07/04/2026
🎊 Exhibition spotlight: Military Report 🎊
After a long hiatus we are back with another exhibit spotlight. As we showcase one of the more unique pieces in the museum. A copy of a military confidential report.
You're probably wondering what exactly a military confidential report is, well it's essentially a performance review for soldiers, tracking their progress as they move through training.
While it sounds pretty mundane, this particular report doesn’t hold back in its assessment of the new recruits.
Taken from a report by Colonel L.W. Cass from August of 1813, the report features some brutal opinions on the newest recruits to the 27th Regiment of Infantry, a regiment of the US Army which saw action under Cass in the war of 1812.
Some of his assessments are pretty brutal, here are some of the harshest:
🔥 Captain Shotwell
“A man of whom all unite in speaking ill. A knave despised by all.”
🔥 First Lieutenants (Perrin, Scott, Ryan, McElworth)
“Low vulgar men… Irish and from the meanest walks of life. Possessing nothing of the character of officers or gentlemen.”
🍺 Second Lieutenant Cariner
“A good officer, but drinks hard and disgraces himself and the service.”
😳 Third Lieutenants (Meers, Clifford, Crawford, McKeen, Royal Geer)
“All Irish… low vulgar men. Without any qualification… more fit to carry the hod than the epaulette.”
💀 Ensign Bekan
“The very dregs of the earth, unfit for anything under heaven. God only knows how the poor thing got an appointment.”
Aside from the brutal nature of the reviews, this piece is interesting for several other reasons.
Firstly, the author. Written by Lewis Cass, he would later go on to serve as US Secretary of State in 1859. Soon after this report was written he would be appointed Brigadier General in the Regular Army.
It's also interesting as it appears to serve as the basis for all military efficiency reports to follow. It holds the distinction of being the first recorded efficiency report in the files of the US War Department.
The report appears again several times as an example training aid, mainly in military training textbooks, notably in a 1950 copy of the Canadian Army Journal. These however have the names of the soldiers changed to protect their identity.
We still haven’t been able to verify if ours in the museum is the original, despite this it still makes for an interesting read!
