East View of West Point from the Hudson Riveri
West Point
An Intimate Picture of the National
Military Academy and of the
Life of the Cadet
By
Robert Charlwood Richardson, Jr.
Captain, 2nd Cavalry, U. S. Army
Late Assistant Professor of English, U. S. M. A.
Foreword by
Major-General Hugh L. Scott
Chief of Staff, U. S. Army
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1917
ii
Copyright, 1917
BY
ROBERT CHARLWOOD RICHARDSON Jr.
Second Impression
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
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To
THE CORPS OF CADETS
REPRESENTATIVE OF THE BEST AMERICAN MANHOOD, HEIRS TO
A CENTURY OF UNSURPASSED ACHIEVEMENT AND HONORABLE
TRADITION—THE MOST HIGHMINDED, LOYAL, AND
DISCIPLINED BODY OF STUDENT OFFICERS IN
THE WORLD—I AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATE THIS VOLUME
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FOREWORD
West Point played a great part in the gainingof American independence. It wasstrongly fortified as the key of the Hudson, and aslong as it was held by the patriots of the Revolutionthe New England colonies could not be cut off fromthe others and conquered one at a time.
The lack of educated officers was greatly felt bythe Generals of the Revolution, and this lack wasbut feebly supplied by trained officers from abroad.
It was mainly through the foresight and patriotismof Washington, Hamilton, and Knox that theMilitary Academy at West Point was founded,and their memory is still enshrined there.
The Academy had its inception in very smallbeginnings, first by the assignment of students toan Engineer regiment until the organic act of 1802created an Academy with ten cadets. A firmestablishment was not made, however, until thedetail of Colonel Sylvanus Thayer in command in1817, who laid down the fundamental principleswhich govern the Academy to this day.
The early graduates of the Academy sufferedmuch from the jealousy of the old veterans of theRevolution who had no use for the educated soldier.These graduates were too few to make themselvesfelt in the War of 1812, and it was not untilviGeneral Winfield Scott eulogized their servicesin the Mexican War that they began to be appreciatedby the nation.
Their services in the Civil War were inestimableand are known to all who read history. After theSpanish-American War of 1898, the then Secretaryof War, Mr. Elihu Root, reported that the servicesof the graduates of the Military Academy in thatwar alone had far more than repaid the cost of theAcademy since its foundation in 1802.
For many years the Military Academy was whatits name implies, an Academy, but it has expandedfrom time to time until it is a military university,giving instruction for all branches of the serviceexcept the Medical Corps, and securing for eachgraduate a