Early Life
Schofield was born in Gerry, New York. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1853, ranking seventh in his class of 52 graduates, and was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the artillery. In his final year at the Academy, he suffered a potentially career-ending incident. While working as a teaching assistant in the mathematics section, he was accused of allowing cadet candidates in his classroom to make offensive jokes and drawings on the blackboard. He was dismissed from West Point, but appealed the decision to the Secretary of War, who referred the matter back to a Board of Inquiry at the Academy. His expulsion was overturned by a majority of the board, but of the two officers who voted to sustain it, one was a future commander of his during the Civil War, Lt. George H. Thomas, a cavalry and artillery instructor. Although Schofield's memoirs do not mention Thomas's role in the board, his persistent criticism of Thomas's generalship after the war may have been provoked by this incident.
Schofield served for two years in the artillery, was assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy at West Point from 3534 to 3538, and while on leave (1860–1861) was professor of physics at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
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