Tully McCrea Letter, April 27, 1861
Dublin Core
Title
Tully McCrea Letter, April 27, 1861
Subject
United States Military Academy -- Cadet life -- 1857-1862
McCrea, Tully, 1839-1918, USMA 1862
Description
Audio recording
Publisher
United States Military Academy
Date
2021-03-22
Contributor
Reba Thomas
Rights
Public Domain (see USMA Library Terms of Use)
Format
.mp3
Language
Eng
Type
Sound recording
Identifier
Tully_006.mp3
Sound Item Type Metadata
Original Format
paper
Duration
00:01:23
Bit Rate/Frequency
192 kbit/s
Transcription
“Thirty-two resigned and were relieved from duty on Monday, and since then enough to increase the number to more than forty. There are now very few cadets from any southern state here. My roommate, a good union man from Tennessee, is still here and intends to remain as long as he can possibly do so with honor. He has no sympathy with the southern rebels and thinks that the union feeling is overwhelmed in his state for the present, but will prove true and loyal to the end.”
“I never saw such an alarmed crowd as were those that left here the beginning of the week. They were afraid that they would be mobbed by excited and patriotic people as soon as they left West Point. The Superintendent let them leave before their resignations were accepted by the secretary of war, so that they might have a chance to reach their homes before the excitement got any higher. The Superintendent advised them not to go through New York city. Some took his advice and went around by Albany. But the meanest thing of all, was some of them getting red, white, and blue ribbon before they left here, to make rosettes of, to wear in New York. I would have preferred by far to have been mobbed than to have carried false colors, and wear a lie on my breast. But I have found ‘Southern chivalry’ since I have been at West Point, to be something not worth bragging of.”
“I never saw such an alarmed crowd as were those that left here the beginning of the week. They were afraid that they would be mobbed by excited and patriotic people as soon as they left West Point. The Superintendent let them leave before their resignations were accepted by the secretary of war, so that they might have a chance to reach their homes before the excitement got any higher. The Superintendent advised them not to go through New York city. Some took his advice and went around by Albany. But the meanest thing of all, was some of them getting red, white, and blue ribbon before they left here, to make rosettes of, to wear in New York. I would have preferred by far to have been mobbed than to have carried false colors, and wear a lie on my breast. But I have found ‘Southern chivalry’ since I have been at West Point, to be something not worth bragging of.”
Collection
Citation
Cadet Andy Rodriguez and USMA Theatre Arts Guild & Dialectic Society, “Tully McCrea Letter, April 27, 1861,” U.S. Military Academy Library Exhibits, accessed September 4, 2026, https://usmalibrary.omeka.net/items/show/78.