John Rodgers Meigs' remaining education at West Point went far more smoothly than his first year. His parents continued to urge him to attain the highest honors in academics, deportment, and military glory. He became sensitive to the slightest attack on his honor, and engaged in a brawl with another cadet on May 17, 1862, after receiving a mild insult on the parade ground. Both men beat each other so brutally they both required hospitalization, although Meigs was much worse off (he lost the fight and could not continue). A military tribunal found Meigs guilty of fighting, court-martialed him, and sentenced him to a year's suspension. But the tribunal itself asked for the sentence to be dismissed. Secretary of War Cameron reviewed the sentence and ordered it reduced to confinement to camp for the duration of the summer.