A Series of Failures
He was sent away as a child in order to avoid an influenza epidemic. At the ranch, he learned how to ride a horse and shoot a gun, meeting outlaws and thieves along the way. The boy longed for adventure, but never personally found it. He was, however, a rebellious troublemaker. He was dismissed by the Phillips Academy in Massachusetts and he tried deserting military school.
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Burroughs was also rejected by the famous Rough Riders (the volunteer cavalry), failed his entry exam for West Point (military academy), but he finally joined the US Army in General Custer’s former regiment. As he wrote of those times, “I chased Apaches but never caught up with them,” catching dysentery and was ultimately discharged with a heart murmur.