United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy, commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York, that educates cadets for service as commissioned officers in the United States Army. The academy was founded in 1802, and it is the oldest of the five American service academies. The Army has occupied the site since establishing a fort there in 1780 during the American Revolutionary War, as it sits on strategic high ground overlooking the Hudson River north of New York City.
West Point's academic program grants the Bachelor of Science degree with a curriculum that grades cadets' performance upon a broad academic program, military leadership performance, and mandatory participation in competitive athletics. Candidates for admission must apply directly to the academy and receive a nomination, usually from a member of Congress. Students are officers-in-training with the rank of cadet. Collectively, the students at the academy are the "United States Corps of Cadets". The Army fully funds tuition for cadets in exchange for an active duty service obligation upon graduation. About 1,300 cadets enter the academy each July, with about 1,000 cadets graduating. The academy began admitting female cadets in 1976, and women now make up around 20% of entrants. The academy's traditions have influenced other institutions because of its age and unique mission. It was the first American college to have an accredited civil engineering program, and its technical curriculum became a model for engineering schools. It was also the first college to have class rings.
West Point fields 15 men's and nine women's National Collegiate Athletic Association sports teams. Cadets compete in one sport every fall, winter, and spring season at the intramural, club, or intercollegiate level. Its football team was a national power in the early and mid-20th century, winning three national championships. Its alumni are collectively referred to as "The Long Gray Line," which include U.S. presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ulysses S. Grant; Confederate president Jefferson Davis; Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson; American poet Edgar Allan Poe; U.S. generals William Tecumseh Sherman, John J. Pershing, Douglas MacArthur, Omar Bradley, and George Patton; presidents of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and the Philippines; and 76 Medal of Honor recipients.
History
Colonial period, founding, and early years
The Continental Army first occupied West Point, New York, on 27 January 1778, and it is the oldest continuously operating Army post in the United States. Between 1778 and 1780, the Polish engineer and military hero Tadeusz Kościuszko oversaw the construction of the garrison defenses. However, Kościuszko's plan of a system of small forts did not meet with the approval of New York Governor George Clinton or the other general officers. It was determined that a battery along the river to "annoy the shipping" was more appropriate, and Washington's chief engineer, Rufus Putnam, directed the construction of a major fortification on a hill above sea level that commanded the West Point plain. General Alexander McDougall named it Fort Putnam. The Great Hudson River Chain and high ground above the narrow "S" curve in the river enabled the Continental Army to prevent the Royal Navy from sailing upriver and dividing Patriot forces in the Northern colonies from the south. While the fortifications at West Point were known as Fort Arnold during the war, as commander, Benedict Arnold committed his act of treason, attempting to turn the fort over to the British. After Arnold betrayed the patriot cause, the Army changed the name of the fortifications at West Point, New York, to Fort Clinton, named after General James Clinton. With the peace after the American Revolutionary War, various ordnance and military stores were left deposited at West Point."Cadets" underwent training in artillery and engineering studies at the garrison since 1794. During the Quasi-War, Alexander Hamilton laid out plans for the establishment of a military academy at West Point and introduced "A Bill for Establishing a Military Academy" in the House of Representatives. In 1801, shortly after his inauguration as president, Thomas Jefferson directed that plans be set in motion to establish at West Point the United States Military Academy. He selected Jonathan Williams to serve as its first superintendent. Congress formally authorized the establishment and funding of the school with the Military Peace Establishment Act of 1802, which Jefferson signed on 16 March. The academy officially commenced operations on 4 July 1802. The academy graduated Joseph Gardner Swift, its first official graduate, in October 1802. He later returned as Superintendent from 1812 to 1814. In its tumultuous early years, the academy featured few standards for admission or length of study. Cadets ranged in age from 10 years to 37 years and attended between 6 months to 6 years. The impending War of 1812 caused the United States Congress to authorize a more formal system of education at the academy and increased the size of the Corps of Cadets to 250.
In 1817, Colonel Sylvanus Thayer became the Superintendent and established the curriculum, elements of which are still in use. Thayer instilled strict disciplinary standards, set a standard course of academic study, and emphasized honorable conduct. He was very much inspired by the curriculum of the French École Polytechnique, where he had been sent upon his demand, for two years in order to study the scientific and technological achievements developed by the French Republican faction and bring them back to the United States. Known as the "Father of the Military Academy," he is honored with a monument on campus for the profound impact he had on the academy. Founded as a school of engineering, for the first half of the 19th century, USMA produced graduates who gained recognition for engineering the bulk of the nation's initial railway lines, bridges, harbors, and roads. The academy was the only engineering school in the country until the founding of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1824. It was so successful in its engineering curriculum that it significantly influenced every American engineering school founded prior to the Civil War.
In 1835, during the Army's first year of the Second Seminole War, they had only three generals: Winfield Scott, Edmund P. Gaines, and Thomas S. Jesup. The Army's remaining fourteen generals held only brevet ranks, and none of them were West Point graduates. Nearly the only way to obtain a commission up to 1835 was through the academy, which raised loud complaints and added to the deep desire of the era's Jacksonian Democracy "to get rid of the Academy, where Jacksonians were sure, an aristocratic tradition was being bred."
File:Robert Edward Lee.jpg|thumb|upright|Robert E. Lee, American Civil War general who graduated from West Point in 1829, and served as its superintendent from 1852 to 1855
The Mexican–American War brought the academy to prominence as graduates proved themselves in battle for the first time. Future Civil War commanders Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, who also later became the superintendent of the academy, first distinguished themselves in battle in Mexico. In all, 452 of 523 graduates who served in the war received battlefield promotions or awards for bravery. The school experienced a rapid modernization during the 1850s, often romanticized by the graduates who led both sides of the Civil War as the "end of the Old West Point era." New barracks brought better heat and gas lighting, while new ordnance and tactics training incorporated new rifle and musket technology and accommodated transportation advances created by the steam engine. With the outbreak of the Civil War, West Point graduates filled the general officer ranks of the rapidly expanding Union and Confederate armies. 294 graduates served as general officers for the Union, and 151 served as general officers for the Confederacy. Of all living graduates at the time of the war, 105 were killed, and another 151 were wounded. Nearly every general officer of note from either army during the Civil War was a graduate of West Point, and a West Point graduate commanded the forces of one or both sides in every one of the 60 major battles of the war.
After the Civil War
Immediately following the Civil War, the academy enjoyed unprecedented fame as a result of the role its graduates had played. The post-war years were a difficult time for the academy as it struggled to admit and reintegrate cadets from former Confederate states. The first cadets from Southern states were re-admitted in 1868, and 1870 saw the admission of the first black cadet, James Webster Smith of South Carolina. Smith endured harsh treatment and was eventually dismissed for academic deficiency under controversial circumstances in 1874. As a result, Henry O. Flipper of Georgia became the first black graduate in 1877, graduating 50th in a class of 76. Two of the most notable graduates during this period were George Washington Goethals from the class of 1880 and John J. Pershing from the class of 1886. Goethals gained prominence as the chief engineer of the Panama Canal, and Pershing would become famous for his exploits against the famed Pancho Villa in Mexico and later for leading American Forces during World War I. In 1898, the first Confederate leader since the Civil War was invited to the academy.Besides the integration of southern-state and black cadets, the post-war academy also struggled with the issue of hazing. In its first 65 years, hazing was uncommon or non-existent beyond small pranks played upon the incoming freshmen, but it took a harsher tone as Civil War veterans began to fill the incoming freshman classes. The upper-class cadets saw it as their duty to "teach the plebes their manners." Hazing at the academy entered the national spotlight with the death of former cadet Oscar L. Booz on 3 December 1900. Congressional hearings, which included testimony by cadet Douglas MacArthur, investigated his death and the pattern of freshmen's systemic hazing. When MacArthur returned as superintendent, he made an effort to end the practice of hazing the incoming freshmen by placing Army sergeants in charge of training new cadets during freshman summer. The practice of hazing continued on some levels well into the late 20th century, but is no longer allowed in the present day.
The demand for junior officers during the Spanish–American War caused the class of 1899 to graduate early, and the Philippine–American War did the same for the class of 1901. This increased demand for officers led Congress to increase the Corps of Cadets' size to 481 cadets in 1900. The period between 1900 and 1915 saw a construction boom as much of West Point's old infrastructure was rebuilt. Many of the academy's most famous graduates graduated during the 15 years between 1900 and 1915: Douglas MacArthur, Joseph Stilwell, Henry "Hap" Arnold, George S. Patton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Omar Bradley. The class of 1915 is known as "the class the stars fell on" for the exceptionally high percentage of general officers that rose from that class.
File:Haldane a West Point.jpg|thumb|left|U.K. secretary for war Richard Haldane, author of the Haldane Reforms of the British military, at West Point sometime before World War I
The outbreak of America's involvement in World War I caused a sharp increase in the demand for army officers, and the academy accelerated graduation of all four classes then in attendance to meet this requirement, beginning with the early graduation of the First Class on 20 April 1917, the Second Class in August 1917, and both the Third and Fourth Classes just before the Armistice of 11 November 1918, when only freshman cadets remained. In all, wartime contingencies and post-war adjustments resulted in ten classes, varying in length of study from two to four years, within a seven-year period before the regular course of study was fully resumed.
Douglas MacArthur became superintendent in 1919, instituting sweeping reforms to the academic process, including introducing a greater emphasis on history and humanities. He made major changes to the field training regimen, and the Cadet Honor Committee was formed under his watch in 1922. MacArthur was a firm supporter of athletics at the academy, as he famously said, "Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that, upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory." West Point was first officially accredited in 1925, and in 1933 began granting Bachelor of Science degrees to all graduates. In 1935, the academy's authorized strength increased to 1,960 cadets.