"In 1838, without Grant's knowledge, his father arranged for Representative Thomas L. Hamer to appoint him to West Point. Grant was horrified at the news, fearing he would flunk out. He entered the academy in May 1839. At West Point, Cadet grant excelled at math and horsemanship, setting a high-jump record on horseback, but found more difficult such subjects as French, English, military tactics, political science, geology, engineering, geography, and the sciences. He also accumulated a long list of demerits for a variety of minor, though frequently committed, offenses, including missing church on Sunday, tardiness, and sloppy dress. He was elected president of the Dialectic (literary) Society. "A military life had no charms for me," Grant later said of his attitude as a cadet, "and I had not the faintest idea of staying in the Army even if I should be graduated, which I did not expect." Grant graduated twenty-first of 39 cadets in the Class of 1843. He requested assignment to the dragoons (cavalry). The administration did not believe that his fine horsemanship sufficiently compensated for his lackluster class standing, however, and therefore relegated him to the infantry with the rank of brevet second lieutenant."