Posted on 08/30/2016 4:23:55 PM PDT by ameribbean expat
The Class of 1885 were born during the Civil War, and grew up in the political and social turmoil of the Reconstruction Era. They would enter the fleet just as American interest in the world was beginning to increase, the very summer that Alfred Thayer Mahan was promoted to Captain and began writing his lectures for the new Naval War College. Many would go on to serve as junior officers in the Spanish-American War.
1. Give an account of any three of the following: (1) The settlement of Georgia. (2) The loss of New Netherlands by the Dutch. (3) Jay’s Treaty. (4) The Ostend Manifesto. (5) The Crittenden Compromise.
(Excerpt) Read more at warontherocks.com ...
Most students today are still struggling with math and certainly with the proper use of the English language.
Works in reverse too...
Could a 19th century shipman give an account of Clinton’s e-mail server or climate change or expand on Soros and glowBullization?
That’s a rough final. But doable with adequate prep and I am sure this final covers course work
No I am not!
Knowledge isn’t intelligence.
I’m sure those were extensive answers to those questions. On the other hand, those midshipmen would have been expected to study those events and would have been prepared to answer them.
Without studying I could get about 60% and that is being generous. The instructor of the times may consider my answers inadequate. One must consider the degree needed to answer the questions to the satisfaction of the instructor.
How stupid. If you can’t speak ancient Egyptian, does that mean ancient Egyptians are smarter than you???
This is right up your alley!
Nautical gentlemen had to do trigonometry.
You seem to be making the obvious point that there's a difference between being smart and being knowledgeable. Very true.
Not one of those young men could have explained why the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. So I'd call it even.
Many of these events were current news or recent history at that time and reported in newspapers and taught in school. So it wouldn’t be likely for 21st century people to be familiar with these events.
Like you, I was a 20th Century Mid, and recall filling many blue exam booklets with handwritten essay answers to questions regarding military history, and in particular the history of seapower. We gave good account of ourselves, and venture to say had we been 19th Century Mids, we would have done well on the exam described.
However, yes, I never could figure out what the Germans were doing at Pearl Harbor, either ;)
Well I know a bit about a lot of them but I’m sure I wouldn’t get a passing grade without brushing up. Now of course I’m going to have to look up all the ones on the list that I’m hazy on... you just wanna make me work and you’ve succeeded....
Settlement of Georgia, the transfer from Dutch to English, and the Jay Treaty were “recent history”? No, they were ancient history. The Jay Treaty being most recent being from John Jay’s efforts 1790s, and something all Americans should be somewhat aware of (including perhaps the fact Jay was the first Chief Justice). That’s like us discussing the awful adoption of the Income Tax and making the Senate just another “people’s representaion” in the Amendments.
No it’s not. These are general historical questions. Your comment implies they are only for middies of the period.
Complete non-sequitur.
It was Georgia Indian Territory to start with. My 6th great
grandparents lived down there on a plantation (Cothams).
My 6th great grandmother was a snob. Their son (my 5th great
grandfather) married a Cherokee girl and his mother had a
fit. (Yes. They had several slaves.) The father gave them
their inheritance in gold and put them on a ship going up
the Tennessee River. They landed in Perryville, TN on the
river & settled there. - My second great grandfather got a
job (much later) working as a lightskeeper on the river.
It was a rough crowd that hung around there and they would
just as soon kill you and leave you on the river bank as to
look at you. He carried a Smith & Wesson revolver in his
job. - I now have that revolver in my possession and
Hitler-y & Hussein can kiss my ass! IF they intend to “take”
my S&W, they’ll have to clear more hurdles than Hitler-y or
Hussein are physically able to clear AND take my
grandfather’s revolver from my cold dead hands!
Absolutely true.
I don’t know how many times we have to explain that.
Happens with dogs too. “Intelligent” does not mean “trainable”. Or vice versa.
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