West Point, the seat of the United States Military Academy, is the property of the United States and situated in the State of New York in the Highlands on the west bank of the Hudson River, about fifty miles north of New York City. The grounds comprise 2,550 acres, of which about 200 acres are a plain, some one hundred and sixty feet above the river, the balance being mountainous.

In May, 1776, Brigadier General Henry Knox, Chief of Artillery, proposed plans for a military school for the new government, Colonel Alexander Hamilton seconded them and on October 1, 1776, upon the recommendation of General George Washington, the Continental Congress passed a resolution appointing a committee to prepare a plan for “a Military Academy at the Army” which was followed by the law of June 20, 1777, that provided for a “Corps of Invalids” to serve as a military school for young gentlemen previous to their appointment to marching regiments. This corps was organized the next month in Philadelphia, Penn.

The occupation of West Point as a military post took place January 20, 1778, and has been continuous since then.

On March 30, 1779, the Board of War adopted regulations for the Corps of Engineers and for the Sappers and Miners: these were promulgated in Orders, July 30, 1779, by General Washington and provided for a plan of instruction to be carried into effect after approval by the Board and by the General-in-Chief. The plan contemplated lectures by engineer officers, on fortifications, mining, reconnaissance, encampments and the like, and as early as February, 1780, practical experiments in gunnery were conducted at West Point, and in 1781, at the request of Washington, the Corps of Invalids was marched from Philadelphia to West Point, where an engineer school, a laboratory, and a library had already been established in three separate buildings.

At Newburgh, N. Y., in 1783, Washington discussed with his officers the necessity of the government maintaining a military academy as a part of the regular army and as the first President of the United States he again referred to it in his message of December 3, 1793, which resulted in the law of May 9, 1794, authorizing the organization of a “Corps of Artillerists and Engineers” with two cadets to each company, thereby creating the new grade of “cadet” in our regular army. The artillerists and engineers were stationed at West Point that year and a school for the cadets was opened at once and continued until 1796 when the school buildings were destroyed by fire.

In his last message to Congress, Washington said: “The institution of a military academy is also recommended by cogent reasons. However pacific the general policy of a nation may be, it ought never to be without an adequate stock of military knowledge for emergencies. The first would impair the energy of its character, and both would hazard its safety, or expose it to greater evils when war could not be avoided. Besides that, war might not often depend upon its own choice. In proportion as the observance of pacific maxims might exempt a nation from the necessity of practicing rules of military art, ought to be its care in preserving and transmitting, by proper establishments, the knowledge of that art. Whatever argument may be drawn from particular examples superficially viewed, a thorough examination of the subject will evince that the art of war is at once comprehensive and complicated; that it demands much previous study; and that the possession of it in its most approved and perfect state is always of great moment to the security of a nation. This, therefore, ought to be a serious care of every Government; and for this purpose, an academy, where a regular course of instruction is given, is an obvious expedient, which different nations have successfully employed.”

In a letter to Colonel Hamilton, Ex-President Washington said: “The establishment of an Institution of this kind, upon a respectable and extensive Basis, has ever been considered by me as an object of primary importance to this Country; and while I was in the Chair of Government, I omitted no proper opportunity of recommending it, in my public speeches and other ways, to the attention of the Legislature.... I sincerely hope that the subject will meet with due attention, and that the reasons for its establishment which you have so clearly pointed out in your letter to the Secretary, will prevail upon the Legislature to place it upon a permanent and respectable footing.”

New buildings were put up at West Point and on July 20, 1801, the Secretary of War ordered all cadets of the corps of artillerists to proceed there, and on September 1st of that year the school was reopened with four army officers and one civilian as instructors.

An act of Congress approved March 16, 1802, authorized the President to organize a corps of engineers to consist of five officers and ten cadets, at West Point, to constitute a military academy, which he did and with the quota present the United States Military Academy was formally opened on the Fourth of July of that year.

But Congress did not appropriate any money for the Academy until March 3, 1803, and then in the Army Bill it gave only $2,000.00 for both the Academy and for War Department books and apparatus. The Army Bill of 1804 contained $1,000.00 for the Academy, and that of 1805 gave it $500.00. Then Congress ignored this institution until the war with England, when in the Army Bill of 1812 it gave the Academy $25,000.00 and authorized the erection of a library and other buildings, and the reorganization of the academic staff.

An Act of Congress in 1808 authorized 40 cadets from the artillery, 16 from the dragoons, 20 from the riflemen, and 100 from the infantry, but as no provision was made for them at West Point only a few of these were appointed. In 1810 the Military Academy was deprived of nearly all means of instruction and both officers and cadets experienced difficulty in getting their pay. During most of the year 1811, although war was then imminent, academic instruction was practically abandoned and in March, 1812, it was abandoned when the last instructor was ordered to duty elsewhere. Up to this time 88 cadets had graduated and they had been admitted to the academy without mental or physical examinations, at all ages, from twelve to thirty-four and at any time of the year.

By an Act of Congress approved April 29, 1812, the Military Academy was reorganized, and the provisions of this Act furnished the general principles upon which the Academy has since been conducted and controlled; a more adequate corps of professors was authorized, a maximum of 250 cadets was fixed, and age and mental requisites for admission of candidates were prescribed, and in 1817 under the able superintendency of Major Sylvanus Thayer, a graduate of the West Point class of 1808, the present era in the Academy’s history began, because he made it a school for the practical and theoretical training of cadets for the military service. Since then the requisites for admission have been increased from time to time by Congress and with its permission by the Secretary of War.

In 1834 an appropriation (of $139,881.45) for the Military Academy was for the first time made in a separate bill, called the Military Academy bill.

In 1838 many records and other property were destroyed by fire.

Prior to 1843 a prescribed residence was not a legal qualification for appointment but the selection of one cadet from each congressional district became a custom, and in this year Congress prescribed that the corps of cadets should consist of one cadet (recommended by the member) from each congressional district, one (recommended by the delegate) from each Territory, one from the District of Columbia and ten from the United States at large, to be appointed by the President; the number of cadets varying as the number of congressmen and delegates increased or diminished.

The Academic Board now comprises the following, to-wit:

Superintendent.

Commandant of Cadets—Instructor of Tactics.

Professor of Civil and Military Engineering.

Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy.

Professor of Mathematics.

Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy and Geology.

Professor of Drawing.

Professor of Modern Languages.

Professor of Law and History.

Professor of Practical Military Engineering, Military Signaling and Telegraphy.

Professor of Ordnance and Gunnery.

Professor of Military Hygiene.

Professor of English and History.

Without regard to his rank the Superintendent is the head of the institution, while the other members of the Board take precedence according to rank.

These officers have as many assistants detailed from the army as the Secretary of War deems necessary for the proper instruction of the cadets, and the senior assistant in each department of instruction is a member of the Academic Board or of a committee of it, for the purpose of examining cadets, arranging them in order of merit, and determining their proficiency or deficiency in every branch of study in that department; and the instructor of any section under examination or consideration is a member of a department committee of the Academic Board for the purpose of examining the section and arranging it in order of merit.

All deliberations of the Academic Board and of its committees, and expressions of opinions and votes, individual or collective, of members thereof are confidential. The decisions of the Board are published in orders.

Since 1812 the Course of Study has been four years, except that for the classes entering in 1854, ’55 and ’56 it was five years, and for classes entering in 1908, ’09 and ’10 it was four years and three months, as new cadets were then admitted March 1.

Cadets of the Fourth Class found deficient at the January examinations are invariably discharged or permitted to resign, while some of the unfortunates at the June examination are turned back to the next class.

By virtue of Section 1331, Revised Statutes of the United States, the supervision and charge of the Academy are in the War Department under such officer or officers as the Secretary of War may assign to that duty.[61]

The Act of Congress approved June 23, 1879, provided “That each member of the graduating classes of the Military Academy of 1879 and 1880, after graduation, may elect, with the assent of the Secretary of War, to receive the gross sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars and mileage to his place of residence[62]; and the acceptance of this gross sum shall render him ineligible to appointment in the army, except in the event of war, until two years after his graduation.” And Congress did this when the Military Academy never graduated enough cadets to keep the army supplied with second lieutenants.[63]

The Act of Congress approved May 17, 1886, provided “That when any Cadet of the United States Military Academy has gone through all its classes and received a regular diploma from the Academic Staff, he may be promoted and commissioned as a second lieutenant in any arm or corps of the Army in which there may be a vacancy and the duties of which he may have been judged competent to perform; and in case there shall not at the time be a vacancy in such arm or corps, he may, at the discretion of the President, be promoted and commissioned in it as an additional second lieutenant, with the usual pay and allowances of a second lieutenant, until a vacancy shall happen.”

The Act of Congress approved November 4, 1889, provided that “Any cadet dismissed for hazing shall not be reappointed.”

By Acts of Congress approved June 6, 1900, March 2, 1901, June 28, 1902 (this act alone appropriated $5,500,000.00 for the improvement of a then fine plant), March 3, 1903, and May 28, 1908, the corps of cadets was made to consist of one cadet (recommended by the member) from each congressional district, two (one recommended by each senator) from each State at large, one (recommended by the delegate) from each Territory, one (recommended by the Commissioners) from the District of Columbia, one (recommended by the Resident Commissioner) from Porto Rico, and forty (appointed by the President) from the United States at large and, with the exception of the forty from the United States at large, to be actual residents of the Congressional District, State, Territory, District of Columbia or Porto Rico, respectively, from which appointed.

Four Filipinos, one for each class, are authorized to receive instruction as cadets, to be eligible on graduation only to commissions in the Philippine Scouts.

Under these Acts when in June a cadet finishes three years of his course at the academy, or sooner if his name is dropped from its rolls before then, a principal and two alternates may be appointed and the successful one admitted to the academy (formerly in the following June or September and now) on the next March 1st. But from July 1, 1910, to July 1, 1916, under the Act of April 19, 1910, when in June a cadet finishes two years of his course at the academy, or sooner if his name is dropped from its rolls before then, a principal and two alternates may be appointed and the successful one admitted to the academy on the next March 1st.

According to the twelfth census, the maximum number of cadets was fixed at 533.[64]

It is suggested to all candidates (principals and alternates[65]) that before leaving their homes for the place designated (either West Point or their nearest military post) for their official examination, they should cause themselves to be thoroughly examined by a competent physician, and by a teacher or instructor in good standing. By such an examination any serious disqualification or deficiency in mental preparation would be revealed, and the candidate probably spared the expense and trouble of a useless journey and the mortification of rejection.

It should be understood that the informal examination herein recommended is solely for the convenience and benefit of the candidate himself, and can in no manner affect the decision of the official Examining Boards.

There being no provision whatever for the payment of the traveling expenses of either accepted or rejected candidates for admission, no candidate should fail to provide himself in advance with the means of returning to his home, in case of his rejection before either of the Examining Boards, as he may otherwise be put to considerable trouble, inconvenience, and even suffering on account of his destitute condition. If admitted, the money brought by him to meet such a contingency can be deposited with the treasurer on account of his equipment as a cadet, or returned to his friends.

When the official examination is at a military post the questions[66] for the candidates and surgeons to answer are sent from West Point to the Board of Officers that conducts the examination. Each candidate is given a number which he signs to his examination papers and to a letter containing his autograph; the two are put in separate envelopes and sent to West Point.

The Act of Congress approved March 2, 1901, provided that “Appointees shall be examined under regulations to be framed by the Secretary of War before they shall be admitted to the Academy and shall be well versed in such subjects as he may from time to time prescribe.”

Special Acts of Congress are sometimes passed that authorize the education at the Academy of young men from foreign countries. These young men are not commissioned in the Army and the acts always provide that all of their expenses shall be defrayed by the countries to which they belong.

The Cadets are arranged in four distinct classes, corresponding with the four years of study.

The cadets employed on the first year’s course constitute the fourth class; those on the second year’s course the third class; those on the third year’s course the second class; and those on the fourth year’s course the first class.

There was in 1908, ’09 and ’10 a preliminary course from about March 11 to June 10 for new cadets then admitted March 1, and they constituted the class of new cadets.

The academic year commences on the 1st of July. On, or before, that date the result of the examination held in the preceding month is announced and Cadets are advanced from one class to another. At no other time is a Cadet advanced from one class to another, unless prevented by sickness, or authorized absence, from attending the aforesaid examination; in such a case a special examination is granted; but in no case is a Cadet advanced from one class to another without having satisfied the Academic Board of his proficiency in each branch of study pursued by his class.

“No cadet who is reported as deficient in either conduct or studies and recommended to be discharged from the Academy, shall, unless upon recommendation of the Academic Board, be returned or reappointed or be appointed to any place in the Army before his class shall have left the Academy and received their commissions.”

(Section 1325, Revised Statutes of the United States.)

The count for conduct, based upon the number of demerits received by a cadet each year, is

The final count in conduct for the graduating merit roll is 125. It is obtained by adding together the respective proportional parts for each of the four years and the preliminary course for New Cadets, and then reducing the sums thus found to equivalent values with a maximum of 125.

Upon completing the prescribed course of study the graduates are eligible for promotion to the grade of Second Lieutenant in any corps or arm of the army, the duties of which the Academic Board may judge them competent to perform.

For instruction in infantry drill regulations and in military police and discipline, the Corps of Cadets is organized into two battalions, under the Commandant of Cadets, assisted by two battalion commanders (army officers), each company being commanded by an army officer. The cadet officers and non-commissioned officers are selected from those who have been most studious, soldier-like in the performance of their duties, and most exemplary in their general deportment. In general, the cadet officers are taken from the first class, the sergeants from the second, and the corporals from the third.

In an article in the July-August, 1904, number of The Journal of the Military Service Institution, Professor Samuel E. Tillman, of the United States Military Academy said:

“Any one returning to the Academy now after an absence of fifteen years will observe many striking changes, the most important of which are: The disappearance in large part of the annual and semi-annual examinations; the introduction of the intermediate examinations, that is examinations during the academic term, at the completion of some part of the term-course; the large increase in written recitations with corresponding decrease in oral; a great increase in practical and semipractical work in connection with the descriptive courses; the greater amount of time permitted for recreation exercises. These changes have greatly modified methods deemed of much importance for sixty years prior to 1890, yet it can be confidently asserted that the changes have enabled cadets to acquire a greater amount of information with less effort upon their part.... Cadet schools should always be training, developing and character-forming schools, as they control the students at the best formative period.”

Since 1840 the following changes have been made in the subjects taught, to-wit:

In 1853 Practical Military Engineering was added.

In 1857 Spanish was added.

In 1873 Ethics and Logic were dropped.

In 1882 General History was added and Physical Training was made a distinct course.

In 1909 Military Hygiene was added.

Text books have been changed or revised from time to time since the Academy was founded.

Colonel Charles W. Larned, Professor of Drawing at the Academy, in a recent article in Munsey’s Magazine, said:

“The improvements now in progress at the Military Academy ... include not only an architectural renewal, but a revision of the entire curriculum, both of which are undertakings of transcendant importance to the institution....

“It has been a difficult task to harmonize the various discordant buildings of other styles, which cannot be sacrificed, with the prevailing Tudor style; more especially as the topography of the site restricts the plan within confined limits. The architects have succeeded, however, in evolving a scheme which, when completed, will have both unity and coherence, and a picturesqueness unequaled on the continent. The rugged, climbing masses of semi-medieval Gothic structures that scale the granite cliffs and rise in towering succession to their crowning feature, the cathedral-like Chapel on Observatory Hill, will form a group of buildings in harmony both with their use and their environment, and worthy of the great institution they house.”

And in speaking of what graduates have done, he said: “At the end of that tremendous struggle (the Civil War), all the armies in the field on both sides were commanded by graduates of West Point; nearly all the army corps, and most of the divisions. Out of sixty of the greatest battles ... in fifty-six the commanders on both sides were graduates; in the other four a graduate commanded on one side, and three of the four were won by graduates....

“As explorers, as early as 1820, Long’s expedition containing Bell, Graham and Swift, explored as far as Pike’s Peak, and first ascended it; Allen, in 1832, first traced the source of the Mississippi; and Bonneville’s great exploration, in 1832-1834, penetrated Wyoming, Utah, California, and the Columbia and Yellowstone regions, and supplied the first hydrographic maps of the country.

“For half a century West Point was the principal and almost the only school of science and technology in America. Its graduates not only furnished presidents and teachers of scientific institutions as they appeared, but were the pioneer engineers who laid out the trans-continental routes of the great western railways, besides surveying and developing as engineers and presidents other systems in the East.... More than one hundred and seventy-five thousand miles of routes, lines and marches.” And graduates have had charge of “the Lake surveys; the Coast and Geodetic survey, reorganized and for twenty-four years superintended by a graduate; the surveys west of the one hundredth meridian; the river and harbor improvements of the United States; the control and building of the Panama Canal; the superintendency and construction of public buildings in Washington, including the wings and dome of the Capitol, and the Congressional Library; the rectification and completion of the Washington Monument; the construction of lighthouses, including the remarkable one of Minot’s Ledge; besides many other works of survey and construction, of which the Chicago (drainage) Canal is one of the most important. The disbursements of public funds for river and harbor work alone approximate six hundred million dollars and if other civil and military works are included, the grand total will be not far from one thousand millions.... Our officers ... have been: Governors of provinces, mayors of cities, collectors of customs, school commissioners, sanitary engineers, civil engineers, police commissioners, judges of courts, architects, superintendents of railroads, heads of departments of state, and even commanders of vessels....

“Half of the (4,121) graduates in the first century of the academy’s existence entered civil life, and in the civil career alone their record shows nineteen per cent of distinguished success—far in excess of that of any other institution in the land....”

In an article that appeared in 1904 in the New York Sun he gave the following data for—

In accordance with sections 1327, 1328 and 1329 of the Revised Statutes of the United States a Board of Visitors, composed of twelve persons, seven appointed by the President, two by the presiding officer of the Senate, and three by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, was for years annually appointed to visit the Military Academy to “inquire into the actual state of discipline, instruction, police administration, fiscal affairs, and other concerns of the institution, and reported the same to the Secretary of War for the information of Congress.” Each member of the Board received not exceeding eight cents per mile traveled, by the most direct route, from his residence to West Point and return, and in addition, five dollars per day for expenses during each day of his service at West Point. This Board visited and inspected the Academy during the first two weeks of June.

The Act of Congress approved March 4, 1909, among other things says:

“That hereafter the Board of Visitors to the Military Academy shall consist of five members of the Committee on Military Affairs of the Senate and seven members of the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives, to be appointed by the respective chairman thereof, who shall annually visit the Military Academy on such date or dates as may be fixed by the chairman of the said committees; and the Superintendent of the academy and the members of the Board of Visitors shall be notified of such date by the chairman of the said committees, acting jointly, at least fifteen days before the meeting. The expenses of the members of the board shall be their actual expenses while engaged upon their duties as members of said board, and their actual expenses for travel by the shortest mail routes: Provided further, That so much of sections 1327, 1328 and 1329, Revised Statutes of the United States, as is inconsistent with the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed.”

The Military Academy, upon which millions of dollars have been expended on grounds and buildings alone, is maintained by the Government solely for the practical and theoretical training of young men for commissions in the army, and that the investment is appreciated by the country is voiced by its public men, a few quotations being given here.

From his experience in the War of 1812 and service on Indian campaigns, General Andrew Jackson while President of the United States in a message to Congress said:

“I recommend to your fostering care, as one of our safest means of national defense, the Military Academy. This institution has already exercised the happiest influence upon the moral and intellectual character of our Army; and such of the graduates from various causes may not pursue the profession of arms will be scarcely less useful as citizens. Their knowledge of the military art will be advantageously employed in the militia service, and in a measure secure to that class of troops the advantages which in this respect belongs to standing armies.”

After the close of the Mexican war Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott in a report to the Secretary of War said:

“I give it as my fixed opinion that, but for our graduated cadets, the war between the United States and Mexico might, and probably would, have lasted some four or five years, with, in its first half, more defeats than victories falling to our share; whereas, in less than two campaigns, we conquered a great country and a peace, without the loss of a single battle or skirmish.”

Some two score of years later, in speaking of the graduates of the Military Academy, the Honorable Charles S. Fairchild, of New York, in an address said: “That roll, which, when told over, excites patriotic enthusiasm, and calls forth high emotion beyond that of the roll of any like institution in the world.”

And General William Tecumseh Sherman said:

“The education and manly training imparted to young men at West Point has repaid the United States a thousand times its cost, and more than verified the predictions of General Washington. Every cadet at West Point is an appointee of a member of Congress, every member having a cadet of his own nomination there, with only ten appointed by the President at large. The corps of cadets is therefore a youthful counterpart of our national House of Representatives. The same laws, the same regulations, the same instruction, books, clothing, and food are common to all, and a more democratic body never existed on earth than is the corps of cadets.”

In June, 1902, some five hundred graduates and President Roosevelt, Secretary of War Root, Lieutenant-General Miles, Adjutant-General Corbin, and scores of other non-graduates, assembled together at West Point, many with and a few without their wives, and celebrated in a royal manner the first centennial of the founding of the Military Academy. The cadets went into camp that year earlier than usual and their barracks were used by such of the visiting graduates as were not cared for at the hotel, in Cullum Hall, or by the families on duty at the post, while the wives and daughters of those of us who slept in barracks were cared for at Cozzen’s Hotel, now a part of the post.

Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, then President of the United States, in an address said:

“This institution has completed its first hundred years of life. During that century no other educational institution in the land has contributed as many names as West Point has contributed to the honor roll of the nation’s greatest citizens.”

The Hon. Elihu Root, the Secretary of War, said:

“The foregoing considerations naturally bring to mind the Military Academy at West Point. I believe that the great service which it has rendered the country was never more conspicuous than it has been during the past two years. The faithful and efficient service of its graduates since the declaration of war with Spain have more than repaid the cost of the institution since its foundation. They have been too few in number and most heavily burdened.”

And in his address to the graduating class of 1903 the Honorable David B. Henderson, of Iowa, a former Speaker of the National House of Representatives, and then the President of the West Point Board of Visitors, said: “The Board (of Visitors) have all been here and have devoted such time as was possible to studying the conditions of West Point. I can speak for the Board that they have been delighted with what they have seen, and are unanimously of the opinion, which the world holds, I may say, that this is the greatest military educational school on earth.”

Many foreign princes and others interested in the education of young men for civil as well as for military pursuits visit West Point. Among the guests at the Academy’s Centennial were two German army officers sent by the Emperor as his personal representative.

After a careful inspection of the leading educational institutions of the world Major-General Sir Thomas Frazer of the British Army in a letter referring to West Point said: “I think the institution is better than any I have seen.”

And Field Marshal Lord Wolseley in writing about West Point said: “I have very often had the advantage of meeting men who have qualified at that best of all military schools and invariably found them interesting companions, with a thorough knowledge of their profession.”

Colonel Bridges, C. M. G., recently said: “After an exhaustive course of inquiries into the training of the young idea in military matters, I have returned to Australia imbued with the idea that the American methods in vogue at their celebrated institution at West Point are the best, with, of course, certain modifications for Australia.... It is an extremely efficient institution for the purpose for which it is intended.”

TABLE SHOWING DISPOSITION OF CANDIDATES.