officer. From 1859 to 1864 he served as a professor at his alma mater, first of Geography, History and Ethics then, after the outbreak of hostilities in 1861, as an instructor of ordnance and gunnery. In 1874 he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General and Chief of Ordnance, a position which he held until his retirement from active service. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Benét’s brief appointment as a professor, cut short by the exigencies of the War, was reflective of his lifelong interest in history. His first published work was a translation from the French of a history of Napoleon’s Waterloo campaign, and in 1862 he published a treatise on military law. Three of his grandchildren would earn renown as writers, including his namesake, who would twice be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

This notebook from his student years at West Point reveals his academic interests in literature and history – and his financial interests in horse racing. Wryly titled "Chaos," the notebook opens with seven pages of quotations, the lion’s share being from Byron. A list on the last pages enumerates 34 books he has read, including works of poetry and history and novels by Dickens, Thackeray and Scott.

At the heart of the notebook are four essays on historical subjects, each dated (Oct 28, 1847; Nov 19, 1847; May 1848; August 1848). The first opens with a general meditation on the brutalities of history before shifting to a lament over the Indian removals of the 1830s.

Perchance in after years as the traveler bends in sorrow o’er the tombs of his fallen greatness, he will drop a tear to the memory of the Indian while sighing over the grave of departed Liberty.

The second essay is a celebration of poetry as “most refreshing springs” on the “chequered banks of Time’s everflowing stream.”

The third essay in the notebook offers a lengthy discussion of the fight for liberty and the progress of civilization in “the past century.” Misquoting Tennyson slightly (“When the drum shall throb no longer, & the battle flags be furled / In the Parliament of man, the federation of the world”), he concludes that “American liberty & American literature shall be hailed as the great regenerators of mankind.” A note at the end of the essay notes that it was composed in May 1848 and delivered as an oration, presumably at West Point, on July 4^th 1848.

The last essay in the notebook is a brief, somber address he wrote for a classmate to read on a somber occasion – the presentation by the State of Vermont of a sword in memory of his father, who had fallen at the Battle of Chapultepec. “I have been called away from the duties of a soldier’s life in a far distant institution [i.e. the United States Military Academy] to receive … what would constitute the reward of a soldier’s deeds.”

Laid in is a bifolium with four additional pages of text in Benét’s hand reflecting on the legacy of exploitation and hypocrisy in European history and contrasting it with the redemptive ideal of chivalry. Regrettably this essay is incomplete.

In addition to capturing the young cadet’s literary and intellectual interests, the notebook also offers some indication of his leisure pursuits. Six pages are devoted to the results of horse races held in the region (Hartwick and Ashgrove), with detailed information on each horse, including its name, owner, age, and place, along with the size of the purse for each race. Details on horse racing in America are very sparse before the publication of the first edition of the American Stud Book in 1868, so the details offered here are immensely valuable.

A unique glimpse into the mind of a distinguished member of the West Point class of 1849 who would go on to teach a later generation of students at Army and spend a lifetime in service to his country.

Selected References

Cullum, Biographical Register, 1409

Benét, Stephen Vincent. A treatise on military law and the practice of courts-martial. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1862.

-----. Electro-ballistic machines and the Schultz' Chronoscope. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1866.

-----. Ordnance and artillery. [Washington, D.C.: Ordnance Office, 1872]

----- [trans.]. A. Henri Jomini, The political and military history of the campaign of Waterloo. New York: Redfield, 1853.

Sterling, Keir B. Serving the Line with Excellence: The Development of the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps as Expressed through the Lives of Its Chiefs of Ordnance, 1775–1992. Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.: U.S. Army Ordnance Center