West Point was one of the few schools in the nation teaching some forms of military and civil engineering. Around that time, a lot of people who wanted to be civil engineers went to West Point, got out of their military service requirements as quickly as possible, and went to work on building the railroads.
Given that most of the railroad activity was in the North, it is possible that a lot of slots for West Point from Northern states were taken up by engineers who left the Army to go build railroads.
I mean a less capable general staff.
West Point was one of the few schools in the nation teaching some forms of military and civil engineering. Around that time, a lot of people who wanted to be civil engineers went to West Point, got out of their military service requirements as quickly as possible, and went to work on building the railroads.
Given that most of the railroad activity was in the North, it is possible that a lot of slots for West Point from Northern states were taken up by engineers who left the Army to go build railroads.
Ah, I see. That’s an interesting point!