We spent a day at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
West Point's history dates back to the Revolutionary War, when both sides realized the strategic importance of the commanding plateau on the west bank of the Hudson River where the Military Academy now sits.
Washington personally selected Thaddeus Kosciuszko, one of the heroes of Saratoga, to design the fortifications for West Point in 1778, and Washington transferred his headquarters to West Point in 1779.
Several soldiers and legislators, including Washington, Knox, Hamilton and John Adams, wanting to eliminate America's wartime reliance on foreign engineers and artillerists, urged the creation of an institution devoted to the arts and sciences of warfare.
President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation establishing the United States Military Academy in 1802.
The only way you can visit the Academy is on their tour. Your ID is checked, security done and you hop on a bus with a tour guide leading the way. Our first stop was the West Point Cadet Chapel.
It is Gothic Revival Architecture and was completed in 1910.
It hosts the largest chapel pipe organ in the world, which consists of 23,511 individual pipes.
Attendance is not compulsory but if you choose to participate in something such as choir you have to fit it in because you are not given extra time in your schedule.
Attention to detail is in everything. Notice the perfection of the line up of the hymnals and the Bible. Our guide told us that if the cadet assigned to take care of the books does not do it perfectly not just the one not correct has to be fixed but the entire process has to be started over. If a small order is not followed then a more important one not followed can cause the loss of a battle or life.
This is the chapel that is frequently seen where military weddings take place. Quite a long wait to get on the schedule......and you can't marry until you have graduated so you can't even get on the schedule until then. Those ceremonies end in a beautiful Saber Arch Post Ceremony after their vows.
All cadets participate in a sport. If you don't participate in one of the NCAA athletic teams then you play in intramural sports. And if you don't choose one one will be chosen for you.
To apply for admission to the Academy the requirements below must be met as well as obtaining a nomination, normally from a United States Congressman or a Senator.
- U.S. citizens
- unmarried with no legal obligation to support dependents
- under 23 years of age prior to July 1 of the year entering USMA
- a high school graduate or have a GED
- of high moral character
Life at the United States Military Academy is busy! Our guide said cadets are the busiest college students in the country. Classes and study, physical education or athletics, military duties and recreation fill the hours of the day.
The academy is located approximately 50 miles north of New York City on the western bank of the Hudson River.
The views from the beautiful campus are amazing. There is so much history here.
The Hudson River forms an S curve here that played a big part in the Revolutionary War. The "S" caused sailing ships to slow to maneuver and the bluffs cut off much of the wind down on the river, causing them to slow still more. Both the Americans and British knew that passage on the Hudson River was strategically important to the war effort. Americans worked to devise plans to slow or block ship passage on the river.
These are links from the chain that the Americans constructed to place across the Hudson to obstruct any British passage. American General Benedict Arnold met with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British, in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The plot was foiled and Arnold, a former American hero, became synonymous with the word “traitor.” The British never attempted to run the chain even though Benedict Arnold claimed in correspondence with the British that "a well-loaded ship could break the chain.
Cadets come from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, the Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the US Virgin Islands. It was so impressive to understand what a commitment they make and how difficult the requirements are to enter the Academy. Cadets attend the United States Military Academy free of charge, with all tuition and board paid for by the Army in return for a service commitment of five years of active duty and three years of reserve status upon graduation.
Many familiar names are graduates of West Point. Buzz Aldrin, George Armstrong Custer, Omar Bradley, Jefferson Davis, Dwight Eisenhower, Ulysses S. Grant, Mike Krzyzewski, Douglas Mac,Arthur, and Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. to name a few.
This is Battle Monument honoring Union soldiers. It is a polished granite column 46 feet tall topped by a female representing "fame." Lady Fame takes a victorious pose showing that the soldiers died fighting a worthwhile cause. Inscribed on bronze straps belting the eight monumental "cannon balls" circling the column are the names of 2,230 Regular Army officers and soldiers who died for the Union during the Civil War.
If you feel your patriotism waning a visit to this campus will renew it. You will be impressed with the grounds, buildings, and history of this magnificent military university.