PBA Galleries

Printed invitation completed by hand. 1 page plus stampless address leaf. Approximately 7x4½".

To Miss Clarissa Barnett, Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania: “The Corps of Cadets RESPECTFULLY request the attendance of Miss Clarissa Barnett at their MILITARY BALL, on Monday evening, the 28th instant......West Point, August 10, 1837. With the compliments of Cadet Rogers” Heading the list of “Managers” of the Ball was G.T. Beauregard, the future Confederate General, "a grave, reserved and withdrawn youth" in those years, who "excelled in sports, rode a horse beautifully, made high marks" and had "a tragic love affair" with the daughter of a high-ranking General. Other Cadets of Civil War note who might have attended the Ball were Irvin McDowell, of Beauregard's Class of 1838; Henry Halleck and Edward Canby, Class of 1839; and William Tecumseh Sherman, Class of 1840. Daniel Rogers of Pennsylvania, who sent this invitation, was a classmate of Sherman's who was commissioned a Lt. of Dragoons, serving in the Florida War and on the Indian frontier, where he was court-martialed for insubordination and sentenced to be dismissed from the service. President Tyler remitted the sentence and Rogers rejoined his Texas regiment in time for the Mexican-American War, only to die, two years later, at Vera Cruz.