Virginia Military Institute

“ But if an enterprise is to be considered as successful, and the wisdom of its founders as fully vindicated when its general management has been characterized by consummate tact and ability, and when the great objects which it proposes have been realized in no doubtful or stinted measure, then, in the opinion of your committee, have we a right to proclaim and to indulge in an honest pride at the success of the Virginia Military Institute. ”

“ In my opinion, just in proportion as these fundamental principles have been adhered to, the Institute has prospered; if at any time they have been departed from, weakening more or less serious has been the consequence.
“The Institute has, in its history, vindicated the practical value of its training. Energy, Efficiency, Reliability have been characteristics of its graduates in every pursuit of life, practical and professional, in peace and in war. ”

“ The influence of the institution is already felt in the Washington College, which, at its reopening, a few days ago, received an accession of twenty students already, and probably ai have not yet arrived. There is a general feeling all over the State, and even abroad, favorable to our infant school.
The Board has fixed the 11th day of November for the opening of the Institute, when we expect, all, collectively and individually, the pleasure of meeting you. ”

“ A cadet who attains the prescribed proficiency in one of the elective courses, in addition to the degree of graduate, may receive the degree of bachelor of science. Nearly the whole body of graduates prior to 1860 were officers in the Confederate Army. Since 1898 about 170 alumni of the institute have been officers in the United States armies. Stonewall Jackson was professor of physics and artillery instruction from 1851 to 1861. The institute in 1903 had 275 cadets, 20 instructors, and a library of 12,000 volumes. ”

“ It is a source of real pride and congratulation that amid the varied trials through which the Virginia Miliary Institute has passed during the last year, its character as a seminary of learning has not been assailed. Though the law of love has been somewhat violated by our sister institution, and anonymous scribblers taunt us with sectarianism, no one has been bold enough to question the character of the school, or to reflect upon the eminent service it is now rendering to the cause of education. ”

“ In every communication from the Board of Visitors to the Legislature, a distinct reference has been made to their action upon the law, as thus interpreted, and especially is this question presented in the first communication made by them after the organization of the Institute. They ask for additional means to erect a new house, and they argue that this will enable them to increase the number of pay cadets, thus adding to the security of the property, and diminishing the guard duty then discharged by the State cadets. ”

“ The people of the whole southern country were prostrate, in heart and in fortune, after the disasters of a most devastating war of four years. Buildings of large dimensions had to be restored, every department of the Institute had to be resupplied, and, superadded to all these necessary charges, suspended ante-war claims of northern merchants and others, and outstanding liabilities for supplies during the war, much of which was on State account, but which the Institute had to pay, were pressing upon us. ”

“ By the aid of military discipline, and from the facilities which will be afforded for instruction, the Commandant might give to the Institute the highest character, and as it will be a State Institution, and filled with young men appointed from the different Senatorial Districts, the officers of the institution will be constantly before the public eye, and will be sure to enjoy all the reputation to which they may be fairly entitled. ”

“ The society increased in its influence, and was in a short time supplied with a hall, in the new mess hall building, and then to a hall over the gun house, and in 1850 ample provision was made for two literary societies in the new barracks, the Dialectic Society of cadets having been formed in 1849. These societies have been well conducted, with appropriate libraries, and have exercised a marked influence on the prosperity of the Institute. ”

“ Margaret Junkin-Preston may fitly close this record of what the Military Institute has done in defense of the rights and liberty of Virginia and the South:
“The book, Memorial volume, by C. D. Walker, is appropriately dedicated to General Richardson. These biographies are in the main quite brief. General Rodes’ is, perhaps, the longest, and it only covers eighteen pages. It must be remembered that a vast majority of these brave and intrepid youths were under age, very few of them old enough to have taken upon themselves the burdens and responsibility of manhood. ”

“ General — Please march the cadets at once to Staunton, if you feel authorized to cooperate in an important movement which I will explain to you when we meet. As many of the cadets’ parents may have sent their sons to the Institute for the purpose of keeping them out of the field at present, I can provide for all such cases, and even for the entire corps, if necessary, by assigning to them the care of the provisions, and the baggage train; and thus let volunteers go into battle who would be otherwise kept out. ”

“ As a place of residence, I should hope you would find Lexington agreeable, as the population is moral, intelligent, and religious. Our college is supplied with able professors. We are just reviving our Female Academy under favorable auspices, and if our Military Institute shall sustain the character which we hope to give to it, we will as regards education be the most favored spot in the State. ”

“ I would be untrue to my convictions of the Providences connected with the history of the Institute did I omit to mention the fact known to me personally and specially, that one thing that largely commended him to those who proposed his name for appointment, was that he possessed a qualification for the position, more rarely then than now found in West Point graduates. He was known to be an earnest Christian man. ”

“ The field of execution was a rising ground, and commanded the outstretching valley from mountain to mountain, and their still grandeur gave sublimity to the outline, while it so chanced that white clouds resting upon them, gave them the appearance that reminded more than one of us of the snow-peaks of the Alps. Before us was the greatest array of disciplined forces ever seen in Virginia infantry, cavalry and artillery combined, composed of the old Commonwealth’s noblest sons, and commanded by her best officers ”

“ To this, however, Washington College objects. They maintain that the Legislature has no right to establish a rival institution by their side. Were the question one purely of pecuniary profits, the position would be untenable, as has been distinctly affirmed by the unanimous opinion of the Court of Appeals of Virginia. But in a question in which the cause of education and military knowledge is involved, every principle of reason, justice, and humanity warrants the widest liberty. ”