“There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity.” –
Tom Peters
For more than four decades during the 1800's, Major
General Thomas Sidney Jesup served as The Quartermaster General of the Army.
Known as the "Father of the Quartermaster Corps," he was also a man of
unshakable character and integrity. The event that shaped his character occurred
in 1811. As a young lieutenant, he was appointed brigade Quartermaster on the
Mississippi frontier, under the command of Brigadier General James Wilkinson.
General Wilkinson had a somewhat unsavory reputation. And it was perhaps
inevitable that the principled young lieutenant would eventually clash with his
rather unscrupulous commander. While stationed at a cantonment in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, Lieutenant Jesup got permission from Secretary of War William Eustis
to come to Washington to settle his Quartermaster accounts. However, by the time
he actually
