The United States Military Academy at West Point, which has trained generations of American leaders to serve from the battlefield to the White House, was established on this day in history, March 16, 1802.
Its graduates pioneered America's path westward and humanity's path to the heavens.
The creation of the academy was part of the Military Peace Establishment Act, introduced by Massachusetts Congressman Joseph Varnum and signed into law by President Thomas Jefferson.
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“Congress established a separate Corps of Engineers to be located at West Point, New York, and constituted it as a military academy with the Chief Engineer serving as superintendent,” writes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers website.
“This action, taken at a time when the overall size of the Army was reduced, put the Corps in a permanent position and capped a quarter-century of efforts to provide professional training for officers.”
View of West Point. George Washington selected Thaddeus Kosciuszko, one of the heroes of Saratoga, to design the fortifications at West Point in 1778. President Thomas Jefferson established the United States Military Academy in 1802. Engraving by Milbert. Universal Panoramic. History of the United States of America, from the first edition of Etats-Unis d'Amerique by Jean BG Roux de Rochelle in 1837. (PHAS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The United States Military Academy opened its doors for instruction on July 4. Massachusetts native Joseph Gardner Swift was its first graduate.
West Point, as it is commonly known, is today the world's leading military training institute and also one of the best engineering schools.
The academy attracts the best and 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 country's only engineering school until 1824.” —American Battlefield Trust
“West Point graduates designed nearly all of America's early railroads, roads, and bridges, as it was the country's only engineering school until 1824,” writes the American Battlefield Trust.
West Point graduates in the 20th century proved essential to NASA's space program. Two of the three astronauts on Apollo 11, the first mission to put man on 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 11 lunar landing mission pose for a group portrait a few weeks before launch, May 1969. From left, Commander Neil Armstrong and West Point graduates, the pilot of the command module Michael Collins and lunar module pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. (Space Frontiers/Getty Images)
West Point occupies a strategic location on a spectacular West Bank bluff overlooking a bend in the Hudson River, about 60 miles north of New York City.
The river is navigable as far as Albany, about 100 miles further north, which contributed to the waterway's strategic importance during the fight for independence.
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The British saw control of the Hudson 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 an important role in our nation's history during the American Revolution,” the United States Military Academy writes in its online history.
The engraving depicts American army officer Benedict Arnold (1741-1801), seated at a table, as he delivers documents to British officer John Andre (1750-1780) during the American Revolutionary War, mid-to-late 18th century. Arnold formally changed sides and joined the British. (File montage)
“American soldiers of the Continental Line built forts, gun batteries, redoubts, and installed a 65-ton iron chain across the Hudson to block British invasions along the river.”
West Point is “the first in magnitude and importance… and in all probability the true [object] of the enemy's designs,” wrote General George Washington as the British made probing attacks upriver.
“West Point played an important role in our nation's history during the American Revolution.” – United States Military Academy
The garrison was the center of perhaps the most infamous act of treason in American history.
Major General Benedict Arnold, a hero of the early years of the American Revolution, offered to trade West Point to the Redcoats 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, antique photograph. (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Arnold escaped to England and his name was forever tarnished in the United States.
The ignominious act simply reinforced the importance placed on West Point by military commanders on both sides of the conflict.
Coupled with its location on a major transportation avenue and its proximity to New York (which quickly became the largest city in the country), West Point was an obvious choice for the site of the United States Military Academy.
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West Point has compiled a long list of the country's most famous military officers. Among them: “Buffalo Soldier” Henry O. Flipper (Class of 1877), the academy's first black graduate; General John J. Pershing, leader of the American 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 skilled battlefield commanders in American history, also graduated from West Point. Lee was superintendent of the United States Military Academy from 1852 to 1855.
Future general and president, Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), on the football field during his time as a military cadet at West Point Academy, New York, 1912. Eisenhower (class of 1915) played football at West Point with his partner and fellow future World War II general, Omar Bradley. (FPG/File Photos/Getty Images)
West Point has produced 83 Medal of Honor recipients, more than any other institution of higher education, and two United States 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 served as president from 1953 to 1961.
West Point is today the oldest continuously occupied regular military post in the United States.
It has about 4,400 students and produces approximately 900 lieutenants each year, about 20 percent of the new officers the Army requires annually.
Graduating cadets from the United States Military Academy celebrate at the end of their graduation ceremonies, June 13, 2020, in West Point, New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, Swimming Pool)
“Since the day of its founding on March 16, 1802, West Point has grown in size and stature, but remains committed to the task of producing commissioned leaders of character for the United States Army,” the Military Academy of USA.
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“Guided by its timeless motto, 'Duty, Honor, Country,' the Academy is confidently prepared to provide the Army and the nation with its third century of service.”
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