United States Military Academy at West Point

“ The West Point Military Academy—This school, while in the county, is not of it. It is the United States government school for training officers for the command of its armies.
The Military Academy is located on a government reservation at West Point, one of the most picturesque and beautiful spots on the Hudson. The establishment of such a school was recommended by Washington in his last message to Congress and it is known that even from the time of the Revolution, West Point had been looked upon by him as a most suitable place for its location. ”

“ Every person appointed, upon arrival at West Point, is submitted to a rigid medical examination, and if any causes of disqualification are found to exist in him to such a degree as may now or hereafter impair his efficiency, he is rejected.
No person who has served in any capacity in the military or naval service of the so-called Confederate States during the late rebellion can receive an appointment as cadet at the Military Academy. ”

“ If any other youth desired to pursue the same studies at the military academy, they might be admitted, only subsisting themselves. Those students should be instructed in what is usually called military discipline, 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 the masters of the academy ”

“ The Academic Board consists of the Superintendent, the Commandant of Cadets, the Professors of the Academy, and the Instructors of Practical Military Engineering, and of Ordnance and Gunnery.
All the professors and instructors, with their assistants and acting assistants, have been educated at West Point, with exception of the chaplain, the professors of French and Spanish, and the sword master. All are regularly enrolled in the military service of the United States, and subject to military discipline. ”

“ I have heard the military academy at West Point—the only establishment of this kind in the United States—praised by Europeans who are authority on such subjects, as being very excellent, and that the officers who have been brought up there are as remarkable for their knowledge as for their bravery. ”

“ The corps of professors and teachers at West Point has always deservedly ranked high as instructors, but there is no "royal road" to knowledge, and it cannot be claimed that three or four years at the Military Academy would count for more, as general education, than the same period spent in any other good school. A very few men of high standing in the classes supplemented their education by obtaining appointments as temporary instructors in the academy after graduating, but most of them left their books behind them and began at once the subaltern's life at the distant frontier post. ”

“ We are inclined to believe that the usefulness of the Military Academy at West Point,—which has furnished so large a proportion of the best civil engineers, lawyers, physicians, and divines, as well as the soldiers who and who alone have conducted our armies to real glory,—we are inclined to believe that this justly celebrated school owes all its triumphs to its rigid laws and independence of popular clamor.
Discipline is every thing. ”

“ When he entered the Academy he was just a boy, fresh from the hands of his parents and still malleable, but when his course has been completed under the painstaking care of his foster mother, his standards have been crystallized and he has developed into a man of courage, intellect, and honor. And when graduation day arrives, and West Point hands each man his diploma, with it she gives her stamp of approval and acknowledges her willingness to entrust to his keeping the cherished traditions of the Military Academy. ”

“ It is not the army alone that is interested in the graduating class of 1877. West Point Military Academy, more than any other institution in the land—far more—is a national institution—one in which we have a national pride. ”

“ Unless one has graduated from the Academy it is impossible to seize fully the spirit of the institution, or have a clear idea of its intimate life. My long familiarity with West Point, both as a cadet and as an officer, prompts me to portray for the American people the history, aims, ideals, and spirit of their National Military Academy.
Class Formation in the Area of Barracks
West Point seen for the first time from the river, whether in sunshine or through the mists, is a sight not soon forgotten. ”

“ A better knowledge of the exact sciences has been carried into the colleges; the railroads and canals have been built by engineers ready furnished by the government; and now when half a million of men have been suddenly called to war, they have been largely officered by the graduates of West Point. Here we may briefly allude to the most grave fact which has been urged against the Military Academy. The best officers of the rebel army were educated there. ”

“ The very first thing done at West Point is to recognize the fact, that intellects are unequal; in other words, that of a given number of young men, commencing a severe and elaborate course of studies, there will be some who can not endure it, and can not get through; and others, who while they will come up to the requisites for graduation, can not equal a third class, who are capable and ambitious of receiving the highest style of education. This recognition is effected thus: a class enters the Academy, we will say eighty in number. ”

“ The truth is, (and it can not be much longer concealed from the view of the people, by the reports of boards of visitors,) that the whole system of education at West Point is well calculated to form military pedants and military dandies, but will never form efficient soldiers. ”

“ West Point is first and foremost a Military Academy, and it is of primary importance that the cadets shall absorb by example the spirit of discipline, and military deportment. Not the least of the advantages of having officers teach cadets is the contact that their presence maintains between West Point and the Army. ”

“ I have long thought it would be a great improvement in the Military Academy if a much broader course could be given to those young men who come there with the necessary preparation, while not excluding those comparatively young boys who have only elementary education. There is too much of the "cast-iron" in this government of law under which we live, but "mild steel" will take its place in time, no doubt. The conditions and interests of so vast a country and people are too varied to be wisely subjected to rigid rules.
But I must not be misunderstood as disparaging the West Point education. ”

“ It has been alleged by many of the opponents of the West Point Academy, that military instruction is of little or no advantage to a general;—that in the wars of Napoleon, and in the American Revolution, and the American war of 1812, armies were generally led to victory by men without a military education, and unacquainted with military science;—and that in the event of another war in this country, we must seek our generals in the ranks of civil life, rather than among the graduates of our Military Academy. ”

“ On the week-day immediately preceding the graduation exercises, the club gives a reception to the members of the second class to introduce them to the privileges they may soon enjoy.
The transformation that of late has been wrought in the architectural setting of West Point, the changes made in the method of teaching and in the disciplinary ideals, and the greater privileges granted to cadets all tend to bring the Military Academy closer to other educational institutions of the country. ”

“ The Academic Exercises of the Cadets are not devoid of interest even to those who are attracted to the spot by the glittering displays of military life; while to those interested in the progress of [67] education, the peculiarities of the system pursued at West Point seldom fails to increase their belief, that the method here followed might be more generally introduced into the great American collegiate system. ”

“ Under the present system the Academy wastes full half its strength upon boys who never ought to be admitted, and whose natural incapacity derives but little benefit from the partial training that they receive there. Under the system proposed, the Academy would exert its influence upon thousands of the brightest and most aspiring boys all over the country, stimulating them to the pursuit of such studies and to the formation of such habits as, if they fail to carry them to West Point, will help to conduct them to usefulness and honor in whatever path of life they may choose. ”

“ The nation was given ample proof of the wisdom of Washington, Hamilton, and Knox in their efforts to establish a Military Academy wherein officers might be educated and trained to organize and discipline citizen soldiers, and lead them to victory. ”

“ Any boy, however humble his origin, may go to West Point if he can pass the competitive examination. Europe, particularly Germany, would not approve of this; but we think it the best way. The average graduate of the Point, whether the son of a doctor, a lawyer, or a farmer, sticks to the army as his profession. We maintain the Academy for the strict business purpose of teaching young men how to train our army in time of peace and to lead and direct it in time of action.
Our future officers enter West Point when they are two years younger than is the average at Sandhurst ”

“ Education does not create, it develops and enlarges and inspires and elevates. It will make the perfect flower, the majestic tree, from the little seed; but it must have the seed. And what I desire is that the Academy at West Point should have the best seed; that its great resources, its careful culture, its scientific appliances, should not be wasted on second-rate material. The Academy has never had a fair chance; the country has not had a fair chance ”