William H. Chambers Bartlett, USMA 1826

"Cadets are less proficient now in mathematics than they were many years ago.  Sometimes they will not have enough knowledge to solve ordinary problems.  I myself, at the examinations, had voted these individuals proficient in the mathematical course.  They had probably crammed for the occasion... It does not seem to me there is quite the same competition for class standing that there was at one time. Those near the head study hard to be first; those near the foot, to avoid being dismissed; those between, merely enough to keep along, increasing their efforts temporarily if they find they are falling too low.  There does not appear to be much study merely to acquire a knowledge of the course."

-- USMA Physics Professor Bartlett's testimony to Congress in 1860

Genealogy:

His son William Chambers Bartlett (#1986) is also a graduate.