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A SKETCH 
 
 HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY 
 
 WEST POINT 
 
 U. S. MILITARY ACADEMY. 
 
 *' The means by which wars, as well for defence 
 as offence, are now carried on, render these schools 
 of the more scientific operations an indispensable 
 part of every adequate system." 
 
 Madison. 
 
 BY ROSWELL I>ARK, A. M. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 HENRY PERKINS, 134 CHESTNUT STREET. 
 
 1840. 
 
 ID 
 
 0\rVj 
 
 r^- 
 

 Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 
 1840, by Henry Perkins, in the Clerk's Office of the District 
 Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
 J, 
 
 C. Sherman & Co. Printers, 
 19 St. James Street. 
 
TO 
 
 THE DIALECTIC SOCIETY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U. S. MILITARY ACADEMY, 
 
 THESE PAGES ARE 
 
 aaespectfulls £n»cv(fte"li 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
THE HISTORY 
 
 WEST POINT. 
 
 Few places in our own country, or even in 
 the wide world, are connected with more 
 interesting associations than that w^hich it is 
 our present purpose to describe. Hallowed 
 by the footsteps of Washington and Kosci- 
 uszko, adorned by nature wdth surpassing 
 variety of scenery, consecrated by a nation 
 to the Spartan-like training of her chosen 
 youth for military service, and secluded as 
 it were purposely for retirement and study, 
 it seems ahke calculated to please the sage 
 and the hero, to elevate the soul, and to in- 
 spire it with patriotic emotions. 
 
 West Point is situated among the High- 
 lands about fifty-five miles north of New 
 York city; being, as its name indicates, a 
 point of land projecting into the Hudson 
 1* 
 
river on the west side. It seems to have 
 interrupted the southward course of the 
 Hudson, which on meeting and fronting it, 
 turns suddenly to the east, forming an elbow, 
 until, having passed the obstacle, it resumes 
 its previous course. The eastern margin of 
 West Point is a straight precipitous shore ; 
 while the northern side has a more gentle 
 slope, and commands the view up the river. 
 On the opposite side, towards the north, is 
 a corresponding rocky projection, connected 
 by a salt marsh with the eastern shore, and 
 known by the name of Constitution Island. 
 West Point, properly so called, is chiefly a 
 level plain, widest on the north, narrowing 
 towards the south, and flanked on the west 
 by rocky heights, of which Mount Indepen- 
 dence, the site of Fort Putnam, is the nearest 
 and most prominent. The plain contains 
 about one hundred and sixty acres; and is 
 about one hundred and sixty feet above the 
 level of the river, being highest at the north- 
 eastern angle, the site of Fort Clinton. 
 
 Looking from West Point towards the 
 north, the fine town of Newburgh, eight 
 miles distant, is seen through the wild vista 
 
formed by the rupture of the Highland range, 
 where the Hudson passes through what might 
 be appropriately termed the Water Gap of the 
 Highlands. On the east side of this Gap is 
 Bull's Hill, and farther north Breakneck Hill, 
 beyond which is the village of Fishkill. On the 
 west side of the Gap is the Crow's Nest, and 
 farther north Butter Hill, beyond which, near 
 the river, are the villages of New Windsor 
 and Canterbury. A road leads westward 
 from West Point, breaking through the moun- 
 tains, known as the Canterbury road; and 
 another runs southward, not far from the 
 shore, leading to Forts Montgomery on the 
 north side, and Clinton on the south side of 
 Polopen's Creek, at its entrance into the 
 Hudson, six miles south of West Point. 
 South of these forts, about six miles farther, 
 is the memorable Stony Point ; between 
 which and the preceding forts is the hill 
 called Dunderberg or Thunder Hill. Below 
 West Point, on the east side, is the mountain 
 called Anthony's Nose, about six miles dis- 
 tant ; and one mile south of it is Fort Inde- 
 pendence, east of which lies the village of 
 Peekskill. A^erplanck's Point, about ten miles 
 
south of West Point, is nearly opposite to 
 Stony Point, connecting with it by King's 
 Ferry. The margin of the river opposite to 
 West Point is a high level plain, but at some 
 distance farther east is Sugar Loaf Hill, be- 
 tvi^een which and Anthony's Nose was Con- 
 tinental Village, about five miles southeast of 
 West Point. Buttermilk Falls are about a 
 mile and a half below West Point, on the 
 west side ; and Robinson's House, about two 
 miles below on the east side, was for some 
 time Washington's head-quarters. Opposite 
 to West Point, towards the northeast, are 
 extensive iron works, and between these and 
 Bull's Hill, on the north, is the village of Cold 
 Spring. On the northwestern slope of West 
 Point, fronting a slight bay of the river, is the 
 suburb or hamlet called Camp Town, in- 
 cluding buildings erected for military store- 
 houses during the revolution, and others now 
 occupied by soldiers, and subordinates of the 
 academy. Farther north, at the extremity 
 of an elevated plain called the German Flats, 
 is the West Point Cemetery ; and just north of 
 this, is a sequestered nook called Washing- 
 ton's Valley, in which formerly stood a house 
 
i 
 
actually occupied by Washington during a 
 portion of the time of the Revolution. We 
 have thus named the principal localities of 
 this interesting region ; but to describe its 
 grandeur, and the wild and romantic beauty 
 of its scenery, would far transcend the limits 
 of this sketch, or the powers of our pen. 
 They must be seen and dwelt upon, in order 
 to be fully realized. The present buildings 
 and localities of West Point proper, will be 
 described i^ connexion with the Military 
 Academy. 
 
 West Point proper was originally granted 
 by the British Crown to Captain John Evans; 
 but afterwards vacated and reassumed by the *- 
 Crown, which finally granted it to Charles 
 Congreve, May 17, 1723, on condition that it 
 should be actually settled within three years 
 from that date. Another portion, originally 
 patented to Evans, adjoining the southwest 
 corner of the preceding, was patented to 
 John Moore, March 25, 1747, on a like con- 
 dition of settlement within three years. The 
 patent of Congreve having been purchased 
 by Moore, both patents descended by will to 
 Stephen Moore of North Carolina, by whom 
 
10 
 
 they were deeded to the United States, Sep- 
 tember 10, 1790, in accordance with an Act 
 of Congress of July 5, the same year. The 
 tract adjoining Congreve's patent, on the 
 south, was one of those granted to Gabriel 
 and WiUiam Ludlow, October 18, 1731; and 
 it was finally purchased by the United States 
 from Oliver Gridley of New Jersey, May 13, 
 1824. The jurisdiction of West Point was 
 ceded by New York to the United States, 
 March 2, 1826; reserving the usual right of 
 serving civil or criminal process there. 
 
 For information concerning the fortifica- 
 tions at West Point we are chiefly indebted 
 to Sparks's Writings of Washington, a work 
 of inestimable value. It appears that Fort 
 Constitution, on the island or point of that 
 name, was already in existence, in July, 1776; 
 when General George Clinton garrisoned it, 
 and collected sloops and boats there, to form 
 a chain of them across the river, but with 
 the intention of burning them, if the enemy 
 should break through.^ His brother, Colonel 
 James Clinton, had been stationed for several 
 
 » Sparks, iii. 46D. 
 
11 
 
 weeks at Fort Constitution, superintending 
 the construction of military works in the 
 Highlands.* In October of the same year, 
 the same gentleman, then a brigadier-general 
 in the continental service, was placed in com- 
 mand of the Highland posts.*" A chain was 
 stretched across the river, opposite Fort 
 Montgomery, as a barrier against the enemy's 
 shipping ; but this fell into the enemy's hands 
 on their capture of Forts Montgomery and 
 Clinton, October 6, 1777; and they having 
 then the command of the river. Fort Consti- 
 tution was evacuated by our troops. The 
 enemy demolished Forts Constitution and 
 Montgomery, but were repairing Fort Clin- 
 ton, till the announcement of Eurgoync's cap- 
 ture, when they abandoned it, October 26, 
 and sailed down the river.*^ '* On the 5th of 
 November, 1777, Congress appointed Gene- 
 ral Gates to command in the Highlands, or 
 rather connected that post with the northern 
 department, and invested him with ample 
 powers to carry on the works ; but as he 
 was soon after made President of the Board 
 of War, he never entered upon these duties."*^ 
 
 » Sparks, iil. 469. ^ lb. iv. 149. 
 
 «Ib. V. 104and 123. Mb. v. 282. 
 
12 
 
 The commander in the Highlands during 
 this period was General Israel Putnam, who 
 had been ordered there as early as May 24, 
 1777 ; and continued there until his command 
 was suspended, and General McDougall or- 
 dered to succeed him, March 16, 1778.* 
 
 On the 2d of December, 1777, Washington 
 wrote to General Putnam concerning the 
 importance of fortifying the North River, in 
 order to secure the intercourse of the eastern 
 states with the middle and southern, and to 
 protect the country above the Highlands 
 against farther ravages of the enemy. " Seize 
 the present opportunity," said Washington, 
 " and employ your whole force, and all the 
 means in your power for erecting and com- 
 pleting, as far as it shall be possible, such 
 works and obstructions as may be necessary 
 to defend and secure the river against any 
 future attempts of the enemy. You will con- 
 sult Governor Clinton, General Parsons, and 
 the French engineer. Colonel Radiere, upon- 
 the occasion."**^ Washington also wrote ta 
 General Gates, in general terms, and to Go- 
 vernor Clinton particularly on this subject ;: 
 
 * Sparks, iv. 434 ; and v. 283; ^' I'b. v. 176, 7. 
 
13 
 
 and the latter, in reply, December 20, 1777* 
 recommended that a " strong fortress should 
 be erected at West Point, opposite to Fort 
 Constitution." This, says Mr. Sparks, " was 
 probably the first suggestion, from any official 
 source, which led to the fortifying of that 
 post."* Washington wrote again from Val- 
 ley Forge, January 25, 1778, urging upoii 
 General Putnam the vigorous prosecution of 
 the works on the North River.'* 
 
 Mr. Sparks states in a note,*^ that " the 
 forts and other works in the Highlands were 
 entirely demoUshed by the British ; and it 
 now became a question of some importance^ 
 whether they should be restored in their for- 
 mer positions, or new placey should be se- 
 lected for that purpose. About the beginning 
 of January^ 1778, the grounds were exa- 
 mined by General Putnam, Governor Clinton, 
 General James Clinton, and several other 
 gentlemen, among whom was Radiere, the 
 French engineer ; and they were all, except 
 Radiere, united in the opinion, that West 
 Point was the most eligible place to be forti- 
 
 » Sparks, v. 178. * lb. v. 223. = lb. v. 224. 
 
 2 
 
14 
 
 fied. Radiere opposed this decision with con- 
 siderable vehemence, and drew up a memo- 
 rial, designed to show that the site of Fort 
 Chnton possessed advantages much superior 
 to West Point. As the engineer was a man 
 of science, and had the confidence of Con- 
 gress and the commander-in-chief, it was 
 deemed expedient by General Putnam to 
 consult the Council and Assembly of New 
 York, before he came to a final determina- 
 tion. A committee was appointed by those 
 bodies, who spent three days reconnoitring 
 the borders of the river in the Highlands, and 
 they were unanimous in favour of West 
 Point, agreeing herein with every other per- 
 son authorized to act in the affair, except the 
 engineer. It was accordingly decided, on 
 the 13th of January, that the fortifications 
 should be erected at West Point."* Colonel 
 Radiere was still, however, regarded as a 
 valuable officer, and continued in the service 
 of the United States till his death in 1780.^ 
 
 On the 13th of February, 1778, General 
 Putnam wrote in reply to the commander-in- 
 
 a Sparks, V. 224. bjb. vi. 431. 
 
15 
 
 chief, that the chain and necessary anchors 
 were contracted for, and would probably be 
 ready by the 1st of April; to which state- 
 ment he added the following : " Parts of the 
 boom intended to have been used at Fort 
 Montgomery, sufficient for this place, are re- 
 maining. Some of the iron is exceedingly 
 bad ; this I hope to have replaced with good 
 iron soon. The chevaux-de-frise will be com- 
 pleted by the time the river will admit of 
 sinking them. The batteries near the water, 
 and the fort to cover them, are laid out. The 
 latter is, within the walls, six hundred yards 
 around, tw^enty-one feet base, fourteen feet 
 high, the talus tvio inches to the foot. This, 
 I fear, is too large to be completed by the time 
 expected. Governor Clinton and the com- 
 mittee have agreed to this plan, and nothing 
 on my part shall be wanting to complete it in 
 the best and most expeditious manner. Bar- 
 racks and huts for about three hundred men 
 are completed, and barracks for about the 
 same number are nearly covered. A road 
 to the river has been made with great diffi- 
 culty."^ The fort here alluded to, was evi- 
 
 » Sparks, v. 224, 5. 
 
16 
 
 dently the new Fort Clinton, and the road wag 
 doubtless that leading down to Gee's Point, 
 at the extreme angle of West Point. 
 
 On the 18th of February, 1778, Congress 
 requested Governor Clinton to take the imme- 
 diate charge of these fortifications; but his 
 civil duties preventing this, the works, during 
 General Putnam*s absence in Connecticut^ 
 were left under the charge of General Par- 
 sons, till the arrival of General McDougall ; 
 who " took the command on the 28th of 
 March. Two days previously, Kosciuszko 
 arrived, who had been appointed engineer in 
 the place of Radiere. From that time the 
 works were pressed forward with spirit. To 
 the scientific skill and sedulous application of 
 Kosciuszko, the public was mainly indebted 
 for the construction of the military defences 
 at West Point."'* It appears, however, that 
 Radiere did not leave immediately ; since, on 
 the 22d of April, Washington wrote from 
 Valley Forge to General McDougall in the 
 following terms. *^ As Colonel Radiere and 
 Colonel Kosciuszko will never agree, I think 
 
 » Spgrks, v. 28% 
 
17 
 
 it will be best to order Radiere to return, 
 especially as you say Kosciuszko is better 
 adapted to the genius and tennper of ihe 
 people."* We here take occasion to remark 
 that Kosciuszko was educated in the military 
 school of Warsaw, and afterwards studied in 
 France. He came to America, recommended 
 by Franklin to General Washington, whom it 
 is said that he attended as an aide-de-camp. 
 He was appointed an engineer, October 18, 
 1776, and planned General Gates's encamp- 
 ment at Behmus' Heights, in the campaign 
 against Burgoyne. 
 
 On the 13th of April, 1778, General McDou- 
 gall wrote that the fort was so nearly en- 
 closed as to resist a sudden attack of the 
 enemy; but the heights near it were such, 
 that the fort would not be tenable if the 
 enemy should possess them. " For this rea- 
 son," he added, " we are obliged to make some 
 works on them. It will require five thousand 
 men effectually to secure the grounds near the 
 fort, which command it. And these objections 
 exist against almost all the points on the river, 
 
 » Sparks, v. 334. 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 proper for erecting works to annoy the ship- 
 ping. Mr. Kosciuszko is esteemed by those 
 who have attended the works at West Point, 
 to have nrtore practice than Colonel Radiere, 
 and his manner of treating the people is more 
 acceptable than that of the latter ; which in- 
 duced General Parsons and Governor Clinton 
 to desire the former may be continued at West 
 Point."* It thus appears that Fort Putnam, 
 as well as Fort Chnton, was commenced in 
 the early part of 1778. The latter was doubt- 
 less named after Governor George Clinton ; 
 and Fort Putnam, according to Dr. Thacher, 
 was so named " from the general who had 
 the principal share in its plan and construc- 
 tion.'"* On the arrival of General Gates to 
 command the northern department, General 
 McDougall was ordered, April 22, to join the 
 main army.*^ 
 
 On the 19th of September, 1778, General 
 Washington thus wrote from Fort Clinton to 
 General Duportail, the chief engineer, "I have 
 perused the memorial, which you delivered, 
 relative to the defence of the North River at 
 
 • Sparks, v. 311. ^ Thacher's Military Journal, p. 258. 
 e Sparks, v. 333. 
 
19 
 
 this place, and, upon a view of it, highly ap- 
 prove what you have offered upon the subject. 
 Colonel Kosciuszko, who was charged by 
 Congress with the direction of the forts and 
 batteries, has already made such a progress 
 in the constructing of them, as would render 
 any alteration in the general plan a work of 
 too much time, and the favourable testimony 
 which you have given of Colonel Kosciuszko's 
 abilities, prevents uneasiness on this head; but 
 whatever amendments, subordinate to the ge- 
 neral disposition, shall occur as proper to be 
 made, you will be pleased to point out to 
 Colonel Kosciuszko, that they may be carried 
 into execution. The works proposed on the 
 peninsula, not being subject to the above men- 
 tioned inconveniences, you will desire Colonel 
 Kosciuszko to show you his plans for appro- 
 bation, before he proceeds to the construction, 
 or have them traced in the first instance con- 
 formably to your own ideas."* Soon after 
 this, or prior to October 3d, Washington, ap- 
 
 a Sparks, vi. 67, 8. General Duporlail was appointed 
 chief engineer, we believe, in ihe autumn of 1777; and 
 continued in that station till he left the service, in the 
 autumn of 1783. Sparks, v. 141. 
 
20 
 
 prehending danger to West Point, ordered 
 General Putnam to cross the river for its 
 immediate security; but his stay there was 
 short, as he was appointed to command at 
 Danbury, Connecticut, in the following winter; 
 and the command of West Point was assigned 
 to General McDougall.^ In June, 1779, when 
 the enemy took new possession of Stony Point, 
 General McDougall was again transferred to 
 the command at West Point, and three bri- 
 gades were stationed on the opposite side of 
 the river, under the command of General 
 Heath, with orders to send parties across 
 daily to work on the fortifications.^ 
 
 On the 21st of July, 1779, five days after 
 the capture of Stony Point by General Wayne, 
 Washington removed his head-quarters from 
 New Windsor to West Point, and remained 
 there till December, w^hen the army went into 
 winter quarters. *' It was during this period," 
 says Mr. Sparks, " that the strong w^orks 
 at West Point and its vicinity w^ere chiefly 
 constructed. Part of the time, two thousand 
 five hundred men were daily on fatigue duty. 
 
 » Sparks, vi. 75 and 125. »> lb. vi. 276. 
 
21 
 
 The right wing of the army, consisting of the 
 Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia troops, 
 was commanded by General Putnam; the left 
 wing, composed of the Connecticut brigades, 
 and some of the Massachusetts regiments, 
 was under General Heath, and posted in the 
 Highlands on the east side of the river. The 
 centre, or garrison of West Point, was under 
 the immediate command of General McDou- 
 gall."^ On the removal of head-quarters to 
 Morristown, General Heath was left in com- 
 mand at West Point; and February 16, 1780, 
 Washington wrote to him concerning the fre- 
 quency of fires at that post; suggesting means 
 for their prevention. He adds, " The posts 
 at the Highlands are of so much consequence 
 
 a Sparks, vi. 304. By an extract from Washington's 
 Order- Book, it appears that on the SOth of July, 1779, the 
 officers appointed to stiperinlend the different works, were 
 as follows. "Lieutenant-Colonel Howard, with Lieutenant 
 Hugo as his^ assistant; the redoubts assigned to General 
 Smallwood's brigade. Lieutenant. Colond Wilhanis, with 
 Captain Gosner, Fort Putnam and Fort Webb. Colonel 
 Tupper, with Captain Drew, the works at the Point, [in- 
 cluding F<jrt Clinton]. Captain Hall and Captain Tatum, 
 the works on Constitution Island. Major Troop, with 
 Captain Holmes, the works on the east side of Uie river.'* 
 
22 
 
 to the people of the State of New York, that 
 I am convinced they will readily afford every 
 assistance towards the safety and security of 
 the works."^ 
 
 In the spring of 1780, General Heath was 
 appointed on recruiting service, and about the 
 13th of April, the command of West Point 
 was entrusted to General Robert How^e.^ 
 On the 1st of June, Washington wrote to 
 General Howe, expressing his suspicions that 
 the enemy meditated an attack on West 
 Point; and on the 10th of June he added, 
 " You do w^ell to consider the post of West 
 Point as the capital object of your attention, 
 and every other as secondary. This is pecu- 
 liarly necessary at the present moment, as 
 there are circumstances that authorize a sus- 
 picion of something being intended against 
 that post. I would therefore have you by 
 all means keep your force collected in such 
 a manner, that there may not be a possibility 
 of your being found in a divided state, in 
 case of a sudden movement of the enemy 
 your way.'* He added, " You will order 
 
 a Sparks, vi. 467. Mb.vii. 16. 
 
23 
 
 Colonel Hay to detain the ship carpenters 
 in his employ, even if the business now in 
 hand should be finished ; for we shall have 
 essential need of their services hereafter."* 
 
 Again, on the 15th of June, Washington 
 thus wrote to General Howe from Springfield, 
 N. J. " If the enemy's designs should be 
 against this army, you may be useful to us, 
 by making a demonstration in your quarter. 
 I would therefore have you collect a number 
 of boats at West Point, sufficient for two 
 thousand men ; put the garrison under moving 
 orders with three days' provisions ; circulate 
 ideas of having the militia ready for a sudden 
 call," &c. ; the object being to alarm the 
 enemy in New York city.'" Again, on the 
 21st of June, Washington wrote to General 
 Howe, " From the immense importance of 
 the post under your direction, I wish, as ex- 
 pressed in my letter of the 15th, that you 
 may have and keep your force completed to 
 two thousand five hundred efficient men." 
 The extracts here given will suffice to show 
 the solicitude of Washington for the safety 
 
 a Sparks, vii. G9 and 74, 5. '' lb. vii. 78. 
 
24 
 
 of West Point ; and others of the same tenor* 
 and of nearly the same date, are accordingly 
 omitted. 
 
 On the 22d of June, 1780, Mr. Robert R* 
 Livingston wrote to Washington, expressing 
 his fears that General Howe, in case of an 
 exigency, would not inspire sufficient confi- 
 dence in the New York militia ; and solicit- 
 ing the command for General Arnold. This 
 was doubtless at the suggestion of the latter, 
 who inspected the works at West Point on 
 the 30th of June ; with what motives we may 
 judge from the result. On the 29th of June, 
 Washington wrote in reply to Mr. Livingston, 
 saying, " I am under no apprehension now 
 of danger to the post at West Point, on the 
 score either of provisions, the strength of the 
 works, or of the garrison. I am sorry, how- 
 ever, to find there are apprehensions on ac- 
 count of the commandant, and that my know- 
 ledge of him does not enable me to form any 
 decisive judgment of his fitness to command ; 
 but as General McDougall and Baron Steu- 
 ben, men of approved bravery, are both with 
 him, and the main army is within supporting 
 distance, I confess I have no fear on the 
 
25 
 
 ground of what I presume is suspected. To 
 remove him, therefore, under these circum- 
 stances, and at this period, must be too severe 
 a wound to the feehngs of any officer, to be 
 given but in cases of real necessity."* It is 
 unnecessary to add that these aspersions of a 
 worthy character were unjust, and probably 
 prompted by him who would have bartered 
 his country's freedom for base revenge or 
 paltry gold. 
 
 On the 3d of August, Washington wrote 
 in reply to a letter from Colonel Kosciuszko, 
 saying, " The artificers are drawn from the 
 post at West Point for a particular and tem- 
 porary service only ; and as there is a neces- 
 sity for a gentleman in the engineering de- 
 partment to remain constantly at that post, 
 and as you, from your long residence there, 
 are particularly well acquainted with the na- 
 ture of the works, and the plans for their 
 completion, it was my intention that you 
 should continue. The infantry corps was 
 arranged before the receipt of your letter. 
 The southern army, by the captivity of Gene- 
 
 * Sparks, vii. 94, 5. 
 3 
 
26 
 
 ral Duportail and the other gentlemen of that 
 branch, is without an engineer ; and as you 
 seem to express a wish for going there, rather 
 than remaining at West Point, I shall, if you 
 prefer it to your present appointment, have 
 no objection to your going.'* This permis- 
 sion Kosciuszko immediately accepted.* 
 
 On the same day last mentioned, August 3, 
 1780, Washington wrote from head-quarters 
 at Peekskill, directing General Arnold to 
 *' proceed to West Point, and take the com- 
 mand of that post and its dependencies," ex- 
 tending from Fishkill to King's Ferry. This 
 was in consequence of Arnold's dissatisfaction 
 with his appointment to the command of the 
 left wing of the main army, and the complaint 
 that his wound would not allow him to act 
 in the field.^ Washington wrote his last 
 letter to Arnold on the 14th of September ; 
 and on the 18th he set out for Hartford, to 
 have an interview with Count de Rocham- 
 beau, and the Chevalier de Ternay ; meeting 
 Arnold at King's Ferry on his way. He 
 returned from Hartford, and reached Robin- 
 
 > Sparks, vii. 141. ^ lb. vii. 139. 
 
27 
 
 son's House about noon on the 25th Septem- 
 ber ; and not finding Arnold there, went over 
 to West Point in the afternoon, but without 
 finding him. On returning to Robinson's 
 House towards evening, he discovered the 
 plot, which, if perpetrated, would perhaps 
 have been the death-blow to American inde- 
 pendence. Arnold had just escaped; his 
 boat having been hardly out of sight when 
 Washington first arrived. The latter imme- 
 diatel}^ wrote to Colonel Wade, then senior 
 officer at West Point, to assume the com- 
 mand and be vigilant ; as also to Major Low 
 at Fishkill ; to Lieutenant-Colonel Livingston 
 at Stony Point ; to Lieutenant-Colonel Jame- 
 son, who then had the custody of Major 
 Andre ; and to Lieutenant-Colonel Gray and 
 General Greene, directing the latter to ad- 
 vance their respective forces, for the safety 
 of West Point.^ The particulars of Arnold's 
 treason and escape, and of Andre's capture 
 and execution, are too voluminous and too 
 well known, to require to be here repeated ; 
 but they will be found at some length in the 
 
 » Sparks vli. 212, 19. 
 
28 
 
 Encyclopaedia Americana ; in Marshall's Life 
 of Washington; and especially in Sparks's 
 Life and Treason of Benedict Arnold, vol. iii. 
 of the Library of American Biography. We 
 will only add that Andre was taken at Tarry- 
 town, September 23d ; sent to Salem on the 
 same day ; thence to West Point on the 26th ; 
 and on the 28th, he was sent to Tappan, then 
 the head-quarters of the American army. He 
 was examined on the 29th, condemned on the 
 30th, and executed as a spy on the 2d of Oc- 
 tober, deeply lamented even by his captors. 
 The dispositions made by Arnold, in dispers- 
 ing the troops, distributing them in dangerous 
 gorges, and leaving the passes feebly guarded, 
 were such that, but for Providential inter- 
 ference. West Point must have fallen into the 
 hands of the enemy. 
 
 On the 27th of September, 1780, General 
 McDougall was placed in command of West 
 Point, till the arrival of General St. Clair; 
 who was instructed on the 1st of October to 
 relieve him from that command.** On the 5th 
 of October, General Greene wrote to Wash- 
 
 » Sparks, vii. 221,2. 
 
29 
 
 ington, soliciting the command of West Point; 
 which was conferred upon him on the fol- 
 lowing day. He was directed to exert him- 
 self to complete the works, and to put them 
 in the most perfect state of defence; and 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Gouvion was ordered to 
 join him for this purpose with his corps.* On 
 the 14th of October, 1780, General Greene 
 having been appointed, at the request of the 
 southern states, to command the southern 
 army, the command of West Point was en- 
 trusted to General Heath; who arrived on 
 the 16th, and continued there through the 
 following winter, so memorable for the dis- 
 tress of all the troops, and the consequent 
 mutiny of the Pennsylvania hne.^ On the 
 19th of August, 1781, General Heath was 
 entrusted with the command of the whole de- 
 partment, including West Point; and he re- 
 mained in command of that post until the 
 following year.*^ But on the 29th of August, 
 1782, General Knox was appointed to the 
 command of West Point, and instructed to 
 pay particular attention to the public build- 
 
 » Sparks, vii. 232, 3. ^ lb. vii. 259 and 374. 
 
 = lb. viii. 136. 
 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 ings then in progress, and to the alterations 
 and repairs of the works.* 
 
 On the 24th of June, 1783, after the con- 
 clusion of the war, Washington thus wrote 
 from Newburgh to the President of Congress. 
 " The army being thus reduced to merely a 
 competent garrison for West Point, that being 
 the only object of importance in this quarter, 
 and it being necessary to employ a conside- 
 rable part of the men in building an arsenal 
 and magazines at that post, agreeably to the 
 directions given by the secretary at war, the 
 troops accordingly broke up the cantonment 
 yesterday, and removed to that garrison, 
 where General Knox still retains the com- 
 mand."^ 
 
 General Knox, with the troops under his 
 command, was ordered to New York to re- 
 ceive the surrender of that city when it was 
 evacuated by the British, on the 25th of No- 
 vember, 1783; but they soon returned to 
 West Point, where he continued his head- 
 quarters, and was engaged in the preserva- 
 tion of the ordnance and other miHtary 
 stores,*^ until he was relieved, as we are 
 
 > Sparks, viii. 339, 40. ^ Ih. viii. 456, 7. 
 
 <= lb. viii. 499 and 501' 3. 
 
31 
 
 otherwise informed, by Captain Flenning with 
 a guard of twelve men. This was probably 
 not long before he was appointed Secretary 
 of War by Congress, in 1785 ; which office 
 he filled during the first six years of Wash- 
 ington's administration. 
 
 It appears that a petition was presented 
 to Congress, by Stephen Moore, of North 
 Carolina, that the United States would pur- 
 chase West Point, which had already been 
 so long occupied for public purposes. On 
 this petition. General Hamilton, then Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury, made a favourable re- 
 port, June 10, 1790. He quoted the opinion 
 of General Knox, the Secretary of War, as 
 stated by him in a report to Congress, on the 
 31st of July, 1786, that West Point is of the 
 most decisive importance to the defence of 
 the Hudson river, for the following reasons : 
 " 1st. The distance across the river is only 
 about fourteen hundred feet, a less distance 
 by far than at any other part. 2d. The pe- 
 culiar bend or turn of the river, forming 
 almost a re-entering angle. 3d. The high 
 banks on both sides of the river, favourable 
 for the construction of formidable batteries. 
 
Sz 
 
 4th. The demonstrated practicability of fixing 
 across the river a chain or chains, at a spot 
 where vessels, in turning the point, invariably 
 lose their rapidity, and of course their force^ 
 by which a chain at any other part of tlie 
 river would be liable to be broken." These 
 considerations, together with the difficulty of 
 taking West Point by siege, its being within 
 a single night's sail of New York or Sandy 
 Hook, and its importance in preserving the 
 communications between the Eastern and 
 Middle States, induced General Hamilton to 
 recommend its purchase by the United States, 
 as a permanent mihtary post, especially lor 
 purposes of defence.** This purchase, as we 
 have already stated, was made soon after. 
 
 The fortifications at West Point were 
 afterwards materially improved and repaired 
 as late as 1794, under the general superin- 
 tendence of Colonel Vincent, and the imme- 
 diate direction of Major Niven, both French 
 engineers ; the latter assisted by Captain 
 Fleming. Major Niven reported, December 
 12, 1794, that the old wall of Fort Putnam, 
 facing Fort Clinton, had been taken down 
 
 * Am. Slate Papers, Claims, p. 19,20. 
 
33 
 
 and rebuilt, enclosing the point, for the ad- 
 vantage of enlarging the battery facing the 
 ridge where Forts Webb and Willis stood ; 
 also, that nine bomb-proof arches were closed 
 over the barracks and magazines, and he had 
 hoped to finish four more, but was unable.* 
 Liancourt, in his " Voyage dans les Etats 
 Unis,'* observed, in 1796, on visiting Fort 
 Putnam, that thirty-five thousand dollars had 
 been uselessly expended, because forty-five 
 thousand more were refused by Congress to 
 complete the work ; and that the walls, half 
 done, and the casemates only commenced, 
 remained exposed to the effects of the wintry 
 weather. 
 
 It may be interesting here to give a brief 
 description of the works at West Point, as 
 they existed at this period; and in this un- 
 finished state they have ever since remained. 
 Fort Putnam was an irregular work, occupy- 
 ing the summit of Mount Independence, and 
 immediately overlooking the plain, with which 
 it communicated by a road winding up the 
 hill. It also commanded the view for a great 
 distance up the river, and down the same as 
 
 '• Am. Stale Papers, Mil. Affairs, i. 104. 
 
34 
 
 far as Forts Montgomery and Clinton. The 
 entrance was on the east side, which was 
 lower than the west, in order to defilade it 
 against the higher hills in the rear. The 
 west side was a lofty precipice, on which 
 and on the north and east sides, the wall was 
 of moderate height ; but on the southeast and 
 south sides the scarp was very high, and in 
 rear of it w^ere several casemates, or vaulted 
 rooms, constructed we believe in 1794, over 
 which the terrepleine was extended, resting 
 on arches bomb proof It was supplied with 
 water by an unfailing spring within the work, 
 and from its peculiar position was deemed 
 almost impregnable. The northeast corner 
 of Fort Putnam is four hundred and ninety- 
 five feet above the level of the river. Of the 
 three smaller forts on small eminences be- 
 tween this and the river, that nearest to Fort 
 Putnam was called Fort Webb; the next, 
 Fort Willis; and that nearest to the river 
 was called Fort Meigs. 
 
 Fort Clinton, situated at the northeastern 
 angle of the plain, presented regular fortified 
 fronts, with earthen ramparts, on the south 
 and west ; but the northern and eastern fronts 
 
35 
 
 were irregular, and adapted to the brow of 
 the slopes where the water batteries were 
 placed, which this fort was designed to pro- 
 tect. These fronts of course had no ditch, 
 but a scarp wall of stone on the east, and on 
 the north, as far as the citadel or redoubt ex- 
 tended, which occupied the northeast corner, 
 and was separated by an interior ditch from 
 the other part of the work. Both the fort and 
 the water batteries were favourably situated 
 for opposing the passage of the enemy's 
 vessels. 
 
 Fort Constitution, opposite to West Point, 
 merits no particular description ; but the 
 chain between it and West Point was thus 
 described by Dr. Thacher, in his interesting 
 Military Journal, under date of September 
 26th, 1780. " As additional security, an iron 
 chain of immense strength is thrown across 
 at the short bend of the river, and fixed to 
 huge blocks on each shore, and under the fire 
 of batteries on both sides of the river. The 
 links of this chain [several of which, we may 
 add, still remain at the Military Academy,] 
 are about twelve inches wide, and eighteen 
 long, the bars about two inches square. It is 
 
36 
 
 buoyed up by very large logs, of about six- 
 teen feet long, pointed at the ends, to lessen 
 their opposition to the force of the current at 
 flood and ebb tide. The logs are placed at 
 short distances from each other, the chain 
 carried over them, and made fast to each by 
 staples. There are also a number of anchors 
 dropped at proper distances, with cables made 
 fast to the chain, to give it greater stability." 
 He adds : " Such is the formidable state and 
 strength of this post, that it has received the 
 appellation of the Gibraltar of America, and, 
 Wiien properly guarded, may bid defiance to 
 an army of twenty thousand men."^ 
 
 We come now to the history of the Military 
 Academy. The first suggestion of this Insti- 
 tution, we believe is due to Colonel Pickering, 
 as early as the 22d of April, 1783. A com- 
 mittee of Congress having been appointed to 
 propose a peace establishment for the United 
 States, Colonel Hamilton, its chairman, wrote 
 to Washington, asking his sentiments on this 
 subject; and Washington communicated a 
 similar request to the principal officers then 
 in camp. From the reply of Colonel Picker- 
 
 » Thacher, p. 258. 
 
37 
 
 ing, then quarter-master general to the army, 
 we make the following extract: " If any thing 
 like a military academy in America be prac- 
 ticable at this time, it must be grounded on 
 the permanent military establishment for our 
 frontier posts and arsenals, and the wants of 
 the states, separately, of officers to command 
 the defences on their sea coasts. On this 
 principle it might be expedient to establish a 
 military school or academy at West Point. 
 And that a competent number of young 
 gentlemen might be induced to become 
 students, it might be made a rule, that va- 
 cancies in the standing regiment should be 
 supplied from thence ; those few instances 
 excepted where it would be just to promote 
 a meritorious sergeant. For this end, the 
 number which shall be judged requisite to 
 supply vacancies in the standing regiment 
 might be fixed, and that of the students, who 
 are admitted with an expectation of filling 
 them, fixed accordingly. They might be 
 allowed subsistence at the public expense. If 
 any other youth desired to pursue the same 
 studies at the military academy, they might 
 be admitted ; only subsisting themselves. 
 4 
 
38 
 
 Those students should be instructed in what 
 is usually called military discipHne, tactics, 
 and the theory and practice of fortification 
 and gunnery. The commandant and one or 
 two other officers of the standing regiment, 
 and the engineers^ making West Point their 
 general residence, would be masters of the 
 academy ; and the inspector-general superin- 
 tend the whole."^ 
 
 The importance of thorough military in- 
 struction, had been deeply felt by Washing- 
 ton and his coadjutors in the war of the 
 Revolution ; not only in providing efficient 
 commanders and engineers, but in disciplin- 
 ing the great body of the troops, and in pre- 
 paring the militia for effective action, when 
 called into service. Prompted by this expe- 
 rience, General Knox, the Secretary of War, 
 after the establishment of the federal govern- 
 ment, digested a plan for the organization and 
 instruction of the mihtia, which he submitted 
 to the President, January 18, 1790 ; and 
 which Washington laid before Congress, for 
 their information, on the 21st of the same 
 
 » Sparks, viii. 417. 
 
month. He proposed that the mihtia from 
 forty-six to sixty years of age, should form a 
 resented corps; those from twenty-one to forty- 
 five the main corps; and those from eighteen to 
 twenty, inclusive, the advanced corps; which 
 latter should be assembled from ten to thirty 
 days annually, to receive military instruction, 
 \ being clothed and subsisted during that time 
 'by the government. He remarked that "All 
 I discussions, on the subject of a powerful 
 I militia, will result in one or other of the 
 'following principles: 1. Either efficient in- 
 jstitutions must be established for the military 
 I education of youth, and the knowledge ac- 
 i quired therein be diffused throughout the 
 country by means of rotation; or, 2. The 
 j militia must be formed of substitutes, after 
 I the manner of Great Britain. If the United 
 I States possess the vigour of mind," he added, 
 ij*'t,o establish the first institution, it may be 
 reasonably expected to produce the most un- 
 equivocal advantages. A glorious national 
 spirit will be introduced, with its extensive 
 train of political consequences. But the 
 second principle, a militia of substitutes," 
 he afterwards observed, '* is pregnant in a 
 
40 
 
 degree, with the mischiefs of a standing 
 army;" alluding to the generally inferior and 
 selfish character of mercenary soldiers.^ On 
 this scheme, which has often been quoted, we 
 would merely remark, that the officers re- 
 quired to instruct the advanced corps, above 
 proposed, would have constituted a military 
 academy on the grandest scale, had the plan 
 been adopted. And a plan something like 
 this we believe to be the only one, which 
 could fit the great body of our militia for 
 immediate efficient service; if indeed this 
 were deemed necessary. 
 
 An act of Congress was passed May 85. 
 1792, "more effectually to provide for the 
 national defence, by establishing a uniformt 
 mihtia throughout the United States;^' but 
 no provision was made therein for military 
 instruction. Washington, therefore, in his 
 annual message of December 3d, 1793, sug- 
 gested the inquiry whether this act had fully 
 accomplished the desired objects, and whether 
 a material feature in the improvement of the 
 scheme of military defence " ought not to be, 
 to afford an opportunity for the study of those 
 
 » Am. Stale Papers, Mil. Affairs, i, 6» 8. 
 
41 
 
 branches of the art, which can scarcely ever 
 be attained by practice alone." On this 
 point no action was had, that season ; but 
 on the 7th (or 9th) of May, 1794, Congress 
 passed an act '^ which provided for a corps 
 of artillerists and engineers, to consist of four 
 battalions, to each of which eight cadets were 
 to be attached ; and nnade it the duty of the 
 Secretary of War to procure, at the pubhc 
 expense, the necessary books, instruments, 
 and apparatus, for the use and benefit of 
 said corps."* This we believe was the first 
 introduction of Cadets as a grade of officers 
 in our service. The term is derived from 
 the French, signifying a junior, and was 
 previously applied in England to those young 
 gentlemen who were trained for public em- 
 ployment, particularly for the service of the 
 East India Company. In our army, it has 
 always denoted a grade between that of 
 lieutenant or ensign and sergeant ; and has, 
 we believe, been confined to the students 
 connected with the Military Academy, at 
 least since its first establishment. 
 
 a Colonel Johnson's Report, p. 3. 
 4* 
 
42 
 
 In his last annual message of December 
 7th, 1796, President Washington again in- 
 troduced the subject of miUtary instruction, 
 in the following explicit terms. " The insti- 
 tution of a military academy is also recom- 
 mended by cogent reasons. However pacific 
 the general policy of a nation may be, it ought 
 never to be without an adequate stock of mili- 
 tary knowledge for emergencies. The first, 
 ■would impair the energy of its character; 
 and both, would hazard its safety, or expose 
 it to greater evils, when war could not be 
 avoided. Besides, that war might not often 
 depend upon its own choice. In proportion 
 as the observance of pacific maxims might 
 exempt a nation from the necessity of prac- 
 tising the rules of the military art, ought to 
 be its care in preserving and transmitting, by 
 proper establishments, the knowledge of that 
 art. Whatever argument maybe drawn from 
 particular examples, superficially viewed, a 
 thorough examination of the subject will 
 evince that the art of war is both compre- 
 hensive and complicated; that it demands 
 much previous study; and that the possession 
 of it in its most improved and perfect state 
 
43 
 
 is always of great moment to the security 
 of a nation. This, therefore, ought to be a 
 serious care of every government; and for 
 this purpose, an academy, where a regular 
 course of instruction is given, is an obvious 
 expedient which different nations have suc- 
 cessfully employed."* The same was re- 
 > peated, in substance, in Washington's Ad- 
 I dress to the Senate, of December 12th, 1796, 
 ' but without any immediate result. 
 ; By an act dated April 27th, 1798, Con- 
 \ gross authorized the raising of an additional 
 ' regiment of artillerists and engineers, thus 
 j nominally increasing the number of cadets 
 to fifty-six; but still without providing any 
 instructors. In reference to this act, the 
 Secretary of War, Mr. McHenry, thus wrote 
 to the Chairman of the Committee of Defence, 
 under date of June 28th, same year. " The 
 Secretary, without designing to derogate from 
 the merits of the officers appointed to the 
 corps established by the acts cited, feels it 
 his duty to suggest that other, and supple- 
 mentary means of instruction, to the books 
 
 » Foreign Relations, iii. 31, 2. 
 
44 
 
 and instruments to be provided, appear to be 
 absolutely indispensable, to enable them to 
 acquire a due degree of knowledge, in the 
 objects of their corps The know- 
 ledge of certain arts and sciences, is abso- 
 lutely necessary to the artillerist and engineer; 
 such are arithmetic, geometry, mechanics, 
 
 hydraulics, and designing It is 
 
 therefore submitted, whether provision ought 
 not to be made for the employment of three 
 or four teachers of the enumerated sciences, 
 to be attached generally to the two corps of 
 artillerists and engineers, and obligated to 
 give instructions and lessons, at such times 
 and places, and under such regulations, as 
 the President may direct."^ Accordingly, 
 on the 16th of July, 1798, an act w^as 
 passed, to augment the army, and for other 
 purposes, by which the President was au- 
 thorized to appoint four teachers of the arts 
 and sciences necessary for the instruction of 
 the artillerists and engineers. We are not 
 informed however that any such teachers 
 were appointed, prior to the year 1801 ; 
 
 « Military Affairs, i. 129. 
 
45 
 
 probably because the few cadets then ap- 
 pointed, were dispersed with their respective 
 regiments. 
 
 The subject of military instruction was 
 again brought forward by Mr. McHenry, the 
 Secretary of War, in a memoir dated January 
 5, 1800, and laid before Congress by Presi- 
 dent Adams on the 14th of the same month, 
 as containing matters in which the honour 
 and safety of the nation were deeply inte- 
 rested. In connexion with the reorganizing 
 of the army, he proposed the establishment of 
 a military academy, to consist of four schools ; 
 one to be called " The Fundamental School ;'' 
 another," The School of Engineers and Artil- 
 lerists ;" another, " The School of Cavalry and 
 Infantry ;" and a fourth, " The School of the 
 Navy ;" each to be provided with the proper 
 officers, professors, and teachers, with suit- 
 able buildings and apparatus. Mr. McHenry 
 then adds, '•' The cadets of the army, and a 
 certain number of young persons, destined 
 for military and naval service, ought to 
 study at least two years in the Fundamental 
 School ; and if destined for the corps of en- 
 gineers or artillerists, or for the navy, two 
 
46 
 
 years more in the appropriate school ; if for 
 the cavalry or infantry, one year more in the 
 appropriate school. But persons who, by 
 previous instruction elsewhere, may have be- 
 come acquainted with some or all the branches 
 taught in the Fundamental School, may, after 
 due examination by the directors 'and profes- 
 sors of that school, be either received then 
 for a shorter time, or pass immediately to one 
 or other of the schools of practice, according 
 to the nature and extent of their acquirements 
 and intended destination."^ 
 
 In a supplementary report, dated January 
 31st, but transmitted to the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, February 13th, of the same year, 
 Mr. McHenry gave an estimate of the ex- 
 pense of the whole establishment ; urging its 
 importance, and the need which the country 
 had of skilful engineers, by a long and cogent 
 argument. The whole report, he observed, 
 " contemplates certain mihtary schools as an 
 essential mean, in conjunction with a small 
 military establishment, to prepare for, and 
 perpetuate to the United States, at a very 
 
 » Mil. Affairs, i. 133. 
 
47 
 
 moderate expense, a body of scientific officers 
 and engineers, adequate to any future exi- 
 gency, qualified to discipUne for the field, in 
 the shortest time, the most extended armies, 
 and to give the most decisive and useful ef- 
 fects to their operations."^ A bill in accord- 
 ance with the above plan w^as introduced 
 into the House of Representatives, March 
 19th, 1800, but postponed on the 28th of 
 April, of the same year. The subject was 
 renewed, however, in the following year, 
 when, December 30th, 1801, the House of 
 Representatives passed a resolution in favour 
 of reducing the mihtary establishment of the 
 United States.** 
 
 On the 11th of January, 180SJ, the bill was 
 reported, and, March 16th, in the same year, 
 the act was passed, " fixing the military esta- 
 blishment of the United States," and establish- 
 ing the Military Academy. By this act the 
 artillerists and engineers were made to con- 
 stitute two distinct corps ; fort}^ cadets 'being 
 attached to the former, and ten to the latter. 
 The corps of engineers was made to consist of 
 
 » Mil. Aifairs, i. U-2. ^ Smith's Report, p. 6. 
 
48 
 
 one engineer with the pay, rank, and emolu- 
 ments of a major; two assistant engineers 
 with the rank of captains ; two others, first 
 lieutenants ; and two others, second lieute- 
 nants ; besides the ten cadets above men- 
 tioned, with the pay of sixteen dollars per 
 month, and two rations per day. The 27th 
 section providad that " The said corps, when 
 so organized, shall be established at West 
 Point, in the State of New York, and shall 
 constitute a MiUtary Academy ; and the engi- 
 neers, assistant engineers, and cadets, shall 
 be subject, at all times, to do duty in such 
 places, and on such service, as the President 
 of the United States shall direct."^ It also 
 provided that the senior engineer officer pre- 
 sent should be the superintendent of the Aca- 
 demy ; and authorized the Secretary of War 
 to procure, at the public expense, the neces- 
 sary books, implements, and apparatus, for 
 the use and benefit of the institution. Jn the 
 following year, another act, dated 28th of 
 February, 1803, empowered the President to 
 appoint one teacher of the French language, 
 and one teacher of drawing. 
 
 a Johnson's Report, p. 5. 
 
49 
 
 The early state and progress of the Aca- 
 demy were thus described by Colonel Jonathan 
 WilHams, then chief engineer, in a report re- 
 quested by the President, and dated March 
 14, 1808. " This institution was established 
 at West Point, in the year 1801, under the 
 direction of a private citizen, and was nothing 
 more than a mathematical school for the few 
 cadets that were then in service. It was 
 soon found that the government of young 
 mihtary men was incompatible with the ordi- 
 nary system of schools, and consequently, 
 this institution ran into disorder, and the 
 teacher into contempt. When the peace 
 establishment was made, ... it was not pro- 
 bably foreseen, that, although the head-quar- 
 ters of the corps might be at West Point, yet 
 the duties of the individual officers necessarily 
 spread them along our coast, from one extre- 
 mity of the United States to the other ; and 
 as the whole number of officers can be no 
 more than sixteen, they could not, in their 
 dispersed state, constitute a military aca- 
 demy. ... A part only of the officers were 
 appointed soon after the passage of the act, 
 5 
 
50 
 
 of whom the major, who was ex-officio the 
 chief engineer, and two captains, took charge 
 of the academy, the students of which were 
 the cadets belonging to the regiment of artil- 
 lery. The major occasionally read lectures 
 on fortifications, gave practical lessons in the 
 field, and taught the use of instruments gene- 
 rally. The two captains taught mathematics ; 
 the one in the line of geometrical, the other 
 in that of algebraical demonstrations. 
 
 " As the corps was small, as it had little 
 or nothing to do in its more appropriate pro- 
 fessional duties, and as the students were few, 
 the institution went on producing all the effect 
 in its power, and all that could be expected, 
 on its limited scale. It was soon discovered 
 that mere mathematics would not make either 
 an artillerist or an engineer; and a power 
 was given by law to appoint a teacher of 
 drawing and of the French language. Had 
 this law, instead of absolutely limiting the 
 number of teachers, and designating their 
 duties, left it general in the discretion of the 
 President, to appoint such and so many as 
 he might find requisite to produce the effect 
 contemplated by the establishment, and left 
 
51 
 
 the internal organization to him who, from 
 constant observation, could judge of the most 
 expedient one, with a reasonable but ample 
 appropriation, we should, at this day, have a 
 greater number of well-instructed young offi- 
 cers than we can boast of. From that time 
 to this, however, the Academy has progressed 
 beyond what could have been expected from 
 its means ; but now the first mathematical 
 teacher has resigned, and the second has for 
 several years been employed as Surveyor- 
 General of the United States in the western 
 country. 
 
 " During the last year, a citizen, of eminent 
 talents as a mathematician, has been em- 
 ployed as principal teacher, and a first lieu- 
 tenant of engineers performed the duties of as- 
 sistant teacher, while the professor of French 
 and drawing confined his abilities to these 
 branches. So far as talents can go, nothing 
 is wanting as to these teachers ; they are all 
 capable in the highest degree : the subscriber 
 is only apprehensive that he shall not be able 
 to retain them. Mr. Hassler, the chief mathe- 
 matician, is already designated for a survey 
 of the coast, when circumstances shall permit 
 
52 
 
 that business to be undertaken, and it could 
 not be committed to more able hands. Mr. 
 Mason [De Masson], the professor of French 
 and drawing, is a man of too great and too 
 extensive abiUties to be kept in a situation so 
 much below his merit ; this gentleman, being 
 perfect master of the French and English 
 languages, fully acquainted with all that has 
 been written on the art of fortification, and 
 eminently distinguished in science and gene- 
 ral erudition, ought, in the opinion of the sub- 
 scriber, to be placed at the head of what the 
 French call Le Genie, which cannot be lite- 
 rally translated in its extensive sense. It sig- 
 nifies the art of an engineer, generally, in all 
 its branches. Mr. Mason [De Masson] being 
 the only teacher designated by the law, he is 
 the only one that, exclusive of the corps of 
 engineers, can be said to belong to the insti- 
 tution. In short, the military academy, as it 
 now stands, is like a foundling, barely exist- 
 ing among the mountains, and nurtured at a 
 distance out of sight and almost unknown to 
 its legitimate parents."* 
 
 » Military Affair?, i. 229. 
 
63 
 
 Colonel Williams concluded his report by 
 recommendinor the creation of an academical 
 staff, consisting of the chief engineer, as su- 
 perintendent ex-officio, with the power of 
 appointing one of the officers or professors 
 to do the duties of superintendent in his ab- 
 sence ; also a professor of natural and expe- 
 rimental philosophy; a professor of mathe- 
 matics; and a professor of engineering, to 
 have a drawing teacher, and a French 
 teacher, and a German teacher under him ; 
 in addition to which he suggested the em- 
 ployment of professors of architecture, and, 
 during a portion of each year, of chemistry 
 and mineralogy, as also of riding, fencing, 
 and sword masters, to attend periodically at 
 the academy. 
 
 We may here add, that Colonel Williams 
 being senior officer of the corps of engineers, 
 was ex-officio superintendent of the Military 
 Academy, from its first establishment, until 
 his resignation from the service, July 31st, 
 1812. Colonel Williams was consul of the 
 United States in France, during the war of 
 the Revolution ; was appointed to the corps 
 of artillerists and engineers about 1799, and 
 5* 
 
54 
 
 served in the Western States, until he received 
 the above appointment. He afterwards rose 
 to the rank of Brevet Brigadier General, and 
 after resigning from the service, resided in 
 Philadelphia until his decease, in 1815. The 
 teachers at the Academy during his super- 
 intendence, were, of mathematics, George 
 Barron, appointed January 6th, 1801, and 
 dismissed by the President, February lith, 
 1802; Francis R. Hassler, appointed Fe- 
 bruary 14th, 1807, who resigned February 
 14th, 1810, to superintend the coast survey; 
 and Captain Alden Partridge, appointed an 
 assistant in this department, November 4th, 
 1806. The teacher of French and drawing 
 was Francis De Masson, who was appointed 
 July 12th, 1803, and resigned March 31st, 
 1812. He was afterwards a teacher in the 
 Military College of Sandhurst, England. We 
 should add that Christian E. Zoeller acted as 
 teacher of drawing from September 1st, 1808, 
 to April 30th, 1810, when Mr. De Masson 
 again supplied his place, until July 1812.* It 
 is stated, we believe on good authority, that 
 
 » Military Affairs, ii. 3S7. 
 
55 
 
 Captain William A. Barron of the corps of 
 engineers acted as teacher of mathematics; 
 and Captain Jared Mansfield of the same 
 corps, as teacher of natural philosophy, com- 
 mencing with the year 1802; the former 
 being succeeded by Mr. Hassler, in 1807, 
 and the latter, though absent some years in 
 the West, as Surveyor-General, returning 
 afterwards to the Academy, as we shall 
 again have occasion to mention. The stu- 
 dents at the Academy, in 1802, were Lieu- 
 tenants James Wilson and Alexander Ma- 
 comb (the latter now major-general), and 
 Cadets Joseph G. Swift and Simon M. Levi.* 
 Such was the state of this institution, when 
 the following special message was submitted 
 to Congress, by President Jefferson, on the 
 18th of March, 1808. « The scale on which 
 the Military Academy at West Point was ori- 
 ginally estabhshed, is become too hmited to 
 furnish the number of well instructed sub- 
 jects, in the different branches of artillery 
 and engineering, which the public service 
 calls for. The want of such characters is 
 
 » Military Affairs, ii. 634. 
 
already sensibly felt, and will be increased 
 with the enlargement of our plans of military 
 preparation. The chief engineer having been 
 instructed to consider the subject, and to pro- 
 pose an augmentation which might render 
 the establishment commensurate with the pre- 
 sent circumstances of our country, has made 
 the report which I now transmit for the con- 
 sideration of Congress. The idea suggested 
 by him of removing the institution to this 
 place, is also worthy of attention. Besides 
 the advantage of placing it under the imme- 
 diate eye of the government, it may render 
 its benefits common to the Naval Depart- 
 ment, and will furnish opportunities of select- 
 ing, on better information, the characters 
 most qualified to fulfil the duties which the 
 public service may call for."^ This message 
 seems to have produced no immediate result; 
 for although an act was passed, approved 
 April 12th, 1808, which has been quoted in 
 reference to this subject, and although it pro- 
 vided for the appointment of 156 additional 
 cadets, among the officers of the new troops 
 
 » Military Affairs, i. 228. 
 
57 
 
 which it authorized to be raised, yet it did 
 not attach them to the MiHtary Academy, 
 nor make any provision for their instruction. 
 Accordingly, the whole number of cadets ap- 
 pointed in the four years prior to 1812, we 
 believe was only fifty-two. " To send them 
 to their regiments without instruction was 
 deemed useless ; and to order them to West 
 Point could not have been done with pro- 
 priety, without making suitable provision for 
 the reception and instruction of so great a 
 number."* The proposition for removing 
 this institution to Washington, was then, as 
 it has ever since been, discarded or rejected. 
 The revision of the preceding laws was 
 recommended by Mr. Madison, in his annual 
 message, dated December 5, 1810, '' with a 
 view to a more enlarged cultivation and dif- 
 fusion of the advantages of such institutions, 
 by providing professorships for all the neces- 
 sary branches of military instruction, and by 
 the establishment of an additional academy, 
 at the seat of government or elsewhere. The 
 means," he added, " by which wars, as well 
 
 * Military Affairs, ii. 381. 
 
68 
 
 for defence as offence, are now carried on, 
 render these schools of the more scientific 
 operations an indispensable part of every 
 adequate system. ... In a country, happily 
 without the other opportunities, seminaries 
 where the elementary principles of the art of 
 war can be taught without actual war, and 
 without the expense of extensive and stand- 
 ing armies, have the precious advantage of 
 uniting an essential preparation against ex- 
 ternal dangers, with a scrupulous regard to 
 internal safety. In no other way, probably, 
 can a provision of equal efficacy for the pub- 
 lic defence be made at so little expense, or 
 more consistently with the public liberty." 
 In the following year, the President again re- 
 minded Congress " of the importance of these 
 military seminaries, which, in every event, 
 will form a valuable and frugal part of our 
 military establishment."^ 
 
 Accordingly, on the 29th of April, 1812, an 
 act was passed, " making further provision 
 for the corps of engineers ;" the second sec- 
 tion of which provided that the Military 
 
 * Johnson's Report, p. 7. 
 
59 
 
 Academy should consist of the corps of en- 
 gineers and the following professors, " in ad- 
 dition to the teachers of the French language 
 and drawing already provided," viz. one pro- 
 fessor of natural and experimental philosophy; 
 one professor of mathematics ; and one pro- 
 fessor of the art of engineering ; each of them 
 to have an assistant professor, taken from the 
 most prominent characters of the officers or 
 cadets. By the third section of the same lav»^ 
 it was enacted : " That the cadets heretofore 
 appointed in the service of the United States^, 
 whether of artillery, cavalry, riflemen, or in- 
 fantry, or that may in future be appointed, as 
 hereinafter provided, shall at no time exceed 
 two hundred and fifty ; that they may be at- 
 tached, at the discretion of the President of 
 the United States, as students, to the Military 
 Academy, and be subject to the established 
 regulations thereof: that they shall be ar- 
 ranged into companies of non-commissioned 
 officers and privates, according to the direc- 
 tions of the commandant of engineers, and be 
 officered from the said corps, for the purposes 
 of military instruction; that there shall be 
 added to each company of cadets four mu- 
 
60 
 
 sicians; and the said corps shall be trained 
 and taught all the duties of a private, non- 
 commissioned officer, and officer, be en- 
 camped at least three months of each year, 
 and taught all the duties incident to a regular 
 camp; that the candidates for cadets be not 
 under the age of fourteen, nor above the age 
 of twenty-one years ; that each cadet, pre- 
 viously to his appointment by the President 
 of the United States, shall be well versed in 
 reading, writing, and arithmetic, and that he 
 shall sign articles, with the consent of his 
 parent or guardian, by which he shall engage 
 to serve five years, unless sooner discharged: 
 and all such cadets shall be entitled to, and 
 receive, the pay and emoluments now allowed 
 by law to cadets in the corps of engineers." 
 
 The fourth section of the same law pro- 
 vided, " That when any cadet shall receive a 
 regular degree from the academical staff, 
 after going through all the classes, he shall 
 be considered among the candidates for a 
 commission in any corps, according to the 
 duties he may be judged competent to per- 
 form ; and in case there shall not, at the time, 
 be a vacancy in such corps, he may be at- 
 
61 
 
 tached to it, at the discretion of the President 
 of the United States, by brevet of the lowest 
 grade, as a supernumerary officer, with the 
 usual pay and emoluments of such grade, 
 until a vacancy shall happen : Provided, That 
 there shall not be more than one supernume- 
 rary officer to any one company, at the same 
 time." 
 
 The fifth section appropriated the sum of 
 $25,000 tow^ards the buildings, apparatus, 
 library, implements, and contingent expenses 
 of such an institution ; and thus laid the broad 
 basis of the present United States Military 
 Academy. 
 
 Under the provisions of this act, the num- 
 ber of cadets was progressively enlarged to its 
 present complement ; and on the resignation 
 of General Williams, July 31st, 1812, the 
 superintendence of the Academy devolved on 
 Colonel Joseph G. Swift, (appointed Brevet 
 Brigadier General in 1814,) as senior officer 
 of the corps of engineers. The act of March 
 3d, 1815, by which the army was reduced 
 to ten thousand men, made no reduction in 
 the Military Academy; but on the other hand, 
 Mr. Madison, in his last message, dated De- 
 
62 
 
 cember 5th, 1815, recommended its enlarge- 
 ment, and the estabhshment of others in 
 other sections of the Union. Accordingly, 
 during the sessions of Congress in 1815 and 
 1817, bills were introduced, in the House of 
 Representatives, for creating additional mih- 
 tary academies ; but they were not definitively 
 acted upon. 
 
 It is stated in the Register of the Military 
 Academy, that General Swift was relieved 
 January 3d, 1815 ; joined again November 
 25th, 1816; and was finally relieved as su- 
 perintendent, January 13th, 1817; and that 
 Captain Alden Partridge, of the corps of en- 
 gineers, was superintendent from January 3d, 
 1815, to November 25th, 1816, and from Ja- 
 nuary 13th to July 28th, 1817. As there ap- 
 pears to have been a diflference of opinion 
 concerning the oflice of superintendent during 
 this period, we offer here the following ex- 
 tracts, by way of explanation. The first is 
 from Military Academy orders, of March 
 24th, 1814, signed by General Swift; as fol- 
 lows. " The Academical regulations of the 
 25th May, 1810, are hereby confirmed, and 
 will continue to be enforced. Captain Alden 
 
63 
 
 Partridge, Professor of Engineering, has the 
 internal direction and control of the Aca- 
 demy, and direction of the steward*s depart- 
 ment. The academic duties of the cadets, in 
 every particular, and of the various Profes- 
 sors, Instructors, and Academic Officers, are 
 under his control ; [and] no other officer of 
 the Engineers than Captain Partridge, v^^ill 
 interfere with the Academy. The Rev. Mr. 
 Empie, on his arrival, will commence the 
 duties of chaplain ; [and] until a Professor of 
 History and Geography be appointed, Mr. 
 Empie will discharge the duties of that sta- 
 tion. Captain Samuel Perkins, as Deputy 
 Quarter-Master General, takes post at West 
 Point, and will discharge the duties of Quar- 
 ter-Master to the Post and Academy. Mr. 
 Isaac Partridge is appointed to discharge the 
 duties of Steward, and will immediately com- 
 mence the Cadets' Commons.'* 
 
 The next extract is partly from Regulations 
 for the Military Academy, dated January 3d, 
 1815, and partly from an Order of the War 
 Department, dated February 28th, 1815; both 
 approved and signed by James Monroe, then 
 Secretary of War, and the two being sub- 
 
64 
 
 stantially the same. The former provided 
 that " A 'permanent Superintendent shall be 
 appointed to the Military Academy, who, 
 under the direction of the Secretary of War, 
 shall have exclusive control of that institution, 
 and of those connected with it, and will be 
 held responsible for the conduct and progress 
 of it;" and the latter added, he "will direct 
 the studies, field exercise, and all other aca- 
 demic duties." The former provided that the 
 commandant of the corps of engineers should 
 be the Inspector of the Academy, and should 
 visit it officially, and report thereon to the 
 Department of War, proposing such altera- 
 tions and improvements as he and the Super- 
 intendent might deem necessary. The latter 
 added that the Inspector " is responsible to the 
 Department of War for the correct progress 
 of the institution. From the Inspector only, 
 the Superintendent of the Academy will re- 
 ceive orders, and to him only will the Super- 
 intendent make all returns and communica- 
 tions pertaining to the institution. No officer 
 of the army, of any rank whatever, shall ex- 
 ercise command at West Point, unless subor- 
 dinate to the Inspector or Superintendent of 
 
65 
 
 the Academy." Both the Regulations and 
 the Order farther provided for the supply of 
 ordnance stores from the ordnance depart- 
 ment near Albany, the supply of books and 
 stationary by the quarter-master at West 
 Point, the appointment of a suitable person to 
 act as treasurer for the cadets, and the pro- 
 motion of graduates to such corps of the army 
 as their diploma might authorize or recom- 
 mend. 
 
 A separate series of " Rules with respect 
 to the Promotion of Cadets of the United 
 States Military Academy" was approved by 
 Mr. Monroe, probably at about the same 
 time ; providing that their distribution to the 
 different corps, and their rank in the same, 
 should depend on their general merit, as 
 ascertained by a competent board of exami- 
 ners ; and that no cadet should be promoted 
 until after having completed his course of 
 studies and received his diploma ; nor in case 
 of failure to do this, should he on any account 
 receive an appointment in the army, until 
 after the promotion of the class to which he 
 belonged ; and, finally, that no cadet who 
 should be dismissed, or compelled to resign, 
 6* 
 
66 
 
 on account of idleness, neglect of duty, or 
 any species of bad conduct, should be eligible 
 to any office or post in the army, until at 
 least five years after the promotion of the 
 class to which he belonged.^ 
 
 The remaining extract is the following, 
 from a letter addressed to General Swift, 
 dated Department of War, July 1st, 1816, 
 and signed by William H. Crawford, then 
 Secretary of War. " I have the honour to 
 return the regulations defining a complete 
 course of education, drawn up by the Acade- 
 mical Staff, and transmitted by you to this 
 Department, which has been approved, with 
 such modifications as have been judged ne- 
 cessary by the President. The regulation 
 requiring the unmarried professors, teachers, 
 and assistants, to eat with the cadets, is be- 
 lieved to be conformable to the general usage 
 of colleges, and ought not to be considered 
 onerous. I understand also that Captain 
 Partridge is himself a bachelor, and of course 
 subject to the regulation. From his signing 
 some of his acts as superintendent of the 
 
 » Mil. Affairs, i. 839. 
 
67 
 
 academy, he may have supposed that he 
 was not embraced by the rule. This, how- 
 ever, is a mistake. No officer, as long as 
 the law remains as it is, can be the superin- 
 tendent of the institution but the principal 
 officer of the corps of engineers, or the next 
 in command, of that corps, in case of his 
 absence. If, however, in your opinion, the 
 proposition made by the Academical Staff to 
 attend the mess houses, and make daily re- 
 ports of the fare, will protect the cadets from 
 imposition, you are authorized to suspend the 
 rule until further orders."* A reference to 
 the law of 1802, will show, we think, that 
 Captain Partridge being the senior engineer 
 officer present at the Academy, was legally 
 its Superintendent at the time of Mr. Craw- 
 ford's communication. 
 
 The professors appointed to the Military 
 Academy, from 1812 to 1817 inclusive, were 
 the following. Captain Alden Partridge of 
 the corps of engineers, was appointed profes- 
 sor of mathematics, April I3th, 1813; and 
 so continued till appointed professor of engi- 
 
 * Military Affairs, i. 838. 
 
68 
 
 neering, September 1st, 1813, which appoint- 
 ment he resigned, December 31st, 1816, on 
 assuming the duties of Superintendent. Cap- 
 tain Partridge graduated at the Academy in 
 1806, and remained there as assistant profes- 
 sor, till 1813, as already mentioned. He 
 resigned his commission in 1818; and has 
 since been superintendent of a private mili- 
 tary academy, at Norwich, Vermont, and at 
 Middietown, Connecticut. Andrew Ellicott 
 was appointed professor of mathematics, Sep- 
 tember 1st, 1813, and so continued till his 
 decease, August 29, 1820. Lieutenant John 
 Wright was appointed assistant professor of 
 mathematics, April 1st, 1814; and Lieutenant 
 Charles Davies succeeded him, December 
 1st, 1816. Lieutenant-Colonel Jared Mans- 
 field, of the corps of engineers, was appointed 
 professor of natural and experimental philo- 
 sophy, October 7th, 1812, and so continued 
 till his resignation, August 31st, 1828. The 
 Essays on Mathematics pubHshed by Colonel 
 Mansfield, attracted the notice of President 
 Jefferson, who conferred on him, unsolicited, 
 the appointment of captain of engineers, and 
 ordered him to West Point as an instructor, 
 
69 
 
 in 1802. In 1803, he was appointed Sur- 
 veyor-General of the Northwestern Terri- 
 tory, and there appHed for the first time the 
 system of rectangular co-ordinates in the sur- 
 veying and laying out of land. He filled 
 this place until 1812; and after his resigna- 
 tion in 1828, he resided in Cincinnati until 
 his death about two years thereafter. He 
 was much beloved ; and his portrait, painted 
 at the request and expense of the class which 
 graduated in 1829, is still preserved with 
 much interest at the Academy. Captain 
 David B. Douglass, of the corps of engineers, 
 was appointed his assistant, January 1st, 
 1815, and so continued till 1821. 
 
 Claude Crozet was appointed assistant pro- 
 fessor of engineering, October 1st, 1816; and 
 succeeded Captain Partridge as professor of 
 that branch, January 1st, 1817; but he re- 
 signed this station, April 28th, 1823, and has 
 since been chief engineer of the State of Vir- 
 ginia. To him the Academy, and we believe 
 our country, was indebted for the introiluc- 
 tion of the black board, as a means of in- 
 struction; for the introduction of the impor- 
 tant science of descriptive geometry, and its 
 
70 
 
 various applications, including the topogra- 
 phical representation of ground by means of 
 horizontal curves, or by pen or colours ; also 
 for the introduction of the French analytical 
 mathematics ; and for a thorough course in 
 the art of war and fortification. He first in- 
 structed a few cadets who had sufficient 
 Itnowledge of French, and they became the 
 instructors of others. Claudius Berard suc- 
 ceeded Mr. De Masson, as teacher of French, 
 January 3d, 1815; and we are happy to say> 
 has continued in that station till the present 
 time. Christian E. Zcdler who had before 
 acted as teacher of drawing, was reappointed, 
 July 1st, 1812, and so continued till his resig- 
 nation, Januaiy 5th, 1819. Pierre Thomas 
 was appointed sword-master, March 1st, 
 1814, and resigned December 12th, 1825. 
 
 Rev. Jldam Empie was assigned to duty 
 as chaplain at West Point, and acting pro- 
 fessor of Ethics, &c., from August 9th, 1813, 
 to April 30th, 1817; before this office was 
 made a permanent part of the Academy. 
 General Joseph G. Swift, who has been 
 already mentioned as Superintendent of the 
 Academy during a part of this period, was 
 
71 
 
 one of its first two graduates, in 1802; became 
 captain in 1806, aide-de-camp to Major-Ge- 
 neral Pinckney in 1812, colonel in the same 
 year, and brevet brigadier general in 1814. 
 He resigned his commission in 1818, and has 
 since been employed by the United States in 
 superintending the national improvements on 
 Lake Ontario, 
 
 A series of Rules and Regulations for the 
 Government of the United States Military 
 Academy, was drawn up and approved by 
 Mr. Crawford, we believe on the 6th of 
 March, 1816. Besides embodying most of 
 the preceding regulations, it provided for the 
 appointment of a Board of Visiters, to con- 
 sist of five suitable gentlemen, who should 
 attend each general examination, and report 
 thereon, through the Inspector, to the Secre- 
 tary of Wah Of this Board, the Superin- 
 tendent was constituted the President. It 
 also provided that the General Examinations 
 should take place twice in each year, com- 
 menciniT on the 15th of Julv and the 15th 
 of December; and that there should be an 
 annual vacation, to commence immediately 
 after the examination in Julv, and end on the 
 
72 
 
 last day of August. New cadets were required 
 to join the Academy between the first of Sep- 
 tember and October, and to be examined in 
 spelling, reading, writing, and arithmetic. It 
 was farther directed that " A course of studies, 
 embracing definitively all the branches of 
 science and instruction to be pursued at the 
 Military Academy, and also all rules for the 
 classification of the cadets, shall be compiled 
 by the Superintendent and Academic Staff; 
 which, when approved by the Secretary of 
 War, shall be considered as comprising a com- 
 plete course of education at the Institution." 
 Accordingly, a course of studies, and rules 
 connected therewith, was drawn up, at the 
 Academy, on the 22d of May, 1816; and 
 approved, as we have already seen, by Mr. 
 Crawford, on the 1st of July, in the same 
 year. The substance of this document is 
 contained in the following extract. " The 
 course of the first year shall embrace Eng- 
 lish grammar and composition, and the 
 French language; logarithms, algebra, and 
 plane geometry, to include ratios and pro- 
 portions. The course of the second year 
 shall embrace a continuation of the French 
 
73 
 
 language ; the geometry of planes and solids, 
 and the construction of geometrical problems; 
 the application of algebra to geometry, and 
 the mensuration of planes and solids ; plane 
 and spherical trigonometry, with their appli- 
 cations ; conic sections, practical geometry, 
 and drawing. A coarse for the third year, 
 shall embrace natural and experimental phi- 
 losophy, astronomy, engineering, and draw- 
 ing continued. A course for the, fourth year, 
 shall embrace geography, history, and ethics, 
 the review of the English grammar, and of 
 the Latin and Greek languages ; also a gene- 
 ral review of the most important branches 
 in each of the departments." Fluxions were 
 to be taught and studied at the option of the 
 professor and student; the elements of che- 
 mistry were included under philosophy ; and 
 those of natural and political law, under 
 ethics. The Greek and Latin languages 
 were to be reviewed only by those who had 
 studied them previously to their entering 
 the Academy. The military instruction was 
 separately referred to, being then taught 
 only practically in the field.a A separate 
 
 » Am. St. Papers, Mil. Affairs, i. 838. 
 7 
 
74 
 
 General Order was issued June 29th, 1816, 
 repeating and defining the qualifications for 
 admission to the Academy, as prescribed 
 by the act of 1812; and another General 
 Order was issued, September 4th, 1816, pre- 
 scribing the uniform, nearly the same as that 
 now prescribed, excepting the common hat 
 and cockade then required to be worn. 
 
 It becomes necessary here to present the 
 following statement, made by General Ma- 
 comb, then Chief Engineer, in a Report to the 
 Department of War, dated March 30th, 1822. 
 *'The Mihtary Academy may be considered 
 as having been in its infancy until about the 
 close of 1817, or beginning of 1818, prior to 
 which there was but little system or regularity. 
 Cadets were admitted without examination, 
 and without the least regard to their age or 
 qiahfications, as required by the law of 1812. 
 Hence the institution was filled with students 
 who were more or less unfit for their situa- 
 tions. It is not surprising, therefore, that a 
 large portion of them have been under the 
 necessity of leaving the Academy without 
 completing their education."* 
 
 " Mil. Affairs, ii. 381. 
 
75 
 
 The same statement had been made in 
 substance, in a memoir drawn up by General 
 Bernard and Colonel McRee, communicated 
 to Congress, January 1 5th, 1819, by Mr. Cal- 
 houn, then Secretary of War ; its object being 
 to recommend the establishment of one or 
 more Schools of Application, or Practice, 
 for the army. They say, " The Elementary 
 School at West Point has hitherto been very 
 inferior as such, and altogether inadequate to 
 the objects for which it was established. A 
 project has been presented, however, calcu- 
 lated to place this school upon the footing of 
 the most perfect of the kind which exists. As 
 to a School of Application, there is none. The 
 degree of instruction given to the cadets, 
 at the school of West Point, has heretofore 
 been for the most part limited to a general 
 acquaintance with those branches of know- 
 ledge which are common to all the arms of 
 an army, and which ought to have been ex- 
 tended and applied to artillery, fortification, 
 and topography. If any have been so fortu- 
 nate as to render themselves serviceable, 
 either in the artillery or engineers, the cause 
 must be sought for in their own industry, and 
 
76 
 
 not in the education received by them at 
 West Point, which was barely sufficient to 
 excite a desire for mihtary inquiries, and of 
 mihtary pursuits."^ That the Academy was 
 nevertheless favourably regarded, is proved by 
 the fact that Mr. Calhoun, in the same com- 
 munication to Congress, January 15th, 1819, 
 recommended not only a School of Applica- 
 tion, in accordance with the above, but an 
 additional military academy, for the southern 
 and western states. 
 
 On the 17th of July, 1817, the orders were 
 given relieving Captain Partridge as Super- 
 intendent of the Military Academy, and 
 appointing Major (now^ Colonel) Sylvanus 
 Thayer to succeed him. The change took 
 place on the 28th of the same month ; and 
 from this period we date the commence- 
 ment of the pre-eminent success and reputa- 
 tion which the Academy has since enjoyed. 
 Colonel Thayer had visited and studied in the 
 military schools of France, and profited by the 
 opportunity of forming more complete views 
 of the management of such an institution than 
 
 ■•' Mil. Affairs, i. 834. 
 
77 
 
 were then generally entertained, even among 
 mililary men. Under his energetic and judi- 
 cious administration, strict discipline was en- 
 forced ; the regulations farther improved ; the 
 course of studies and exercises extended, and 
 thoroughly taught ; the library and apparatus 
 increased by choice additions ; and every 
 thing done which the means permitted, to 
 render the institution worthy of its location 
 and its name. Colonel Thayer held this re- 
 sponsible station till July 1, 1833; when he 
 was relieved from it, and appointed to su- 
 perintend the construction of the important 
 fortifications, including the new Fort War- 
 ren, in the harbour of Boston, Massachusetts. 
 We may here add, that Colonel Thayer, after 
 graduating at the Academy in 1808, served 
 with distinction in the war of 1812, and was 
 breveted a major, for " meritorious and dis- 
 tinguished services," particularly in the de- 
 fence of Norfolk, Virginia, against the British, 
 in 1814. This was prior to his visit to France, 
 already referred to. 
 
 Of the professors at West Point during 
 Colonel Thayer's superintendence, this seems 
 
 the proper place to make mention. Rev. 
 
 7* 
 
78 
 
 Thomas Picton succeeded to the duties of 
 chaplain and professor of ethics, &c., July 20, 
 1818, some time after Rev. Mr. Empie's re- 
 signation. Mr. Picton resigned this office 
 January 1, 1825, and we believe has since 
 resided in New York city. He was succeeded 
 by Rev. Charles P. Mcllvaine^ who was ap- 
 pointed April 6, 1825, but resigned the office 
 December 31, 1827, was afterwards settled 
 in Brooklyn, N. Y., and is now Bishop of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church in Ohio. Under 
 his ministry a considerable number of the 
 cadets made profession of piety, several of 
 whom have since resigned and entered the 
 sacred office, one of them being now the Mis- 
 sionary Bishop of the Episcopal church in 
 Arkansas. Mr. Mcllvaine was succeeded, 
 January 1, 1828, by Rev. Thomas Warner, a 
 gentleman of extensive acquirements, who 
 held the office until September 1st, 1838 ; and 
 who has since established a private institu- 
 tion for general education in Paris. 
 
 On the resignation of Mr. Crozet, already 
 mentioned, as professor of engineering, he was 
 succeeded. April 29th, 1823, by David B. 
 Douglass, who had previously been assistant 
 
79 
 
 professor of philosophy, and professor of ma- 
 thematics in the Academy. Major Douglass 
 resigned this professorship, February 28, 1831, 
 and has since been employed as engineer of 
 the New York Water Works, as he was pre- 
 viously of the Morris Canal in New Jersey. 
 Lieutenant Dennis H. Mahan, of the corps of 
 engineers, succeeded him, as professor of 
 engineering, March 1, 1831 ; having pre- 
 viously visited France, and studied some 
 time in the Military School at Meiz. He 
 has published valuable text-books on both the 
 civil and military branches of this depart- 
 ment, at the head of wdiich he still continues. 
 The assistant professors of engineering during 
 the period in question, were Lieutenant Con- 
 stantine M. Eakin, from 1817 to 1820 ; Lieu- 
 tenant Henry Brewerton, from 1820 to 1821 ; 
 Lieutenant Jonathan Prescott, from 1821 to 
 1822; Lieutenant Edward H. Courtenay, 
 from 1822 to 1824; Lieutenant Alfred Mor- 
 decai, from 1824 to 1825 ; Lieutenant Dennis 
 H. Mahan, from 1825 to 1826; Lieutenant 
 George S. Greene, from 1826 to 1827; Lieu- 
 tenant William H. C. Bartlett, from 1827 to 
 1829; Lieutenant Charles Mason, from 1829 
 
80 
 
 to 1831 ; Lieutenant James Allen, from 1831 
 to 1832; and Lieutenant Henry E. Prentiss, 
 from 1832 to 1833. 
 
 The office of Instructor of Tactics was in- 
 troduced at the Academy by Colonel Thayer, 
 the duties of the Instructor being to " take the 
 immediate command, under the Superinten- 
 dent, of the corps of cadets," and " superin- 
 tend their instruction, so far as relates to 
 Infantry Tactics ;" he being also charged 
 with the pohce of the institution. Lieutenant 
 G. JV. Gardiner was appointed Acting In- 
 structor of Tactics, September 15, 1817, and 
 succeeded by Captain John BlisSf of the in- 
 fantry, who was appointed April 2, 1818, and 
 relieved January 11, 1819. Captain John R. 
 Bell, of the light artillery, succeeded him, 
 February 8, 1819, and continued till March 
 17, 1820. He was succeeded by Captain 
 (now Colonel) William J. Worth, of the artil- 
 lery, who continued in this office from March 
 17, 1820, to January 1, 1829. Colonel Worth 
 had served on the northern frontier, during the 
 war of 1812, and acquired distinction which 
 was still farther enhanced by the exact disci- 
 pline and military spirit which he enforced 
 
81 
 
 at the Academy. He was succeeded by Cap- 
 tain (now Major) Ethan A. Hitchcock^ of the 
 infantry, who held the office from January 1, 
 1829, to June 24, 1833. Major Hitchcock 
 well sustained this station, and has since been 
 offered the governorship of Liberia, but pre- 
 ferred remaining in the service. The assistant 
 instructors of tactics, charged with the imme- 
 diate supervision of the academic police, have 
 been numerous, and we are compelled here to 
 omit their names, though many of them merit 
 an honourable record. 
 
 After the resignation of Colonel Mansfield, 
 already mentioned, as professor of Natural 
 and Experimental Philosophy, he was suc- 
 ceeded by Lieutenant Edward H. Courtenay, 
 of the engineers, who filled this chair in an 
 able manner, from September 1, 1828, to De- 
 cember 31, 1834. Professor Courtenay had 
 been an assistant in this department from 
 1821 to 1822, and in engineering, as already 
 mentioned, from 1822 to 1824. He has since 
 filled the chair of Mathematics in the Uni- 
 versity of Pennsylvania, and is now in the 
 civil service of the United States. The as- 
 sistant professors of philosophy, during the 
 
82 
 
 period now in question, were, besides Cap- 
 tain Douglass and Lieutenant Courtenay, 
 Lieutenant Charles Davies, from 1821 to 
 1823; Lieutenant S. Stanhope Smith, from 
 1823 till his death, in 1828 ; Lieutenant 
 Robert P. Parrott, from 1828 to 1829; and 
 Lieutenant T. Jefferson Cram, from 1829 to 
 1836. 
 
 On the death of Professor Ellicott, he was 
 succeeded in the department of Mathematics 
 by Captain David B. Douglass, already men- 
 tioned, who held the office from August 30, 
 1820, to April 29, 1823; when he accepted 
 the chair of Engineering. He was succeeded 
 by Lieutenant Charles Davies, who had pre- 
 viously assisted in this department, and in 
 that of Natural Philosophy. Professor Davies 
 filled this chair from April 29, 1823, to May 
 31, 1837; during which period he published 
 a valuable series of text-books on all the 
 branches of mathematics. The assistants 
 in this department during Colonel Thayer's 
 superintendence, were Lieutenant Charles 
 Davies, from 1816 to 1821 ; Lieutenant S. 
 Stanhope Smith, from 1821 to 1823; Lieu- 
 tenant Horace Webster from 1823 to 1825; 
 
83 
 
 and Lieutenant Edward C. Ross, from 1825 
 to 1833. 
 
 The teachers of French, besides Mr. 
 Berard, who continued at the head of this 
 branch through the whole time in question, 
 were Joseiph Du Commun, from March 1, 
 1818, to August 31, 1831, when he resigned 
 on account of ill health ; and Julian Molinard, 
 from September 1, 1831, to September 12, 
 1839. In the branch of Drawing, after Mr. 
 Zoeller's resignation, Thomas Gimbrede was 
 appointed teacher, and held the office from 
 January 5, 1819, till his death, December 25, 
 1832. He had previously practised the art 
 of engraving, and produced some valuable 
 prints ; but was peculiarly successful as a 
 teacher of the art of drawing ; and alike 
 esteemed for his benevolence and urbanity. 
 
 The branch of Chemistry not being made 
 a professorship by law during this period, 
 was taught at first by assistant surgeons of 
 the army, and afterwards by officers of the 
 army. The first teacher recorded on the 
 catalogue, was James Cutbush, M. D., from 
 September 1, 1820, till his death, December 
 16th, 1823. A work of his on Pyrotechny 
 
84 
 
 was published after his decease. James E. 
 Percival, M. D., was teacher of chemistry 
 from March 2d to July 6th, 1824; and was 
 succeeded by John Torrey, M. D., the distin- 
 guished botanist, who held this place from 
 August 25th, 1824, till his resignation as a 
 surgeon, August 31, 1828. His successor. 
 Lieutenant W. Fenn Hopkins, held this station 
 from September 1, 1828, till August 31, 1835. 
 The instructors of artillery, for whose office 
 we are indebted to Colonel Thayer, were Lieu- 
 tenant George W. Gardiner, from September 
 15th, 1817, to February 29th, 1820; Captain 
 Fahius Whiting, from August 15th, 1820, to 
 August 7th, 1821 ; and Lieutenant Zebina J. 
 D. Kinsley, from December 18th, 1823, to 
 December 1st, 1835. The sword-masters, 
 after Mr. Thomas, were Pierre Trainque, 
 from December 13th, 1825, till his death, 
 June 27th, 1826; Louis S. Simon, from 1826 
 to 1831; and Albert Jumel, from 1831 to 
 1837. The leaders of the band, or music 
 masters, were Richard Willis, the celebrated 
 performer on the Kent bugle, from June 16th, 
 1817, to his death, we believe in 1830, and 
 Alexander Kyle, his successor. 
 
85 
 
 We now proceed to speak of the changes 
 in the regulations, studies, and organization of 
 the Academy, which took place under the 
 superintendence of Colonel Thayer. An act 
 of Congress was passed, April 14th, 1818, 
 providing for a permanent chaplain, at the 
 Mihtary Academy, who should be " professor 
 of geography, history, and ethics." The in- 
 troduction of instructors of tactics, artillery, 
 and chemistry, has already been alluded to, 
 in naming those instructors. On the 14th 
 February, 1818, the following Order was re- 
 ceived by the Superintendent, from the Secre- 
 tary of War. " As publishing in the Army 
 Register the names of cadets who are distin- 
 guished for attainments and meritorious con- 
 duct may inspire attention to study, and create 
 emulous exertion, you will report to this De- 
 partment, annually in November, for that ob- 
 ject, the names of those who have most dis- 
 tinguished themselves in the examination, not 
 exceeding five in each class, specifying the 
 studies in which they may excel." On the 
 i5th of April, 1818, by an Order of the Engi- 
 neer Department, the Superintendent was au- 
 thorized to detail not exceeding four cadets, 
 8 
 
86 
 
 to discharge the duties of acting assistant 
 professor of mathematics ; each cadet so de- 
 tailed, to receive ten dollars per month as a 
 compensation for the extra duty. The appoint- 
 ment was to be considered an honourable 
 distinction.^ 
 
 On the 12th of May, 1818, an Order was 
 given from the Engineer Department, that the 
 pay and subsistence of all cadets who neglect 
 to join the Military Academy at the expira- 
 tion of their furloughs should be stopped, un- 
 less they assigned the most satisfactory rea- 
 sons for their absence ; and that any cadet, 
 absent without leave for more than two 
 months, should be discharged from the ser- 
 vice of the United States. On the 23d of 
 July, 1818, the following important regula- 
 tions were approved by the Secretary of War. 
 *' 1. There shall be two general examinations 
 in each year ; the first to commence on the 
 1st of January, and the second on the 1st of 
 June. 2. All newly-appointed cadets will be 
 ordered to join the Military Academy for 
 examination by the 25th of June in each year, 
 
 » Mil. Affairs, ii. 26. 
 
87 
 
 and no cadet shall be examined for admission 
 after the first day of September following, 
 unless he shall have been prevented from 
 joining at the proper time by sickness or 
 some other unavoidable cause, in which 
 case he may be examined with the fourth 
 class, at the general examination in January, 
 and if then found quaUfied to proceed with 
 that class, may be admitted accordingly. 
 3. Until a revision of the laws relating to the 
 Mihtary Academy, there shall be in lieu 
 of the vacation authorized by the existing 
 regulations, an annual encampment, to com- 
 mence on the 1st of .luly, and end on the 
 31st of August. 4. The superintendent is 
 authorized to grant furloughs to the cadets, 
 at the request of their parents, during the 
 period of their encampment, provided that 
 not more than one fourth of the whole num- 
 ber be absent at any one time, and provided 
 also that every cadet, previously to his re- 
 ceiving a diploma, shall have been present 
 at not less than two entire encampments. 
 
 On the 25th of February, 1820, a commu- 
 nication was made to the House of Repre- 
 sentatives by Mr. Calhoun, then Secretary of 
 
88 
 
 War, accompanied by a report from Major 
 Thayer, containing a series of propositions 
 for the improvement of the Academy, with 
 remarks thereon by General Bernard and 
 Colonel McRee, of the corps of engineers. 
 This Report was written and submitted by 
 Major Thayer, in November, 1817 ; and the 
 remarks, which are without date, appear to 
 have been written early in 1819; as Mr. 
 Calhoun's communication was in reply to a 
 resolution dated the 26th of February, 1819, 
 calling for information concerning the Aca- 
 demy. The Report urged the appointment 
 of one additional assistant professor of natu- 
 ral and experimental philosophy, and four 
 of mathematics ; two additional teachers of 
 French ; a professor of chemistry and mine- 
 ralogy; and recommended also a professor 
 of languages and oratory, as distinct from 
 the duties of the chaplain ; and a teacher of 
 military drawing ; all of them to be included 
 in the Academic Staff. It recommended that 
 the principal professors and teachers should 
 " constitute an Academic Board or Council, of 
 which the Superintendent should always be 
 president, and whose duty it should be to 
 
89 
 
 fix and improve the system of studies and 
 instruction ; to conduct and decide upon all 
 examinations ; and to specify in detail the 
 duties of the several instructors." It also 
 recommended that the age of admission 
 should be from sixteen to twenty years in- 
 clusive; and that the most distinguished 
 graduates, not exceeding two in each class, 
 should be promoted to the corps of en- 
 gineers. General Bernard and Colonel 
 McRee, in their remarks thereon, recom- 
 mended a professorship of artillery, but not 
 of languages ; and that the professorship of 
 fortification should also include descriptive 
 geometry. They recommended that the Aca- 
 demic Board should have power to alter the 
 regulations or studies only with the approba- 
 tion of the Secretary of War ; and also that 
 the Academy should be rendered entirely dis- 
 tinct from the corps of engineers, as having 
 an equal relation to all the corps of the 
 army ; in which view Mr. Calhoun con- 
 curred.* 
 
 On the revision of the Army Regulations, 
 
 Military Affairs, ii. 75, 86. 
 
 8* 
 
90 
 
 by General Scott, as published in 1821, the 
 system of Regulations for the Military Aca- 
 demy, previously matured, was introduced 
 therein without change. These Regulations, 
 being readily accessible, we may be excused 
 from repeating here, on account of their 
 length and minuteness.^ They embodied the 
 different regulations of which we have already 
 spoken, in a more systematic form ; and sup- 
 plied those farther details which experience 
 had shown to be desirable, for the benefit of 
 the institution. The principal changes in the 
 studies proposed therein, compared with the 
 programme of 1816, were the omission of 
 English grammar in the first year; the intro- 
 duction of descriptive geometry and fluxions 
 or the calculus as an indispensable study of 
 the second year ; the introduction of che- 
 mistry in the third year ; the postponement 
 of engineering to the fourth year, and the 
 entire omission of the Greek and Latin lan- 
 guages, with the introduction of the science 
 of war, including artillery and infantry tac- 
 tics, as a regular course of study. In these 
 
 » See Army Regulations of 1821, Article 78. 
 
91 
 
 Regulations, the relative importance of the 
 different studies in forming the merit-roll 
 of the cadets, was first definitively settled, 
 by a scale of numbers, nearly the same as 
 at the present time. The text-books used 
 at the Academy in 1824 were, Gay de 
 Vernon's Science of War and Fortification, 
 as translated for the Military Academy by 
 Major O'Connor, of the United States Army; 
 Lallemand's Artillery, translated by James 
 Renwick, also for the United States ser- 
 vice ; Rules and Regulations for the Infan- 
 try, as prescribed for the service ; Sganzin's 
 Cours de Construction; Gregory's Mechanics; 
 Enfield's Natural Philosophy; Newton's Prin- 
 cipia; Henry's Chemistry; Cleaveland's Mine- 
 ralogy ; Lacroix's Traite du Calcul ; Biot's 
 Essai de Geometric Analytique; Crozet's 
 Perspective, and his Descriptive Geometry; 
 I Farrar's Trigonometry; Legendre's Geo- 
 metry ; Lacroix's Algebra ; Berard's French 
 Grammar, and his Lecteur Francois ; His- 
 toire de Gil Bias ; Histoire de Charles XII., 
 par Voltaire ; Morse's Geography ; Tytler's 
 History; Paley's Moral Philosophy; and 
 Vattel's Law of Nations.^ 
 
 » Military Affairs, ii. 661. 
 
92 
 
 The trial of cadets Ragland, Loring, 
 Fairfax, Vining, and Holmes, for insubordi- 
 nation in acting as a committee of the 
 cadets, to prefer charges against Captain 
 Bliss, we can allude to only as eliciting, from 
 high authorities, the decision that the cadets 
 are amenable to martial law. These young 
 gentlemen were arrested, November 27th, 
 1818; and after a court of inquiry had exa- 
 mined their case, they were brought, in May, 
 1819, before a general court-martial, of which 
 Colonel Hindman was president, and which 
 decided that it had no jurisdiction in the case, 
 as they were not subject to military law. On 
 this occasion, the Secretary of War consulted 
 Mr. Wirt, then Attorney General of the United 
 States; from whose official report on the 
 subject, dated August 21st, 1819, the follow- 
 ing extract is made : " It is suggested by 
 Colonel Hindman, on behalf of the court- 
 martial, that these cadets are merely students. 
 .... But if the suggestion is intended to place 
 cadets on the footing of civil students, clothed 
 with all their civil privileges and immunities, 
 it is proper to remark, that those cadets oc- 
 cupy a very dillerent ground ; they are en- 
 
93 
 
 listed soldiers ; they engage like soldiers, to 
 serve five years, unless sooner discharged ; 
 they receive the pay, rations, and emoluments 
 of sergeants ; they are bound to perform 
 military duty, in such places, and on such 
 service, as the commander-in-chief of the 
 army of the United States shall order ; and 
 finally, by the act of the 3d of March, 1815, 
 fixing the military peace establishment of the 
 United States, the corps to which they are 
 attached, and of which they form a part, is 
 expressly recognised as a part of that military 
 establishment.'"^ This opinion w^as corrobo- 
 rated by that of the President, and of the 
 Secretary of War. We may here add, that the 
 cadets above mentioned resigned their com- 
 missions soon after; and appear to have 
 acted from erroneous views. 
 
 Tlie act of 1821, which reduced the army 
 to six thousand men, made no change in the 
 corps of engineers, or in the Military Academy. 
 On the 16th of February, 1821, a motion was 
 made in the House of Representatives " to dis- 
 continue the pay and rations of the cadets, 
 
 a Mil. Aff. ii. 30. 
 
94 
 
 and discharge them from the Academy ;" in 
 other words to abolish the institution ; but it 
 was negatived by a majority of eighty-nine. 
 It was subsequent to these proceedings that 
 Mr. Monroe, in his annual message, in 1822, 
 thus expressed his opinion of the Military 
 Academy. " Good order is preserved in it, 
 and the youth are well instructed in every 
 science connected with the great object of 
 the institution. They are also well trained 
 and discipUned in the practical parts of the 
 
 profession The Military Academy 
 
 forms the basis, in regard to science, on 
 which the military establishment rests. It 
 furnishes annually, after due examination, 
 and on the report of the Academic Staff, 
 many well informed youths, to fill the va- 
 cancies which occur in the several corps of 
 the army ; while others, who retire to private 
 life, carry with them such attainments as, 
 under the right reserved to the several states 
 to appoint the officers and to train the mihtia, 
 will enable them, by affording a wider field 
 for selection, to promote the great object of 
 the power vested in Congress, of providing 
 for the organizing, arming, and disciplining 
 
95 
 
 the militia."* We may here add, that simi- 
 lar encomiums have been pronounced on the 
 Academy, by every succeeding President of 
 the United States, down to the present time. 
 The more recent efforts which have been 
 made to abolish the institution, we shall notice 
 in a subsequent place. 
 
 On the resignation of Colonel Thayer as 
 Superintendent of the Military Academy, he 
 was succeeded by Major (now Lieutenant- 
 Colonel) R, E. De Russy, of the corps of en- 
 gineers ; who continued in this office from 
 July 1st, 1833, to September 1st, 1838; when 
 he was relieved from this station, and as- 
 signed to the charge of the works for the 
 defence of the Delaware and Chesapeake 
 Bays. He was succeeded by Major Richard 
 Delafield, of the engineers ; the present able 
 Superintendent. Rev. Mr. Warner having 
 resigned the station of chaplain and profes- 
 sor of ethics, &c., was succeeded, September 
 1st, 1838, by Rev. Jasper Adams, formerly 
 President of Charleston College, South Caro- 
 lina, and author of a treatise on Moral Philo- 
 
 » Johnson's Report, 7, 8. 
 
96 
 
 sophy. In the department of engineering, 
 Professor Mahan was assisted by Lieutenant 
 Frederic A. Smith, from 1833 to 1834; by 
 Lieutenant Samuel C. Ridgely, from 1834 to 
 1839; and by Lieutenant J. M. Scarritt, from 
 1839 to the present date. 
 
 The successor to Captain Hitchcock, as 
 instructor of tactics and commandant of ca- 
 dets, was Major John Fowie, of the infantry ; 
 who held this station from July 6th, 1833, to 
 March 31st, 1838, when he was succeeded 
 by Captain Charles F. Smith, of the artillery, 
 who still holds this station. In the depart- 
 ment of natural and experimental philosophy, 
 Professor Courtenay was succeeded, January 
 1st, 1835, by Lieutenant William H. C. Bart- 
 lett, of the corps of engineers ; author of a 
 valuable treatise on the science of Optics. 
 His assistants, successors to Lieutenant Cram, 
 have been Lieutenant Jacob Ammen, from 
 
 1836 to 1837; Lieutenant Benjamin Alvord, 
 
 1837 to 1839; and Lieutenant Joseph Roberts, 
 from 1839 to the present date. In the de- 
 partment of mathematics. Professor Davies 
 was succeeded, June 1st, 1837, by Lieutenant 
 Albert E, Church, of the artillery, who had 
 
97 
 
 previously been chief assistant in this depart- 
 ment, from 1833 to 1837, as successor to 
 Lieutenant Ross. The subsequent assistants 
 have been, Lieutenant William W. S. Bliss, 
 from 1837 to January, 1840 ; and Lieutenant 
 A. E. Shiras, from January, 1840, to the pre- 
 sent date. 
 
 Lieutenant Jacob W. Bailey was appointed 
 Professor of Chemistry July 5th, 1838; and 
 Lieutenant H. L. Kendrick has been his as- 
 sistant from 1838 to the present time. Lieu- 
 tenant Bradford R. Alden succeeded Mr. 
 Molinard, as second teacher of French, as- 
 sistant to Mr. Berard, from September 12th, 
 1839, to February 4th, 1840; since which 
 time this station has been filled by Mr. H. R. 
 Agnel. After the death of Mr. Gimbrede, 
 Charles R. Leslie, R. A., was appointed 
 teacher of drawing, March, 2d, 1833; but he 
 resigned the station April 15th, 1834, and was 
 succeeded. May 8th, 1834, by Robert W. 
 Weir, the present accomplished teacher. Mr. 
 Leslie and Mr. Weir are both recognised 
 among the most distinguished American 
 painters; and the latter has been employed, 
 by order of Congress, to execute one of the 
 9 
 
98 
 
 paintings for the rotunda of the Capitol. 
 The successors to Lieutenant Kinsley, as 
 instructors of artillery, have been, Lieutenant 
 Robert Anderson, from December 1st, 1835, to 
 November 17th, 1837; and Lieutenant Minor 
 Knowlton, from that date to the present thue. 
 Mr. Jumel was succeeded as sw^ord-master, or 
 instructor of fencing, by Ferdinand Dupare, 
 February 16th, 1837; and James McAuley 
 became the first instructor of riding, June 
 12th, 1839. Joseph Lucchesi succeeded Mr. 
 Kyle as leader of the band ; having been ap- 
 pointed April 1st, 1836, and this station he 
 still continues to hold. 
 
 By an act of Congress for increasing the 
 army, approved July 5th, 1838, it was pro- 
 vided, (§ 19,) " That an additional professor 
 be appointed, to instruct in the studies of 
 chemistry, mineralogy, and geology," and 
 that the Secretary of War may assign to the 
 said professor an assistant, to be taken from 
 the officers of the line, or cadets, and to re- 
 ceive the same pay as the other assistant pro- 
 fessors. By the 28th section of the same 
 law, it was enacted, " That the term for 
 which cadets hereafter admitted into the 
 
99 
 
 Military Academy at West Point, shall en- 
 gage to serve, be, and the same is hereby 
 increased to eight years, unless [they be] 
 sooner discharged." The acts of Congress 
 making annual appropriations for the support 
 of the Academy, and occasional appropria- 
 tions for buildings and other purposes, we 
 have not thought it necessary here to notice. 
 A detachment of dragoons has recently been 
 stationed at West Point, having arrived there 
 June 12th, 1839. An opportunity is thus 
 afforded for the cadets to exercise in horse- 
 manship and cavalry tactics. For this great 
 improvement in the course of military instruc- 
 tion, the Academy is, we believe, indebted to 
 Mr. Poinsett, the Secretary of War. 
 
 The present regulations of the Military 
 Academy, being voluminous, we shall not 
 attempt here to transcribe. They are, for the 
 most part, a digest and expansion of the dif- 
 ferent regulations already referred to ; and 
 which it has been our object to present re- 
 spectively in their original form. It remains, 
 however, to offer a brief view of the me- 
 chanism of the institution and its mode of ac- 
 tion, as a summary of the preceding notices. 
 
100 
 
 Besides the superintendent, professors, and 
 teachers already named, there are attached 
 to the Academy fourteen h'eutenants of the 
 army, as assistant professors or teachers, but 
 receiving no other compensation than their 
 regular army pay. The adjutant, quarter- 
 master, paymaster, surgeon, and assistant 
 surgeon of the Academy are also officers of 
 the army detailed for these respective sta- 
 tions; and together constitute the Military 
 Staff of the Academy. There are also at- 
 tached to the Academy, a storekeeper, tailor, 
 and shoemaker, who are required to supply 
 the cadets with necessary articles, at the 
 regulated prices. The principal professors 
 and teachers of the Academy constitute an 
 Academic Board, of which the superintendent 
 is president, and which has the supervision 
 of the studies, the selection of class books, 
 library books, maps, models, and apparatus; 
 and which decides on the merits of the ca- 
 dets at the examinations. For this last pur- 
 pose the first assistants in the principal de- 
 partments, and the immediate teacher of the 
 section under examination, constitute tran- 
 siently a part of the Academic Board. The 
 
101 
 
 Academic S/q^ comprehends all those officers 
 who are engaged in giving instruction ; in 
 contradistinction from the MiUtary Staff, al- 
 ready mentioned. 
 
 The number of candidates for admission is 
 so great that early applications are made to 
 the Secretary of War, by those desirous of 
 obtaining an appointment as cadets. The 
 number of cadets being nearly equal to that 
 of the members of Congress, it is understood 
 that there is generally one cadet from each 
 congressional district, and that their nomina- 
 tion is in some degree confided to the respec- 
 tive members. The age of admission was 
 restricted by a regulation, we believe in 1833, 
 and is now from sixteen to twenty-one years 
 inclusive ; regard being also had to health, 
 stature, and character. The acquirements 
 necessary for admission, as established by 
 law, are reading, writing, and practical 
 arithmetic ; though a knowledge of English 
 grammar, geography, and even of the Latin 
 language, is highly desirable and advanta- 
 geous. To raise the standard of admission 
 would be to exclude many young men of 
 worth, whose early education has been ne- 
 9# 
 
102 
 
 glected, and to depress it would deprive the 
 nation of such moderate quaUfications as it 
 has a riglit to expect, for the prosecution of 
 important higher studies. The newly ap- 
 pointed cadets are required to join the Acade- 
 my between the 1st and 20th of June ; and 
 they engage to serve eight years, or four 
 years after graduating at the Academy. As 
 opportunity is afforded for gratuitous instruc- 
 tion at the Academy from the 1st of June 
 until the examination of the candidates near 
 the close of the month, those who are imper- 
 fectly prepared would do well to be present 
 during this period. 
 
 The months of June, July, and August, 
 in each year, after the close of the exami- 
 nation, are devoted solely to military ex- 
 ercises; for which purpose the cadets leave 
 the barracks, and encamp in tents on the 
 plain, under the regular police and discipline 
 of an army in time of war. Their organiza- 
 tion varies occasionally, while drilling in par- 
 ticular arms ; but for purposes of discipline, 
 police, and the ordinary drills in infantry 
 tactics, they are arranged as a battalion of 
 four companies, under the commandant of 
 the corps and his assistants ; the corporals 
 
103 
 
 being appointed from the cadets of the third 
 class; the sergeants from those of the second; 
 and the captains and lieutenants from those 
 of the first or senior class. The other cadets 
 fill the ranks as soldiers, though required to 
 act as officers at stated times. They perform 
 in rotation the duties of sentinels, or guard 
 duty, night and day, during the encampment ; 
 but only in the evening and at meal-times 
 when in barracks. They are drilled daily, 
 during the greater portion of the year, ex- 
 cept on Saturdays and Sundays, and seve- 
 ral times a day, during the encampment 
 either as artillery, infantry, riflemen, or 
 cavalry troops, the riding exercises being 
 continued through the whole year. They are 
 thus practically taught the use of the musket 
 or rifle, the cannon, mortar, and howitzer, 
 the sabre and rapier, or broad and small 
 sword ; as also the construction of field works 
 and the preparation of all kinds of munitions 
 and materials for war. The morning parade 
 during the encampment, and guard mount- 
 ing throughout the remainder of the year, 
 and the evening parade at retreat (or sunset), 
 are highly imposing, especially as enlivened 
 
104 
 
 by the excellent band of music. The cadets' 
 uniform is a gray coatee with standing col- 
 lar, bullet buttons giU, and black silk cord; 
 gray vest and pantaloons in winter, and 
 white in summer, with white belts for the 
 bayonet and cartridge box. The dress cap 
 is of black felt, round crown, with black 
 pompon, brass front plate, and eagle on the 
 front of the cap. A forage cap is worn when 
 off duty, and a guard cloak is provided for 
 wet or cold weather. Cadets who have been 
 present tw^o encampments, are allowed, if 
 their conduct be correct and their parents or 
 guardians consent thereto, to be absent the 
 third on furlough. 
 
 The cadets return from camp to barracks 
 on the last of August ; and the ceremony of 
 striking the tents on this occasion is well 
 worth an effort of the visiter to witness it. 
 The remaining nine months of the academic 
 year are devoted to study. The studies of 
 the f.rst year, or fourth class, are algebra, 
 geometry, trigonometry, descriptive geome- 
 try, mensuration, and the French language. 
 All the mathematical studies are practically 
 taught, and applied to numerous problems not 
 
105 
 
 found in the books ; on the solution of which, 
 greatly depends the reputation and standing 
 of the rival candidates for pre-eminence. The 
 studies of the second year are the theory of 
 perspective and shades and shadows, practi- 
 cally illustrated ; analytic geometry, with its 
 application to conic sections ; the integral and 
 differential calculus, or science of fluxions; 
 practical surveying; with the French lan- 
 guage, geography, English grammar and 
 rhetoric, and the elements of drawing, or the 
 human figure in pen and pencil, and topogra- 
 phy in plain tints, colours, and with the pen. 
 This completes the course of mathematics, 
 and also of French, which the cadets learn to 
 translate freely, but which few of them can 
 be expected to speak fluently. The third year 
 is devoted to the course of natural and expe- 
 rimental philosophy, comprising mechanics in 
 all its divisions; optics, magnetism, and elec- 
 tricity; and astromomy; together with che- 
 mistry, including the laws of heat, and prac- 
 tical applications; and the completion of the 
 course of drawling, including landscapes in 
 pencil and colours. The fourth and last year 
 is appropriated to the review of artillery and 
 
106 
 
 infantry tactics, the former including military 
 pyrotechny; the science of war and fortifica- 
 tion, or mihtary engineering ; a course of civil 
 engineering, embracing architecture, the con- 
 struction of roads and bridges, railroads and 
 canals, with the improvement of rivers and 
 harbours ; a course of mineralogy and geo- 
 logy ; a course of rhetoric, moral philosophy, 
 and political science, including constitutional 
 and international law. In most of these 
 studies the classes are divided into sections, 
 usually of about fifteen cadets in each ; and 
 each section has its own instructor. Thus 
 each cadet is called upon at almost every re- 
 citation, to explain a considerable portion of 
 the lesson. The written or delineated demon- 
 strations, chiefly algebraic or geometrical, 
 are explained at the black board in the pre- 
 sence of the whole section. The hours of 
 study are from reveille until breakfast time, at 
 7 o'clock, A.M.; from 8 o'clock, A.M., to 
 dinner time, at 1 o'clock, P. M. ; from 2 to 4 
 o'clock, P. M. ; and from the call " To guar- 
 ters,^^ about one hour after sundown, until 
 taps, at 10 o'clock, P. M., for which tattoo, at 
 9 o'clock, is the preparatory signal. The re- 
 
107 
 
 citations vary from one hoar and a half to 
 one hour in length, and occur twice or thrice 
 daily. When the interval from 4 o'clock, 
 P. M., to sunset exceeds one hour and a half, 
 it is devoted to miUtary exercises, but the rest 
 of the year to recreation. 
 
 The present text-books in use at the 
 Academy are Mahan's Treatise on Field 
 Fortification, with Lithographic Notes on 
 Permanent Fortification, Attack and De- 
 fence, Mines and other accessories, the Com- 
 position of Armies, Strategy, &c. ; Mahan's 
 Course of Civil Engineering, with Notes on 
 Architecture, Stone Cutting, and Machines ; 
 Rules and Regulations for the Exercise and 
 Manoeuvres of the United ^States Infantry ; 
 [United States Artillery Tactics, Kinsley's 
 jPyrotechny, Thiroux's Instruction Theorique 
 let Pratique d'Artillerie, and Knowlton's Notes 
 on Powder, Cannon, and Projectiles ; Blair's 
 Rhetoric, Paley's Moral Philosophy, Kent's 
 Lectures, and Bayard's Exposition of the Con- 
 Istitution; Dana's Mineralogy, Bakewell's Geo- 
 logy, and Turner's Chemistry; Bouchariat's 
 Mechanics, translated byCourtenay; Roget's 
 Electricity and Magnetism; Bartlett's Optics; 
 
108 
 
 Gummere's Astronomy ; Davies' Descriptive 
 Geometry, Surveying, Analytical Geometry, 
 Calculus, Bourdon's Algebra, and Legendre's 
 Geometry; Berard's French Grammar, Le- 
 mons Frangaises, and Gil Bias; and Murray's 
 Grammar and English Reader. 
 
 To test the progress of the cadets in their 
 studies, there are held semi-annual examina- 
 tions, commencing on the second day of Janu- 
 ary, unless it be Sunday, and on the second 
 Monday of June ; *at the latter of which a 
 Board of Visiters, invited by the Secretary of 
 War, is present, to make a critical inspection 
 and official report of the state of the Academy. 
 Each of these examinations occupies about a 
 fortnight, and is very strict, but still it is not 
 considered as the sole test of merit. Each 
 instructor makes a weekly class report, in 
 which is recorded the daily performance of 
 each cadet under his charge; those who do 
 perfectly well being marked 3, or the maxi- 
 mum, and those who fail entirely in their 
 recitation being marked ; between which 
 extremes there are nine intermediate grades 
 of merit, having reference only to the mem- 
 bers of that section ; but transfers are freely 
 
109 
 
 made between the higher and lower sections, 
 according to individual merit. These marks 
 are accessible to the cadets from week to 
 week, and doubtless stimulate their exertions. 
 They are summed up at the end of the term, 
 and laid before the Academic Board and 
 Board of Visiters; so that the standing of 
 each cadet, depends not only on his personal 
 examination but on all his previous recitations. 
 A certain proficiency being required of the 
 cadets, those who fall below this limit are 
 either discharged from the service, or turned 
 back to repeat the course of studies of that 
 year wdth the succeeding class. Averaging 
 the last ten years, we think, a class of about 
 one hundred entering the academy, is reduced 
 from want of inclination for the service and 
 other causes, to about eighty at the end of 
 six months ; seventy at the end of one year, 
 and sixty at the end of two years ; about fifty, 
 or one half of the whole number remaining to 
 complete the course. 
 
 There is a general merit-roll of every class, 
 
 made out at the end of each academic year; 
 
 the merit of each cadet being expressed by a 
 
 number denoting his relative proficiency or 
 
 10 
 
no 
 
 acquirements. The final standing of each 
 cadet, on which depends his relative rank for 
 army promotion, is determined by the sum 
 of his merit in all the diflerent branches ; re- 
 gard being had to their relative importance. 
 This latter is at present estimated as follows ; 
 Engineering and the Science of War, 300 ; 
 Natural Philosophy, 300 ; Mathematics, 300 ; 
 and Conduct, 300 ; Rhetoric and Moral and 
 Political Science, 200 ; Chemistry and Mine- 
 ralogy, 200; Infantry Tactics, 150; Artil- 
 lery, 150; French, 100; and Drawing, 100. 
 Hence the individual who should reach the 
 maximum in all the branches would be cre- 
 dited with 2100 on the final merit-roll; but 
 such cases are of course extremely rare. The 
 cadet in each class having the highest sum of 
 merit is placed first on the roll, and so on- 
 ward ; and he who is deficient to a certain 
 extent even in the last year, is not permitted 
 to graduate. In estimating the merit in con- 
 duct, every neglect of duty, or case of tar- 
 diness, being reported against a cadet, and 
 not satisfactorily excused, is charged against 
 him in the roll of demerit, with a number 
 proportioned to its degree of criminality, as 
 
Ill 
 
 fixed by the regulations. Hence the amount 
 of demerit, on the academic records is not 
 to be considered so much a test of moral as 
 of military character. Each cadet, on gra- 
 duating, receives a diploma signed by the 
 Superintendent and members of the Academic 
 Board ; and his name is presented by the 
 Inspector to the Secretary of War, with a 
 recommendation for a commission in the 
 army, which has in no case hitherto been 
 refused. 
 
 The allowance to cadets for pay and rations, 
 is ^28 per month ; amply sufficient for their 
 comfortable maintenance ; including board 
 and clothing, and the purchase of all the 
 books, stationary, and other articles required 
 for their academic course. They are liable 
 to trial by either a garrison or general 
 court-martial, and to any degree of punish- 
 ment which martial law may prescribe. 
 The use of ardent spirits or tobacco, and all 
 games of chance are strictly forbidden; as 
 also going beyond the limits of the post with- 
 out permission, or being absent from quarters 
 during the hours of study. Insubordination, 
 and neglect of military duties, or disrespect 
 
112 
 
 towards a superior officer, are among the 
 more serious offences. The cadets are not 
 only required to abstain from all vicious, im- 
 moral, or irregular conduct, but they are 
 enjoined on every occasion to conduct them- 
 selves as becomes officers and gentlemen, on 
 penalty of dismission from the service. The 
 inmates of each room or tent act in turn as 
 orderlies ; and the orderly for the time being 
 is responsible for the police and good order 
 of the room or tent, and for any violation of 
 the regulations which may take place therein. 
 Each room is also visited at least three times 
 every day by the officer in charge, who is 
 one of the assistant instructors of tactics ; 
 each performing this duty in his turn. Every 
 cadet is required to attend divine service on 
 the Sabbath, unless excused from duty by the 
 surgeon ; and if sick, he is comfortably pro- 
 vided for and attended. Under these and 
 other subordinate regulations, we presume to 
 say, that there is better order and less im- 
 moral conduct at West Point, than in almost 
 any college in the United States. 
 
 The first buildings occupied by the cadets 
 were of wood, erected we believe during the 
 
113 
 
 Revolution, or at least as early as 1794, and 
 demolished about the year 1817. They stood 
 on the north side of the plain, at a short dis- 
 tance west of the new hotel. They were oc- 
 cupied originally by soldiers ; afterwards by 
 soldiers and cadets together ; and finally by 
 the cadets alone, until their removal to the 
 new barracks, we believe in 1815. In 1812, 
 as we should have before mentioned, the juris- 
 diction of 250 acres of land was ceded by 
 New York to the United States, and in that 
 year or the following, the building called the 
 Academy, (recently burnt,) the mess-hall west 
 of it, and the south barrack east of it, were 
 commenced, but not finished until 1815. 
 These three buildings formed a line crossing 
 the southern part of the plain. The north 
 barrack, a large building projecting into the 
 plain, near the south barrack, and forming 
 an L with the latter, was completed in 1817. 
 Of the brick edifices on the west side of the 
 plain, the one directly south, and the two 
 next north of the mess-hall, were built in 
 1815-16; and the three most northern were 
 constructed in 1820-21 ; in front of which 
 are the flag-staff and parade ground. The 
 10* 
 
114 
 
 remaining brick building, next to the southern- 
 most, and situated back from the street, was 
 built we think in 1829. Of the three blocks 
 of stone dwellings, at the northwest angle of 
 the plain, on the road to the German Flats, 
 the one farthest west was erected in 1821; 
 the two others in 1825-6. These buildings 
 front the north, and overlook Camptown, with 
 its old magazine and arsenal, and the barrack 
 erected for the musicians about 1828. 
 
 The hospital, at the extreme south end of 
 the plain, and the hotel, at the opposite ex- 
 tremity on the north, fronting up the river, 
 were built in 1828-9. The water-works, for 
 supplying part of the buildings with water, 
 and for extinguishing fires, were completed 
 in 1830, at an expense of about $4,500. The 
 new chapel, southeast of the south barrack, 
 was completed, we believe, in 1836; and the 
 new Academy, south of the barracks, the 
 basement story of which is used as an exer- 
 cise hall for riding, &c., was finished, or 
 nearly so, in 1838. The old academy, used 
 formerly as a chapel, and which contained 
 the library and apparatus, was destroyed by 
 fire in February, 1838 ; but most of the books: 
 
115 
 
 and instruments were saved. A new stone 
 building, of superior construction, is now in 
 progress, situated east of the new academy, 
 for containing the library and for astrono- 
 mical and other purposes. The library is 
 well selected, chiefly of military, scientific, 
 and historical works, comprising nearly ten 
 thousand volumes. The apparatus, both phi- 
 losophical and chemical, is quite extensive, 
 and embraces the latest improvements. 
 
 The monument on a small hillock near the 
 flag-staff, is a cenotaph erected by the late 
 General Brown to the memory of Colonel 
 Eleazar D. Wood, The beautiful monument 
 in the West Point Cemetery, on a romantic 
 point about a mile north of the Academy, at 
 the eastern angle of the German Flats, was 
 erected by the corps of cadets, in 1817, to 
 the memory of Vincent M. Lowe, of New 
 York, who was killed by the accidental dis- 
 charge of a cannon in that year. It was done 
 at the suggestion of his friends of the Amo- 
 sophic Society, and at an expense of about 
 twelve hundred dollars. His funeral oration 
 was delivered by Robert Emmet, son of 
 Thomas Addis Emmet, who was then at the 
 
116 
 
 Academy, and is now a professor in the Uni- 
 versity of Virginia. The monument is a 
 conic frustum, surmounted by military em- 
 blems; and, from being inscribed with the 
 names of other cadets who have died at the 
 Academy, it is known as the Cadets' Monu- 
 ment. The Cemetery, which commenced 
 with this monument, is beautifully situated, 
 half surrounded with groves, yet overlooking 
 the river ; and in its calm seclusion, can 
 hardly be visited without exciting the most 
 solemn emotions. 
 
 The other monument, over the levelled re- 
 doubt or citadel of Fort Clinton, at the north- 
 east angle of the plain, is sacred to Kosciuszko. 
 It was first suggested and advocated by 
 Cadet Henry St. James Linden, we believ^e in 
 1825, and completed in 1829, at the expense 
 of the Corps of Cadets, its cost being about 
 five thousand dollars. An oration was written 
 for the occasion by Cadet Charles Petigru, of 
 South Carolina. The monument is a Doric 
 column, resting on a lofty pedestal, with ap- 
 propriate Grecian ornaments. It bears no 
 other inscription than the name of Poland's 
 hero, whose memory is so dear to Americans, 
 
117 
 
 and so closely interwoven with the early re- 
 miniscences of West Point. The monument 
 was designed by John H. Latrobe, Esq., of 
 Baltimore, a pupil, but not a graduate of the 
 Academy. The surplus of the fund raised for 
 this purpose was expended in improving the 
 access to a romantic spot on the east side of 
 the plain, a shelf of the rocky precipice, 
 knowm as Kosciuszko's Garden, from its 
 having been his favourite resort while en- 
 gaged on the fortifications at this place. 
 
 The Academy has been for many years 
 provided with a Literary Society, similar to 
 those in our colleges, for the improvement of 
 the cadets in literary and classical acquire- 
 ments. The Amosophic Society was organized 
 in May, 1816, for " improvement in debate, 
 composition, and recitation," or declamation, 
 It embraced at first about twenty-five members, 
 and subsequently, in its best days, about fifty. 
 Among its early members were the lamented 
 Vincent M. Lowe and Professor Emmet, 
 already mentioned. Benjamin Vining was 
 its first president, and as such, delivered the 
 first address before it. This society existed 
 till about 1823, and had collected a library 
 
118 
 
 of nearly 500 volumes. Meanwhile, about 
 1822, a new society was formed called the 
 Philomathean, in which the Amosophic So- 
 ciety appears to have been merged in the 
 following year. 
 
 From the union of the Philomathean Society 
 with another of short duration, called the Cice- 
 ronian, as we are informed, sprang the Dia- 
 lectic Society, which was founded, we believe, 
 in the winter of 1824-5, and has continued 
 to flourish to the present time. Among its 
 early and active members were Leonidas 
 Polk, now Bishop of the Episcopal Church 
 in Arkansas, and Charles Mason, now Chief 
 Justice of Iowa Territory. The office of 
 Reader of anonymous compositions was es- 
 tabhshed in 1828, and first filled by Joseph 
 Ritner, Junior, an excellent and distinguished 
 member, since deceased. An able address 
 was delivered before this society, December 
 29th, 1838, by Lieutenant Alvord, in com- 
 memoration of the officers who fell in battle 
 in Florida. The Dialectic Society has col- 
 lected a library of several hundred volumes, 
 chiefly of historical and classical works; and 
 we think has a very favourable influence on 
 
119 
 
 the character and acquirements of those 
 cadets whom it receives as members. A 
 Lyceum of Natural History existed for seve- 
 ral years at the Academy ; but was dissolved 
 by a vote of its members in 1831 ; its mine- 
 rals being presented to the Academic Cabinet, 
 and its books to the Dialectic Society. 
 
 We proceed finally to state, the recent 
 objections which have been made to the 
 Military Academy, and to offer a brief 
 reply. On the 26th of November, 1833, 
 the Legislature of Tennessee passed Resolu- 
 tions' in favour of abolishing the Academy; 
 saying, " a few young men, sons of distin- 
 guished and wealthy families, through the 
 intervention of members of Congress, are 
 educated at this institution at the expense 
 of the great body of the American people, 
 which entitle them to privileges, and ele- 
 vate them above their fellow-citizens, w^ho 
 have not been so fortunate as to be edu- 
 cated under the patronage of this aristocra- 
 tical institution." On the 3d of March, 
 1834, similar Resolutions were passed by 
 the Legislature of Ohio, saying that the 
 Academy *' is partial in its operations, and 
 
120 
 
 wholly inconsistent with the spirit and genius 
 of our Hberal institutions." It was in reply 
 to these Resolutions, that an able Report was 
 made to the House of Representatives, May 
 17th, 1834, by Colonel Richard M. Johnson, 
 as Chairman of the Committee on Military 
 Affairs ; vindicating the institution against 
 these charges, showing how fully it has been 
 approved by all our leading statesmen, from 
 Washington downwards, and how substan- 
 tially it has repaid the country for her mater- 
 nal care and support. But this institution 
 was destined to pass another ordeal, when, 
 on the 1st of March, 1837, a virulent Report 
 against it was presented to the House of Re- 
 presentatives, by the Honourable F. O. J. 
 Smith, of Maine, Chairman of the Select 
 Committee of Nine, appointed to investigate 
 the condition of the United States Military 
 Academy. This Report concluded by re- 
 commending the abolition of the Academy, 
 and the establishment of a School of Practice 
 in its stead ; for reasons which it is our pre- 
 sent purpose to examine. 
 
 It is objected that the cadets at the Aca- 
 demy are not a part of the efficient force of 
 
121 
 
 the army. In denial of this assertion, we 
 may quote the very language of the law of 
 1812, as quoted by Mr. Wirt, in proving that 
 the cadets are subject to courts-martial. 
 They are subject to do duty, whenever, and 
 wherever, and whatever the President shall 
 direct ; and they would at any time be fit 
 and ready for duty, even on the battle-field, 
 like the youthful Polytechnists of Paris, did 
 occasion require it. If they are not an efli- 
 cient part of the army, it is in the same sense 
 that soldiers newly recruited, or citizen offi- 
 cers newly appointed, are not efficient, until 
 they have acquired the requisite knowledge, 
 and experience. If the number of cadets 
 were more than the public service requires, 
 as has been objected, the remedy would be 
 to reduce the academy, not to destroy it ; 
 but this objection does not at present hold 
 good, in point of fact. The objection that 
 the graduates are not under obligation to 
 continue in the service, was obviated in a 
 reasonable degree by the law of July 5th, 
 1838, requiring them to serve four years 
 after graduating ; and if this be not sufli- 
 cient, it rests with Congress to extend the 
 11 
 
122 
 
 period of service, as far as the nation may 
 see fit to require. 
 
 The objection most relied on, against edu- 
 cating the cadets at the public expense, would 
 apply equally against instructing recruits of 
 any grade, or paying them any thing until 
 they should be thoroughly drilled and com- 
 pletely efficient. This answers also the con- 
 stitutional objection against the right of 
 Congress to estabUsh a seminary of educa- 
 tion. The cadets are not merely students, 
 but a grade of officers on duty, as much so 
 as if they were dispersed through all the 
 posts and garrisons ; but learning that duty 
 ten times as well as they could thus learn it, 
 and at much less expense than if instructed 
 after being commissioned as lieutenants; 
 when their pay would be more than twice as 
 great. They learn it too far more thoroughly 
 and uniformly than if taught at private 
 schools, military or civil, as the result of 
 more than one rival institution abundantly 
 testifies. No fewer than thirty-one gentle- 
 men, all but six of whom are graduates of the 
 Academy, are employed in instructing two 
 hundred and sixty cadets. What other in- 
 
123 
 
 stitulion in our country could present any 
 thing like the same amount of suitable in- 
 struction to candidates for army promotion ? 
 This introduces another objection, that the 
 expense of educating the cadets is exorbitant, 
 especially as compared with the expenses at 
 our best colleges. In answer to this, we have 
 only to state, that the current expenses of the 
 institution, including the pay and rations 
 of the cadets, amount to about $100,000 ; 
 and dividing this sum by 250, the average 
 number of cadets, we have the annual ex- 
 pense of each cadet, equal to $400 per annum ; 
 which, contrasted with college expenses for 
 travelling, boarding, tuition, fuel, books, and 
 clothing, is we think by no means unfavour- 
 able to the Military Academy, considering 
 the number and qualifications of its instruc- 
 tors. We may add, that this expense is far 
 less than would be that of the scheme recom- 
 mended by the Hon. Mr. Smith, of ordering 
 nearly one third of the company officers of 
 the army to West Point, when converted into 
 a School of Practice ; especially as those 
 officers would not then be a part of the effi- 
 cient force of the army, as the phrase is un- 
 
124 
 
 derstood by Mr. Smith. But what are a few 
 dollars, more or less, compared with the im- 
 portance of having a body of select and 
 thoroughly educated officers, to take the 
 command of our armies, and direct our forti- 
 fications and national improvements? 
 
 The objection that only the sons of influ- 
 ential and wealthy men are admitted to the 
 Academy, is far from being true ; but even 
 were it the case, the fault would be not in the 
 Academy, but in those who are vested with 
 the power of making the appointments thereto. 
 Hence it would not be remedied by abolishing 
 the Academy ; since the Executive would then 
 appoint as lieutenants those who are now ap- 
 pointed as cadets ; or rather, it would appoint 
 a more favoured class of young men, already 
 tolerably educated. As regards the Academy 
 itself, even its most violent opponents, on the 
 successive Boards of Visiters, have admitted 
 that nothing could be more just and impartial 
 than its awards of academic honours and 
 censures. It is not strange that many of 
 those who are discharged should find fault 
 with its strictness ; but it is surely just that 
 
125 
 
 the country should select those who are 
 deemed best qualified, and not be required to 
 educate and commission all who may be ad- 
 mitted on the recommendation of partial 
 friends. Though they may possess latent 
 talents, and may afterwards distinguish them- 
 selves, still the Academic Staff must judge 
 them by their present industry and acquire- 
 ments, without waiting for the future. 
 
 Much has been said against the moral 
 tendency of the education acquired at West 
 Point, but we think with great injustice. The 
 argument drawn from the conduct-rolls is 
 perfectly futile ; where to appear on parade 
 with a rusty gun lock, is charged, and properly 
 so, as a military crime. We appeal with con- 
 fidence to the subsequent career of a great 
 majority of the graduates, as disproving this 
 charge ; and we assert that since the Academy 
 became settled under the present regime, there 
 have been fewer disturbances there than at 
 our colleges, generally speaking. But in 
 strictness, the comparison should be made 
 not with the character of our colleges, but 
 with the character which young officers 
 would be likely to acquire without an educa- 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 tion at the Academy ; and in this point of 
 view, the result need not be stated. 
 
 Another of the objections is, that the 
 graduates of the Mihtary Academy, being 
 entitled to precedence in filling vacancies 
 in the army, all citizens above the age of 
 twenty-one are virtually almost excluded 
 from entering the service, and that no in- 
 ducement is left for the general acquisition 
 of military knowledge, " nor for the institu- 
 tion of military schools,^' elsewhere.^ But 
 allowing that fifty appointments are to be 
 made annually in the army ; we ask how 
 many private military schools this induce- 
 ment would foster and support ? or if only 
 one or two, we ask in what respect these 
 would be preferable to the National Academy ; 
 and whether the appointment of graduates 
 from such institutions, who would neces- 
 sarily be sons only of the wealthy, would not 
 be an act of greater favouritism than that 
 which has been unjustly urged against West 
 Point? 
 
 It is said that the commanders of our army 
 in cases of emergency, will be men inspired 
 
 » Mr. Smith's Report, p. 30. 
 
127 
 
 with military genius and energy springing 
 up with the occasion, and not the graduates 
 of the Mihtary Academy. But we ask who 
 will be more likely to be thus inspired, than 
 those who voluntarily sought the profession 
 of arms in their youth, and have devoted 
 their lives to its acquirement? It is still more 
 strongly urged that the mihtia of our country 
 will not submit to be commanded by these 
 graduates, and that either they will refuse 
 to enlist, " or the earliest discharges of their 
 musketry will be to rid themselves of their 
 obnoxious commandants, and to devolve the 
 duty of command upon some more congenial 
 comrade."* Can such be the language of an 
 American citizen, and member of Congress ? 
 Is it justified in the least degree by facts ? 
 Take, for instance, the Florida war. If there 
 has been any fault in its management, it 
 should be remembered that the chief com- 
 manders there were heroes of the war of 
 1812, but not graduates of the Academy. 
 Has there been any collision between the 
 militia and the officers from West Point, in 
 
 » Mr. Smith's Report, p. 28. 
 
128 
 
 all this trying service? We believe none, 
 absolutely none ; but on the contrary, entire 
 harmony and respect. Far be it from us, 
 hovv^ever, to disparage the merits of the com- 
 manders in Florida, v^ho, we sincerely be- 
 lieve, have done all that was in their power, 
 with the means and materials afforded them,^ 
 to terminate that harassing war, if war it de- 
 serves to be called. But we can by no means 
 believe that an officer who receives a regular 
 military education, thereby forfeits the con- 
 fidence or sympathies of his fellow-citizens of 
 the militia. As to the privileges which the 
 graduates are accused of possessing, we know 
 of none but that of serving their country in 
 the army, and receiving a superior education 
 to fit them for this service. 
 
 The last objection which we have been 
 enabled to discover, and the one which re- 
 mains to be noticed is, that the academy has 
 failed to accomplish the objects for which it 
 was established; and therefore should be 
 abolished. An attempt is made to prove this 
 by a reference to General Bernard and Colo- 
 nel McRee's statement, in 1819, that the 
 '' school at West Point has hitherto been 
 
129 
 
 very inferior as such, and altogether inade- 
 quate to the objects for which it was esta- 
 blished." But their farther statement, that 
 *• A project has been presented, to place this 
 school upon the footing of the most perfect 
 of the kind that exists," the objector has not 
 seen fit to notice. Their object was to recom- 
 mend the establishment of a School of Prac- 
 tice, not as a substitute for the academy, but 
 as a supplement to it ; to perfect the knowledge 
 therein acquired. In time of peace, when the 
 young officers would otherwise be scattered 
 at the remote posts, and the troops be dis- 
 persed by companies, a school of practice is 
 doubtless highly desirable, and even neces- 
 sary ; but in time of war, when armies are 
 wanted in the field, they are the only school 
 of practice then needed. If such a school be 
 an elementary one, it is only a military aca- 
 demy under another name ; but this was not 
 the idea of General Bernard and Colonel 
 McRee, who intended that it should bear the 
 same relation to the West Point Academy, 
 that the French School of Practice at Metz, 
 bears to the Polytechnic School. 
 
 Turning from authorities on this point, we 
 
130 
 
 appeal to facts, in proof of the efficiency and 
 utility of the Military Academy. The whole 
 number of graduates prior to the year 1813, 
 was only 88 ; and of this number no fewer 
 than eleven were breveted, during the war of 
 1812, for distinguished services, five of whom 
 are at present colonels or lieutenant-colonels 
 in the army. Of the corps of engineers 
 during that war, all those commissioned 
 prior to 1812, including all the higher offi- 
 cers, were gra'duates of the Academy. "Not 
 to speak of others, it was McRee, who on 
 the field of Bridgewater suggested the expe- 
 diency of that perilous but well-timed order, 
 whose successful execution," [by the gallant 
 Miller,] "■ turned the tide of battle ;— and to 
 him and to Wood, who fell at the head of his 
 column in the sortie from Fort Erie, — may 
 justly be ascribed much of the glory of that 
 memorable campaign. "'"^ We believe that 
 the first successful sortie of an American 
 garrison against a besieging army, was that 
 of Fort Erie, and that this was first suggested 
 and planned by Colonel Wood, who fell so 
 
 3 Hon. Mr. Built r's Address, p. 27. 
 
131 
 
 bravel}^ during its successful execution. Cap- 
 tain Ketchum, who captured the British Ge- 
 neral Ryall, at the battle of Bridgewftter, 
 was also a graduate of the Mihtary Aca- 
 denny. We nfiay also add, that the success of 
 the battle of Plattsburg was due, in no small 
 degree^ to the skilful and energetic efforts of 
 Colonel Totten, in fortifying the banks of the 
 Saranac, while awstiting the enemy ; General 
 Macomb^ the commander-in-chief, having 
 also been one of the first students of the Aca- 
 demy. Colonel Thayer's successful arrange- 
 ments for the defence of Norfolk, have al- 
 ready been referred to, but should here be 
 recalled to mind. Of the first eighty-eight 
 graduates, nine fell in battle during the war 
 of 1812; eight of whom are not included 
 among the brevets already mentioned. Bre- 
 vet Lieutenaht-Colonet-Eleazer D. Wood, of 
 the engineers. Colonel James Gibson, of the 
 rifle regiment, and Captain Alexander J. 
 Williams, of the artillery, fell at Fort Erie, 
 in 1814; the latter we believe at the assault 
 by which it was taken from the British, and 
 the two former at the sortie by which it was 
 afterwards successfully defended. Lieute- 
 
132 
 
 nant Samuel B. Rathbone fell at Queenston 
 Heights, in 1812; Lieutenant Henry A. Ho- 
 bart, at Fort George, in 1813; Lieutenant 
 George Ronan, at Chicago, in 1812; Lieu- 
 tenants Henry Burchstead and Joseph N. 
 Wilcox, at Fort Mimms, in 1812; and Lieu- 
 tenant WiUiam W. Smith, at Christler's 
 Farm, in 1813. 
 
 The whole number of graduates of the 
 Military Academy, from its first establish- 
 ment to 1840, inclusive, is 1058; of whom, 
 according to the last official register, 396 
 remain in the military service, besides the 
 graduating class of 1840. If to these be added 
 the graduates now in the civil service of the 
 United States, as engineers or assistants on 
 the fortifications, coast survey, and improve- 
 ment of rivers and harbours, it will be found 
 that there still remain in the public service 
 nearly one half of all the graduates of the 
 Military Academy, at the end of forty years 
 from its first establishment ; while no fewer 
 than one hundred and seventy-four of the re- 
 mainder have died in service or been killed 
 in battle. When it is added that the appoint- 
 ments in the two regiments of dragoons were 
 
133 
 
 mostly conferred on citizens, thereby disap- 
 pointing reasonable hopes of promotion, and 
 introducing many citizens into the service, 
 the fact that about two thirds of all the offi- 
 cers now in the arm.y, the whole number of 
 which, exclusive of the medical, pay, and 
 purchasing departments, is six hundred and 
 thirty, are graduates of the Military Aca- 
 demy, is alone a proof, we think, that this in- 
 stitution has not failed of its object. " Our 
 whole army," says Colonel Johnson, in his 
 Report, " possesses now far more of the 
 public respect and confidence than it did not 
 many years since. It is the great distinction 
 of the Academy at West Point, that it has 
 contributed largely and effectually to this 
 elevation of the character of the military 
 estabhshment." More might be quoted, and 
 from various sources, in praise of this insti- 
 tution ; but we forbear. 
 
 In the Florida war, out of fifteen officers 
 killed in battle, ten were graduates of the 
 Military Academy. Captain George W. Gar- 
 diner, and Lieutenants William E. Basinger, 
 Robert R. Mudge, Richard Henderson, and 
 John L. Keais, all of the artillery, fell together 
 12 
 
134 
 
 at the bravely fought, but unfortunate battle 
 in which Major Dade's command was slain, 
 December 28th, 1835. Lieutenant James F. 
 Izard, of the dragoons, was mortally wound- 
 ed when in command of the advanced guard 
 of General Gaines's army, near the Withla- 
 coochee river, February 29th, 1836. Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Alexander R. Thompson, Cap- 
 tain Joseph Van Swearingen, and Lieutenants 
 Francis J. Brooke and John P. Center, all of 
 the infantry, fell at the victorious battle of 
 Okeechobee, December 25th, 1837. Captain 
 Samuel L. Russell, and Lieutenant W. Hul- 
 bert, both of the infantry, were killed by the 
 Indians in 1839 ; the former near Fort Dallas, 
 on the 28th of February, and the latter at 
 Mile Creek, on the 2d of May. But the offi- 
 cers killed in battle are only a small portion 
 of those who have been sacrificed, through 
 sickness from exposure, fatigue, or privation, 
 during this unfortunate war. In the words of 
 a distinguished senator, on the jfloor of Con- 
 gress, " Officers and men have fought it out 
 where they were told to fight ; they have been 
 killed in the tracks where they were told to 
 stand. In no one of our Indian wars have 
 
135 
 
 our troops so stood together, and conquered 
 together, and died together, as they have 
 done in this one ; and this standing together 
 is the test of the soldier's character." Wit- 
 ness the dying words of Basinger, "/aw the 
 last officer left, — men ! we will do the best we 
 can ;" — and of the gallant Thompson, " Keej) 
 steady, men ! Charge the hainmock! Remem- 
 ber the regiment to ivhich you belong T'"^ If 
 these are indications of inefficiency in the 
 graduates of the Military Academy, we have 
 nothing more to offer in their behalf. 
 
 We conclude this imperfect sketch of the 
 history of West Point, with the following 
 lines, written by a lady, gifted of the Muses, 
 on visiting this interesting spot. 
 
 Bright are the memories linked with thee, 
 
 Boast of a glory-hallowed land ! 
 Hope of the valiant and the free, — 
 
 Home of their youthful soldier-band ! 
 Not pilgrim at earth's shrines of pride, 
 
 When fancy's wand the past unveiled, 
 E'er bent the heart to feeling's tide. 
 
 E'er thrilled as those who thee have hailed. 
 
 » See Lieutenant Alvord's address, p. 40, 50. 
 
136 
 
 Proud smiles eacli spirit-haunted heig-ht, 
 
 Like Guardian Genius of the wave ; 
 And bathed in sunset's dying light, 
 
 Thou seem'st th' Elysium of the brave ! . . . 
 Dearer to us yon mountain's steep, 
 
 ■Where moss-veiled ruins darkly rise. 
 Dearer that turf where proud ones sleep. 
 
 Than all that lures 'neath eastern skies. 
 
 Home of the gallant brave — farewell ! 
 
 Long mayst thou shine, thy country's boast,- 
 Her bulwark when strong tempests swell, — 
 
 Her beacon, should all hope seem lost ! 
 Long may her sons, — the prized, the true, — 
 
 Be mid thy scenes to glory fired, 
 Here bathe the soul in wisdom's dew, 
 
 Be here by genius' light inspired. 
 
NOTE. 
 
 Since the principal part of the preceding- sketch was 
 put to press, the writer has been favoured with a letter 
 from General Swift, in reply to a note of inquiry, ad- 
 dressed to that gentleman, the answer to which was 
 delayed by his absence from home. It contains so 
 much valuable information, that its insertion here 
 will, it is hoped, be pardoned by its author, and will 
 surely gratify those interested in the history of West 
 Point. General Swift states as follows: 
 
 " Not only from July, 1812, to January, 1815, but 
 also to July, 1817, and indeed to November, 1818, I 
 was, as the law prescribes, the Superintendent of the 
 Academy; for the Chief Engineer had no power to 
 divest himself of the responsibilities of that office. 
 The dates, January, 1815, and July, 1817, have refe- 
 rence to official but not statute rule, and were to 
 give the Chief Engineer the functions of Inspector, 
 and the officer detailed to reside at West Point that of 
 Superintendent. The senior officer of engineers, (not 
 being the chief,) present at the Point, was considered 
 the temporary superintendent, pending the absence 
 
138 
 
 of the chief, and especially so from 1812 to 1817, at 
 which last date, the Secretary of War, Mr. Calhoun, 
 introduced the since efficient rule of inspection. The 
 duty of the Superintendent, early in the existence of 
 the Military Academy, was also that of an instructor; 
 but after 1808, the functions of the Chief Engineer 
 became more those of a commandant and inspector. 
 
 "The Superintendent, from November, 1816, to 
 January, 1817, was especially ordered by the President, 
 for the twofold purposes, 1st, of separating the Chief 
 Engineer from service with a Foreign Engineer, in 
 consequence of remonstrance against the impolitic 
 interpolation into the corps that produced the resig- 
 nation of the chief in 1818 ; and 2d, to reform certain 
 abuses alleged to have arisen at West Point. In 
 January, 1817, that officer was ordered to Washington, 
 and Captain Partridge left in temporary superinten- 
 dence, hi which, by order of said chief, he was super- 
 seded by Major Thayer, in July of that year. 
 
 " George Baron was the first superintendent, and 
 the first Professor of Mathematics at the Military 
 Academy in 1801. He was succeeded by Major 
 Williams, in December, 1801. When said Baron was 
 dismissed, in February, 1802, Captain William A. 
 Barron, of the corps of engineers, was his successor, 
 and continued professor of mathematics until 1807, 
 when Professor Hassler took that chair, and continued 
 until 1810, when Captain Partridge, the then assistant 
 professor, discharged the duty until 1813. Captain 
 Mansfield, the first Professor of Philosophy, 1802, 
 
139 
 
 with Professor Barron, signed the first diploma grant- 
 ed at the Military Academy, in 1802. In 1806, the 
 philosophical chair was vacated by the absence of 
 Professor Mansfield, who, as surveyor-general of Ohio, 
 remained absent until 181^. In reference to Mr 
 Crozet, he was, by permission of the Secretary of War, 
 at the request of General Swift, introduced, in 1816, 
 as assistant professor of Engineering \ and at the in- 
 stance of the same officer, was appointed professor in 
 1817. 
 
 " Major George Fleming had been, for many years 
 prior to 1800, military storekeeper at West Point; 
 and, during the Revolutionary War, had been sta- 
 tioned at that place. When General Swift was a 
 cadet there, Major Fleming often mentioned that the 
 fort and the stone barrack on Constitution Island, were 
 erected and occupied by the Connacticut Line, at 
 the same time that similar works and barracks were 
 being constructed at West Point, save Fort Clinton, 
 which was commenced at a later period on a plan made 
 by General Duportail, who also commenced Fort Put- 
 nam; which latter work was discontinued, and sub- 
 sequently recommenced in 1792, but left unfinished. 
 According to Major Fleming's account, Kosciuszko's 
 Garden was made by that Polish officer, who formed a 
 fountain in the garden, the ruins of which Lieutenant 
 Macomb and Cadet Swift discovered, and repaired the 
 whole in 1802. 
 
 " In the year 1794, at the recommerfHation of Gene- 
 ral Washington, a military school was commenced at 
 
140 
 
 West Point, and the building stood on the margin of 
 the hollow northwest from the present site of the ice- 
 house, and was burnt down by an incendiary in 1796, 
 with its contents of books and apparatus. The school 
 was suspended until 1801." 
 
 To those gentlemen who have kindly assisted the 
 writer, by furnishing information for the preceding 
 pages, he would, in conclusion, express his sincere 
 acknowledgments; and should any errors be disco- 
 vered in the work, he will be alike indebted for their 
 correction or for any additional information relating to 
 the subject of his labour, cheerfully and voluntarily 
 attempted, though of necessity imperfectly performed. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 HC- 2.4. 
 
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