Charles Mason, USMA 1829
Died, February 27, 1882 at Burlington, Iowa, age 77.
Charles Mason is the answer to the question most frequently asked of the Special Collections and Archives staff at USMA. So what is the question?
"I predict that some day a West Pointer will stand for a higher office than any now held by them. If I do not mistake, Charles Manson looks high and others have their eyes turned for him at the same upward angle. What think you?" [William H. Sidell to Cullum, July 25, 1855, in the Cullum file on Sidell.]
And now the question which answers the question asked at the beginning: Who graduated ahead of Robert E. Lee in the class of 1829? Charles Mason received 1995 1/2 out of a possible 2000 marks in his four years at West Point, losing half a point in French and four in Drawing. Lee earned 1966 1/2. The were tied in Tactics, Artillery, and Conduct, but Mason was ahead in every other subject.