West Point Trivia Test Number 18.

By John Ward, '64

Click on the the answer you believe to be correct. You'll immediately receive feedback on the correctness of your guess.

1. What graduate of West Point, son of a former president, died from poison in a glass of wine served him at the table of his country's president??

A) Jose Maria Figueres.  (Class of 1979).

B) Fidel V. Ramos.  (Class of 1950).

C) Antonio Barrios.  (Class of 1889)
 
D) Chih Wang.  (Class of 1932)


2. Which of the following was NOT part of the career of Thomas Clement Lonergan (Class of 1908)???

A)  As a plebe, his classmates and other cadets carried him around on a barrel and forced him to recite poetry..

B)  He served as Chief of Staff to the American Relief Administration expedition to the Caucasus.

C)  He acted in movies, was assistant director of a famous movie , and was technical advisor for another.
 
D)  He wrote what has been described as the first staff manual ever prepared for American armies..


3. What West Pointer wrote this piece of poetry??

Time, flying Time, oh it must be
In some "closed curve" he flies, and he
Will turn, return and bring us back
Old days and old felicity.

When next Time's in his perigee.
When next we in "the Corps" shall be,
With all the files, all ''as they were",
Oh glad and merry-mad we'll be.

We'll "laugh in ranks continually,"
" Exhibit undue levity,"
We'll be "B.J.," and every day
We'll "laugh in ranks continually."
 
We'll wear our forage caps a-jee,
Our ponpons at "arms port" shall be,
Our arms we'll swing like anything,
And "laugh in ranks continually."

At drill we'll "gaze about" - ah me!
Each true and olden sight to see,
And "out of dress" and "out of step"
We'll dance a joyous jubilee.
 
When dreams are told, a dream we'll tell,
A frightful dream, the heart to quell,
A dream that years and years had fled -
Then reveille, and all was well.

When next Time's in his perigee
When next we all cadets shall be,
With all the files, with all the files,
Oh glad and merry-mad we'll be.

A) Edgar Allen Poe (ex- 1834)

B) Williston Fish (Class of 1881)

C) Charles D. Curran (Class of 1928).

D) William P. Yarborough (Class of 1936).


4. Which of these roles or achievements does not relate to Gordon Voorhies (Class of 1891)?

A) Captain of the West Point Football Team.

B) Enlisted as a Private to get into WWI..

C) Developed a successful orchard and sales cooperative in the Northwest.

D) Solved a calculus problem that had stumped even the professor of Mathematics at West Point..


5. What two cadets were described by Col. Jonathan Williams, first Superintendent of the Military Academy, in the following words:  "[they] are the best Mathematicians in the Academy and . . . to their Mathematical knowledge they have added that of Astronomy to a considerable degree"?

A) Sylvanus Thayer and Samuel Babcock..

B) Ethan Allen Greenwood and Daniel Arzo Buck..

C) Joseph Proveaux and John Duncan Wyndham.

D) William Partridge and Alden Partridge..


6. What do Robert Neyland (Class of 1916), Roderic Vitty (Class of 1955) and Jon A. Rindfleisch (Class of 1959) have in common?

A) They each became college football coaches.

B) They each scored 3 touchdowns in the Army Navy Game their First Class Year.

C) They each were descended from Sylvanus Thayer.

D) They each pitched a no-hitter for the West Point baseball team.


7. We all know that the Military Academy wears gray in honor of the gray-clad regulars who surprised the British commander at the battle of Chippewa.   Who was the British officer who said "These are regulars by God!"?

A) Major General Sir Edward Packenham

B) Major General Robert Ross

C) Major General Phineas Riall

D) Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost

8. Which of the following were true with respect to James Madison Andrews (Class of1890)?

1.  Commodore of the Nantucket Yacht Club.

2.  Son of an Admiral.

3.  Refereed dog fights.

4.  Developer of a new photographic technique.

5.  Author of a military march played by his regimental band.

6.  Served as purser of a Mississippi River Steamboat as a teenager.

7.  Indian fighter on several punitive expeditions.

8.  Father of two West Point First Captains.

9.  Commander of the ``Andrews Rough Walkers`` in the Spanish American War.

10.  Married the Superintendent's adopted daughter.

A) 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10.

B) 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9.

C) 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9.

D) 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10.

 

9. What member of the Class of May 1861 was the son of a Brigadier General, grandson of a Commanding General of the Army, but insisted on staying as a lieutenant in his Regular Army unit in the Civil War until he was severely wounded?  When his leg was amputated and the stump became infected his commanders and classmates arranged for him to receive a deathbed promotion to Brigadier General, U. S. Volunteers (carrying significant death benefits) so that his widowed mother would not be left destitute.

A) Charles Edward Hazlett

B) Henry Walter Kingsbury.

C) Edmund Kirby.

D) John Pelham

10. When were cadets first ordered to cut their hair short?

A) 1817

B) 1826

C) 1855.

D) 1866.

 

Answer to Teaser from last time:    John Y. Fillmore Blake, Class of 1880 (Classmate of George W. Goethals), was the graduate who served initially against the Apache in the Southwest, taking some time out to pursue train robbers. After more than 6 years on the frontier, Blake was transfered eastward, his place was taken by a young lieutenant named John J. Pershing - who would go on to greater things.  Blake then married a lady from Michigan, who influenced him to resign his commission.  He then went into the cold storage business in Michigan and was quite successful.  But life was boring in comparison to serving in campaigns against Geronimo, Chatto, and the other Apache leaders.  When Blake's marriage failed, he sold the cold storage business, picked up stakes, and went to England.   Arriving there in the winter, he found quickly that he hated the dreary weather.  After a stay of less than a week, he shipped out for Southern Africa, intending to prospect for gold in the Rand region. He and some associated prospected for about a year, but ended up with little gold.   Indeed, at the end of the year they were all besieged in the town of Bulawayo until rescued by troops from the south - an embarrassment for this Irishman.  A few years later, Blake joined a group of Irish miners to form a the "Irish Brigade", of which he was appointed colonel when the organizer declined and poionted to his friend Blake's military experience.   The Irish Brigade fought for the Boers against the invading British, trying to maintain the independence of Transvaal and the Irish Free State.  He led his men on many hair raising adventures, was seriously wounded, and ultimately achieved the rank of Commandant in the Boer army, roughly equivalent to Brigadier General.  After the war, Blake returned to America, where he died at a relatively young age.

Teaser for next time:   This graduate began his career with the 3rd Cavalry at Fort Apache, but his troop was soon transfered to the northern plains, where he served under Indian-fighter George Crook.  Studying with local lawyers and Army physicians, he became both a lawyer and a doctor within a two year period, while still serving in the cavalry.   A few years later, he led a two year expedition that accomplished what was then the longest Arctic sledge trip ever made - 3,100 miles.  Then, after serving as aide to a general and marrying a colonel's niece, he embarked (still a lieutenant) in command of another expedition, this one from Alaska to the headwaters of the Yukon River, then by raft down the entire length of the Yukon in Canada.  That expedition produced the first definitive map of that region of Canada.   After a short stint fighting Geronimo in the Southwestern U.S., he resigned to continue exploration, including Mount St. Elias in Alaska, Yellowstone Park, and an expedition into Mexico.  The last trip was partly sponsored by Buffalo Bill Cody, with whom he had business dealings.   His final expedition was back to the headwaters of the Yukon, partway down the river, then across country to the White River Valley and the Copper River, exploring 700 square miles of Alaska for the first time.    In addition to his geographical contributions, he also wrote on environmental physiology, describing the effects of cold and stress and how severe cold weather injury can be avoided, and on such diverse subjects as the physics of the Igloo and Eskimo ethnology.

This concludes Trivia Test No. 18. Thanks for participating.

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