The status quo of the academic component of the Military Peace Establishment Act was approved by Massachusetts Congressman Joseph Varnum and signed into law by President Thomas Jefferson.
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“Congress created a separate Corps of Engineers at West Point, New York, and constituted it as a military academy with the lead engineer as superintendent,” writes the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers website. U. S.
“This move, taken at a time when the overall duration of the Army was being reduced, placed the Corps in permanent status and capped a quarter-century of efforts to provide professional education to officers. “
George Washington chose Thaddeus Kosciuszko, one of Saratoga’s heroes, to design the fortifications of West Point in 1778. President Thomas Jefferson established the United States Military Academy in 1802. Recorded through Milbert. Universal Panorama. History of the United States of America, from the 1st edition through Jean B. G. The United States of America through Roux de Rochelle in 1837. (PHAS/Universal Images Group Getty Images)
The U. S. Military Academy opened its doors on July 4. Joseph Gardner Swift, a native of Massachusetts, was its first graduate.
West Point, as it is known, is now the world’s leading military education institute and also one of the most sensible engineering schools.
The academy attracts the brightest young patriotic Americans from coast to coast.
“West Point graduates designed nearly all of America’s early railroads, roads, and bridges, as it was the only engineering school in the country until 1824. ” -U. S. . Confidence on the battlefield
“West Point graduates designed nearly all of America’s early railroads, roads, and bridges, as it was the only engineering school in the country until 1824,” writes the American Battlefield Trust.
West Point graduates in the 20th century demonstrated their support for NASA’s space program. Two of the three astronauts on Apollo 11, the first project to send humans to the lunar surface, were West Point graduates: command module pilot Michael Collins (class of 1952) and moonwalker Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin (1951).
Crew members of NASA’s Apollo lunar landing project pose for a portrait of the organization a few weeks before its launch in May 1969. From left to right, Commander Neil Armstrong and West Point Graduate Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz. “(Spatial Frontiers/Getty Images)
West Point occupies a strategic location on a dramatic cliff to the west overlooking a bend in the Hudson River, about 60 miles north of New York City.
The river is navigable as far north as Albany, about a hundred miles farther north, adding to the waterway’s strategic importance of the struggle for independence.
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The British saw the Hudson River as a way to drive a wedge between New England and the rest of the colonies. West Point stood in the way of his ambitions.
“West Point played a pivotal role in our nation’s history, the American Revolution,” the U. S. Military Academy writes in its online history.
The engraving depicts U. S. Army officer Benedict Arnold (1741-1801), sitting at a table, as he hands documents to British officer John Andre (1750-1780), the American Revolutionary War, from the mid-to-18th century. (Original montage)
“U. S. Continental Line soldiers built forts, gun batteries, redoubts, and a 65-ton iron chain across the Hudson to block British invasions along the river. “
West Point is “the first in terms of scale and importance. . . and in all the true [object] of the enemy’s designs,” General George Washington wrote as the British carried out sounding attacks upriver.
“West Point played a pivotal role in our nation’s history, the American Revolution. “– United States Military Academy
The garrison is perhaps the center of the most notorious act of treason in U. S. history.
Major General Benedict Arnold, a hero of the early years of the American Revolution, gifted the redcoats to West Point industry in 1780 in exchange for £20,000.
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His treachery was discovered, West Point was saved, and the British conspirator, Major John Andre, was captured and executed.
United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, circa 1915, photograph of the time. (Educational Images/Universal Images Group Getty Images)
Arnold fled to England and his call was marred in the United States.
This despicable act reinforced the importance given to West Point by army commanders on both sides of the conflict.
Along with its location on a major transportation address and its proximity to New York City (temporarily making it the largest city in the country), West Point is an apparent selection for the United States Military Academy site.
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West Point has compiled a long list of the country’s most prominent military officers. Among them: “Private Buffalo” Henry O. Flipper (class of 1877), the academy’s first black graduate; General John J. Pershing, leader of the U. S. Expeditionary Force of World War I (1886); and World War II hero George S. Patton (1909).
Confederate generals Robert E. Lee (1829) and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (1846), two of the most capable battlefield commanders in U. S. history, also graduated from West Point. Lee, superintendent of the United States Military Academy from 1852 to 1855.
The future general and president, Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), in the football bracket while serving as an army cadet at West Point Academy, New York, 1912. Eisenhower (class of 1915) played football at West Point with his classmate and World War II General Omar Bradley. (FPG/Stock Photos/Getty Images)
West Point has produced 83 Medal of Honor recipients, more than any other institution of higher learning, and two U. S. presidents.
Ulysses S. Grant (1843) led the Union Army to victory in the Civil War and served as president from 1869 to 1877.
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Dwight D. Eisenhower (1915) was the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II and was its president from 1953 to 1961.
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West Point is now the oldest military outpost in the United States.
It has about 4,400 scholars and produces about 900 lieutenants a year, or about 20 percent of the new officers needed annually in the army.
Cadets graduating from the U. S. Military Academy celebrate the end of their opening ceremonies on June 13, 2020 at West Point, N. Y. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, pool)
“Since the day of its founding on March 16, 1802, West Point has grown in length and stature, and remains committed to generating leaders with character for the U. S. Army. “”The U. S. Military Academy proclaims online. “U. S.
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Kerry J. Byrne is a lifestyle reporter at Fox News Digital.