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[Illustration: East View of West Point from the Hudson River]
West Point
An Intimate Picture of the National
Military Academy and of the
Life of the Cadet
By
Robert Charlwood Richardson, Jr.
Captain, 2nd Cavalry, U. S. Army
Late Assistant Professor of English, U. S. M. A.
Foreword by
Major-General Hugh L. Scott
Chief of Staff, U. S. Army
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1917
COPYRIGHT, 1917
BY
ROBERT CHARLWOOD RICHARDSON, JR.
Second Impression
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
To
THE CORPS OF CADETS
REPRESENTATIVE OF THE BEST AMERICAN MANHOOD, HEIRS TO
A CENTURY OF UNSURPASSED ACHIEVEMENT AND HONORABLE
TRADITION--THE MOST HIGHMINDED, LOYAL, AND
DISCIPLINED BODY OF STUDENT OFFICERS IN
THE WORLD--I AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATE THIS VOLUME
FOREWORD
West Point played a great part in the gaining of American independence.
It was strongly fortified as the key of the Hudson, and as long as it
was held by the patriots of the Revolution the New England colonies
could not be cut off from the others and conquered one at a time.
The lack of educated officers was greatly felt by the Generals of the
Revolution, and this lack was but feebly supplied by trained officers
from abroad.
It was mainly through the foresight and patriotism of Washington,
Hamilton, and Knox that the Military Academy at West Point was founded,
and their memory is still enshrined there.
The Academy had its inception in very small beginnings, first by the
assignment of students to an Engineer regiment until the organic act of
1802 created an Academy with ten cadets. A firm establishment was not
made, however, until the detail of Colonel Sylvanus Thayer in command
in 1817, who laid down the fundamental principles which govern the
Academy to this day.
The early graduates of the Academy suffered much from the jealousy of
the old veterans of the Revolution who had no use for the educated
soldier. These graduates were too few to make themselves felt in the
War of 1812, and it was not until General Winfield Scott eulogized
their services in the Mexican War that they began to be appreciated by
the nation.
Their services in the Civil War were inestimable and are known to all
who read history. After the Spanish-American War of 1898, the then
Secretary of War, Mr. Elihu Root, reported that the services of the
graduates of the Military Academy in that war alone had far more than
repaid the cost of the Academy since its foundation in 1802.
For many years the Military Academy was what its name implies, an
Academy, but it has expanded from time to time until it is a military
university, giving instruction for all branches of the service except
the Medical Corps, and securing for each graduate a broad foundation
which enables him to specialize in any direction by means of the
various special schools for each branch. The glory of West Point,
however, is in the West Point character, now well known in every
civilized country in the world, with its reputation for fidelity,
efficiency, discipline, and general uprightness. The standing army of
the United States has always been too small for the tasks that have
been laid upon it, and at every crisis it has had to train large forces
of citizen soldiers summoned from civil life for the emergency. These
citizen-soldiers, as well as the Regular Army itself, rely upon the
scientific education and high character of the West Point graduate to
keep the art of war abreast, if not a little ahead, of the times, and
for the initiative and informing leaven to permeate the mass and to
cause the firm progress of discipline and uprightness throughout the
whole.
Shortly after the Mexican War a verse was added to the old West Point
song of Benny Havens:
“Their [graduates] blood has watered western plains
And northern wilds of snow,
Has dyed deep red the Everglades,
And walls of Mexico.”
Since that time they have shed it copiously in Cuba, China, and the
Philippines, and they are now about to take their places with comrades
from civil life fighting for liberty and democracy on the battlefields
of France.
HUGH L. SCOTT.
WASHINGTON, D. C.,
_May, 1917_.
PREFACE
This book is intended to give, aside from a brief historical sketch
of West Point, something of the feelings of the cadet from the moment
that he reports for duty until he graduates four years later. Perhaps
some of my fellow West Pointers will disagree with me in regard to my
interpretation of their feelings, but what I have written thereon is
drawn from my own experience and from many conversations with cadets
of to-day. The customs, traditions, methods of training of the Academy
are, I believe, unique, and they make an unforgettable impression upon
the cadet. Especially does he become imbued with an almost indefinable
influence that we of the Academy call the Spirit of West Point, and in
the pages that follow I have tried to seize and translate into words
this spirit of the institution. I have greatly enjoyed writing these
pages about West Point, a subject very dear to my heart, and I offer
this book to the public in the hope that my fellow countrymen may
become better acquainted with the aims and ideals of their National
Military Academy.
It gives me the greatest pleasure to acknowledge here my appreciation
and thanks to Lieutenant Colonel L. H. Holt, U. S. A., Professor of
English and History U. S. M. A., not only for his helpful suggestions
and criticisms, but for his encouragement and unselfish interest in the
preparation of this book.
I also wish to acknowledge the courtesy of the Reverend Herbert Shipman
of New York, formerly Chaplain at the Military Academy, in allowing me
to use his poem _The Corps_, with which I close the volume.
Since this book has gone to press, Colonel John Biddle, the
Superintendent, has been promoted to the grade of Brigadier-General
and relieved from the command of West Point. He has been succeeded by
Colonel Samuel E. Tillman, Retired, who until 1910 was the Professor
of Chemistry and Electricity at the Military Academy. Colonel Tillman
perhaps more than any officer in the Army is better qualified for
this important position. He is a graduate of West Point, to whose
advancement he has devoted most of his life and he has made an
exhaustive study of its needs. His appointment by the President
seems to be particularly felicitous for he possesses a most intimate
knowledge of the Military Academy. All West Pointers rejoice that West
Point is in such good hands.
ROBERT CHARLWOOD RICHARDSON, JR.
WEST POINT, N. Y.,
_May, 1917_.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I.--IN THE DAYS OF THE REVOLUTION 1
II.--THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS 19
III.--THE REALIZATION OF AN ARCHITECT’S DREAM 37
IV.--THE POWERS THAT BE 75
V.--“BEAST BARRACKS”--BLESSED ARE THE MEEK FOR THEY SHALL
INHERIT THE EARTH 101
VI.--BENDING THE TWIG 127
VII.--THE DISCIPLINE OF THE MIND 163
VIII.--GROWING MUSCLES 194
IX.--LESSONS FROM MARS 213
X.--HENCE, LOATHED MELANCHOLY! 244
XI.--STRENGTHENING THE MORAL FIBER 276
XII.--SPIRITUAL INFLUENCES 291
XIII.--THE SPIRIT OF WEST POINT 300
APPENDIX 305
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
EAST VIEW OF WEST POINT FROM THE HUDSON
RIVER _Frontispiece_
THE SPIRIT OF WEST POINT 2
ARTILLERY TARGET PRACTICE 6
MAJOR SYLVANUS THAYER, “THE FATHER OF
THE MILITARY ACADEMY” 24
From the Painting by Thomas Sully, Library,
U.S.M.A.
CLASS FORMATION IN THE AREA OF BARRACKS 38
THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING 40
THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING AND RIDING HALL 42
COLONEL JONATHAN WILLIAMS, CORPS OF FIRST SUPERINTENDENT
OF THEMILITARY ACADEMY 44
From the Painting by Thomas Sully, Library,
U.S.M.A.
COLONEL JOSEPH G. SWIFT, FIRST GRADUATE
OF THE MILITARY ACADEMY 46
From the Painting by Thomas Sully, Library,
U.S.M.A.
CADETS AT EQUITATION IN THE WORLD’S
LARGEST RIDING HALL (600 FT. × 150 FT.) 48
THE CARVED MANTEL IN THE HALL OF THE
ACADEMIC BOARD 50
The Nine Great Warriors of the World. Sculptor,
Laurie
THE NORTH CADET BARRACKS 52
THE CHAPEL 56
THE INTERIOR OF THE CHAPEL 58
VIEW UP THE HUDSON RIVER FROM TROPHY POINT 66
“SPOONING” ON FLIRTATION WALK 68
THE SUPERINTENDENT’S QUARTERS 78
Built in 1820
COLONEL JOHN BIDDLE, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, SUPERINTENDENT 80
“BEAST BARRACKS”--DRAWING MATTRESSES 102
REPORTING FOR DUTY 104
TWO HOURS AFTER REPORTING 108
THE INTERIOR OF A CADET’S ROOM IN BARRACKS 114
MOVING FROM BARRACKS TO CAMP 118
A FIRST LESSON IN SALUTING 122
MARCHING TO BARRACKS FROM DINNER 154
The Academic Buildings
THE EXTERIOR OF THE GYMNASIUM 196
GYMNASTIC EXERCISES 200
THE ATHLETIC FIELD 208
SETTING UP DRILL ON THE PLAIN 210
PARADE ON THE PLAIN 230
AT TARGET PRACTICE ON THE FLATS 236
AT P. M. E. DRILL 240
Building a Pontoon Bridge
A REVIEW FOR THE CHIEF OF THE STAFF OF
THE ARMY 288
GRADUATION--PRESIDENT WILSON ADDRESSING
THE GRADUATING CLASS 302
“We’ll bid farewell to Cadet gray and don the
Army blue”
[Illustration: The Spirit of West Point]
WEST POINT
CHAPTER I
IN THE DAYS OF THE REVOLUTION
Despite the successful attempts of the architect to give to the
magnificent new buildings at West Point a mediæval character, there
is nothing about them to suggest a feeling of oldness, a feeling that
they are linked with the history of the place. Not until one wanders
among the ruins of old Fort Putnam, explores the crumbling works of
the chain of Redoubts on the surrounding hills, or rambles over the
débris of Fort Constitution on Constitution Island, does he feel the
flavor of age, the romance of West Point of the past. It is only then
that the imagination races back over the years to the days of the
Revolution where it pauses to rebuild the stirring events that filled
the daily lives of our ancestors in their desperate struggle for our
independence. Looking backward through the vista of more than a century
the most commonplace happenings seem powdered with the golden dust of
romance. Interwoven with each event are the names of the men who helped
to make possible these free United States: Washington, Hamilton, Knox;
and of him who was almost successful in thwarting their efforts, the
traitor Benedict Arnold.
As far back as the time of the French and Indian Wars both the
Americans and British recognized the great value of the control of the
Hudson River. It would seem, therefore, that when the Revolution broke
out both sides would take every means to seize and fortify the most
strategic points along its banks. Strange to say, the Americans were as
indifferent about its control as the British, so that the Revolution
was in progress for three years before West Point, the natural key to
the river’s defense, was fortified.
During the Revolution the British were operating from Manhattan on the
south and Canada on the north as bases. Had they controlled the Hudson,
they could have separated the eastern from the middle colonies, which
division would have prevented the patriots from military combination
and from interchanging the necessary commodities for both sections.
Immediately after the battles of Concord and Lexington, the Congress
of New York, acting upon a suggestion from the Continental Congress,
sent a commission to the Highlands to select “the most proper place
for erecting one or more fortifications.” Constitution Island, and
the sites where Forts Montgomery and Clinton[1] were afterwards built,
were chosen. Nothing much was accomplished, however, in the way of
fortifications despite the appointment of another commission that
recommended the absolute necessity for works at West Point opposite
Constitution Island.
Washington, accompanied by General Heath, finally sailed up the river
in 1776, and General Heath tells us that “a glance at West Point
without going on shore evinced that this post was not to be neglected.”
Meanwhile the Revolution dragged on into its third year, 1778, but
still no fortifications at West Point. Due to Washington’s persistence,
work was begun there early in January, 1778. General Parsons with his
brigade arrived at West Point on the 20th of January and began the
erection of defenses. The weather was extremely cold, provisions were
scarce, the men inadequately clothed, and the troops poorly supplied
with the proper implements to carry on their labor. Altogether, a very
depressing and discouraging situation confronted Parsons’s men as
they debouched upon the Plain and surveyed their surroundings. If any
thought could have given them courage it must have been the reflection
that at least they were somewhat better off than their comrades in
arms down at Valley Forge, who, despite their wretched condition, were
bravely keeping alive the patriotic fires of the Revolution.
What a contrast was that first sight of West Point to Parsons’s troops
to that offered today! Instead of the beautiful level parade ground
surrounded by fine granite buildings they found an undulating plain
covered by a growth of yellow pines ten or fifteen feet high, without
house or habitation. The only point of similarity was the snow, waist
high. After strenuous efforts to get logs from the neighboring hills,
a few rude huts were hastily thrown together, and then, at the end
of three weeks, the soldiers fell to work with a will, building Fort
Clinton under the direction of a splendid young French engineer by the
name of de la Radière. The cold was most intense, but the men went
up the river, cut the timber for the Fort, and assembled it so that
when the river was open, it might be floated down to the Point. Their
hard daily toil was not relieved by any diversions in the evening, for
West Point was a veritable wilderness. General Parsons, in writing
to Colonel Wadsworth, said of West Point, “to a contemplative mind
that delights in a lonely retreat from the world ’tis as beautiful as
Sharon, but affords to the man who loves the society of the world a
prospect nearly allied to the shades of death.... News arrives here
by accident only.” The poor soldiers had to repair night after night
to their little log huts and get what pleasure they could from one
another’s society.
The rigors of the winter and the hardships to which the Revolutionary
soldiers were accustomed overwhelmed the delicate constitution of
the brilliant young de la Radière. Unhappily, he contracted a severe
cold that culminated in consumption from which he died the following
mid-summer. Another European, attracted by the justice of the
Revolutionary cause, succeeded de la Radière. Thaddeus Kosciusko, a
Pole of education and culture, joined Parsons’s officers, with whom he
became a great favorite, not only on account of his engineering ability
but by reason of his charming manners, soft and conciliating, and by
the elevation of his mind. One officer wrote that he took much pleasure
in accompanying Kosciusko with his theodolite measuring the heights of
the surrounding mountains.
Today Kosciusko’s name is more familiar to West Pointers than de la
Radière’s, for an enchanting little garden, a tiny retreat hanging on
to the cliff near the river, bears his name, and a monument, in the
northeast corner of the Plain near Port Clinton that he helped build,
commemorates his devotion to the Revolutionary cause.
Kosciusko’s presence and energy put new life into the work of
construction. Shortly afterwards, when orders came from Washington to
expedite the completion of all of the forts, Parsons and Kosciusko,
under the direction of Colonel Rufus Putnam, immediately commenced
excavations for Fort Putnam.[2] The men now daily trudged up the small
hill back of the Plain and began making clearings for the fort’s
foundation. It was hard laborious work, extremely fatiguing, and, to
add to the men’s discomfiture, they were greatly annoyed by large
rattlesnakes with which the hill top seemed to swarm.
While the land defenses were being so well prepared, steps were taken
to prevent enemy ships from passing up the Hudson. The topography of
West Point and the adjacent country lent itself most admirably to the
plan of obstructing the river.
The Hudson, as it comes down from Newburgh a straight course of nine
miles, strikes West Point, where it is deflected eastward for a quarter
of a mile, flowing between Constitution Island and the steep cliffs
of the Point before again turning south. Any British sailing vessel
coming up the river from New York would, upon rounding Gee’s Point,
lose a great deal of its speed on account of the swift current, and
if stopped by some obstruction could be held under the fire of the
batteries on both shores. General Putnam, therefore, through his
Quartermaster-General, contracted with the Sterling Iron Works of
Noble, Townsend and Co., for an iron chain 500 feet long, each link
about two feet long, to be made of the best Sterling iron 2¼ inches
square, with a swivel to every hundred feet and a clevis to every
thousand feet, for which the government was to pay $440 for every ton
weight of chain and anchors.[3]
[Illustration: Artillery Target Practice
_Photo White Studio_]
The chain was to obstruct the navigation of the river. It was stretched
across the narrowest part on April 30, 1778, and fastened at West Point
in the second small cove west of Gee’s Point, and on Constitution
Island where the present small boathouse and landing-place stand. Very
large logs, sixteen or more feet long, a little pointed at the ends to
lessen opposition to the force of the water on flood and ebb, were used
to buoy up the great weight of the obstruction. During the winter it
was taken up, because the ice in the river was an effective blockade,
but when spring came the work of 280 men was needed to lay it across
the stream.
Meanwhile, Kosciusko labored strenuously on the forts, so that by June,
1778, the work on the fort in the northeast corner of the Plain begun
by de la Radière in the January past, was completed and given the
name of Fort Arnold. Later, when Benedict Arnold turned traitor, its
name became Fort Clinton. A small portion of the wall stands today.
Washington, on a visit to West Point in September, 1778, paid Kosciusko
a great compliment, stating to General Duportail, his chief engineer,
that he need have no uneasiness as to Kosciusko’s ability.
Additional troops were at this time sent to West Point because
Washington feared an attack by the British. In the spring of 1779,
General McDougall was at West Point with three brigades; there was
one on Constitution Island, and the main body of the Army was near
Haverstraw under General Putnam. Washington, ever watchful, viewed with
great concern the presence of the British in the strong position of
Stony Point because he considered this post a serious menace to West
Point. Wishing to be rid of them he sent for Anthony Wayne, gave him a
corps of light infantry, and directed him to capture the British fort.
A better man than Wayne could not have been selected for the job. On
the 15th of July, Wayne paraded his troops for a minute inspection,
after which, instead of dismissing them, he marched upon Stony Point,
which at midnight he successfully assaulted with the bayonet. The news
of his brilliant exploit was conveyed to Washington in the following
refreshing message:
WEST POINT, 16 July 1779.
2 o’clock a. m.
DEAR GEN’L:
The fort and garrison with Colonel Johnston are ours. Our officers and
men behaved like men who are determined to be free.
Yours most sincerely,
ANT’Y WAYNE.
To supervise better the defenses of the Hudson River, Washington moved
his headquarters to West Point, in July, 1779, where he remained
until November of that year, occupying “Moore’s House,” a structure
that stood in Washington valley near the shore of the Hudson, a short
distance from the northeast corner of the present cemetery. It was
built by John Moore prior to 1749, and called by all the people in the
vicinity “Moore’s Folly” on account of its pretentiousness.
General Clinton tried to draw Washington out into the open country for
a campaign, but the American Commander was too astute and Clinton dared
not attack the Revolutionary forces at bay at West Point because of the
dangers of a campaign in the Highlands.
Spurred on by Washington’s presence and by his orders, Kosciusko and
the troops completed Fort Putnam and Redoubts Webb and Wyllys in the
summer. This work necessitated for fatigue duty each day 2500 men, a
large percentage of the garrison. Even at this early period, West Point
was the Mecca for distinguished Americans and foreigners. Nearly every
Revolutionary commander visited the Post at one time or another during
the war, and while Washington was here, Count de Luzerne, the French
minister, was his guest.
Before Washington left the Post in late November, the troops in the
Highlands were distributed to their winter stations. Little money was
available to equip properly the soldiers but they struggled on bearing
their burdens and hardships that we of today might be free. That they
were not fighting for the present alone, without a thought as to those
who would come after them, is revealed to us by an entry in a diary of
General Heath who was then in command of all the troops and Posts on
the Hudson:
25th Nov. 1779. The troops were moving to their different places
of cantonment; many of the soldiers (as fine men as ever stood in
shoes) were marched barefooted over the hard frozen ground, and
with an astonishing patience.
_Remember these things, ye Americans in future times!_
In the spring of 1780, Washington sent Baron Steuben to West Point
to drill the troops, for he feared an attack by the British. This
accomplished officer, a Major-General in the American Army, had seen
seven campaigns in the service of Frederick the Great, so that he
brought to his task a ripe experience. With Prussian thoroughness he
commenced drilling both the old soldiers and recruits of the command,
with the result that by summer he was able to write to Washington that
he had formed a corps of light infantry “that I dare flatter myself
will be the admiration of our allies as much as the terror of our
enemies.”
Notwithstanding the patriotic work of the officers and men of the
Army, Washington was aware that America as well as Great Britain was
getting tired of the war. “There never has been a stage of the war,” he
said, “in which dissatisfaction has been so general and so alarming.”
Governor Reed of Pennsylvania said in August, 1780: “It is obvious that
the bulk of the people are weary of the war.”
The stage was therefore set for the most dramatic event of the
Revolution, the treason of Benedict Arnold. Had Arnold succeeded at
this period of the Revolution, the hour of darkness and depression, in
selling West Point to the British, we would probably still be English
colonies. The loss of the Post would have shaken the morale of the
American commanders, not to speak of the paralysis of any movement upon
which Washington’s army might have been engaged at that particular time.
For more than a year previous to his assumption of the command of
West Point, Arnold had been hatching nefarious schemes to betray the
Americans. He needed money badly, due to his extravagances while in
Philadelphia. His conduct had not been entirely satisfactory while
in that city and open resentment was expressed on account of his
preference for the British faction, but because of his military
capacity he was held in high esteem by Washington. His abilities led
Washington to offer him the command of the left wing of the army then
in the field, but he pleaded that he was unfit for field duty by
reason of the wound that he had received at Saratoga, and requested
the command of West Point. His desires were respected and on August
5, 1780, he assumed command of his new post with headquarters at the
Robinson House.[4]
Once at West Point, Arnold saw his chance to gain rank and pay from the
British. He immediately entered into a lively correspondence with Major
André, the Adjutant-General of the British forces in America, who was
addressed as “Mr. John Anderson, Merchant.” Arnold’s communications
were all signed “Gustavus.” When negotiations for the betrayal of West
Point had reached a crisis, Arnold requested a personal interview with
a representative of the British. General Clinton then sent Major André
up the river on the sloop _Vulture_ which anchored near Haverstraw.
An agent of Arnold’s, one Joshua Hett Smith, returned at midnight,
September 21, with Major André in full uniform, a landing being
made a short distance north of the West Shore Railroad tunnel south
of Haverstraw. Arnold and André then went to Smith’s house in West
Haverstraw. They were challenged by an American sentinel and it was
here that André entered the American lines.
While the two officers were in consultation, the American commander
across the river brought a four-pounder within range of the _Vulture_,
and opened a heavy fire upon her, causing her commander to shift his
anchorage downstream. Great was André’s dismay at seeing his vessel
forced away, for now he was in the American lines and far from New
York. He had been assured of a safe return to his own lines, and
disliked the idea of traveling alone by land to New York. Moreover,
he was very reluctant to take off his uniform but at Arnold’s advice
he changed into civilian clothing, thereby foolishly placing himself
in the light of a spy, if caught within the American lines. Arnold
also gave André important papers regarding the strength of West Point
defenses.
It is not difficult to imagine the state of André’s mind at finding
himself in a false position and at the same time disobeying General
Clinton’s orders, which were not to change his uniform under any
circumstances nor receive any papers from Arnold. Under the guidance of
Joshua Smith, he crossed the river at King’s Ferry (near Stony Point of
today) and proceeded south toward New York.
Although furnished with a pass by Arnold, he was detained by three
American patriots near Tarrytown, searched, and turned over to Colonel
Jameson at North Castle.
Meanwhile, Arnold was at his Headquarters at the Robinson House
awaiting events, and Washington was on his way from Hartford to West
Point. Had Arnold succeeded it is probable that Washington would have
fallen into the enemy’s hands at this time, an accident that would
have ruined the Revolution. When Washington was opposite West Point he
sent two aides to inform Arnold of his arrival. They proceeded to the
Robinson House and were enjoying Arnold’s hospitality at breakfast when
Jameson’s messenger arrived with a note announcing André’s capture. The
news must have fallen upon Arnold like a thunderbolt, but with perfect
_sangfroid_ he excused himself, rushed upstairs to tell his wife of
the danger, ordered his horse, sent for the coxswain of his barge, and
then calmly returned to his guests whom he told it was necessary for
him to cross to West Point to prepare for the reception of General
Washington. Instead, he rapidly made his way down the river and boarded
the _Vulture_ which took him to New York.
Major André was tried by court-martial, found guilty of being a spy,
and sentenced to be hanged. Numerous letters were written to Washington
begging that André’s life be spared. Arnold himself addressed to his
former chief a long communication exonerating André and taking upon
himself the blame for André’s presence in disguise within the American
lines. Even Hamilton was touched, saying: “Never perhaps did any man
suffer death with more justice or deserve it less.”
André accepted his fate like a brave soldier but he revolted from the
ignominy of being hanged. When all efforts to change the mode of his
death failed, he personally appealed to Washington in the following
splendid letter:
_From Maj. André to General Washington, 1780._
TAPPAN.
The 1st. of Oct., 1780.
SIR:
Buoy’d above the terror of death by the consciousness of a life devoted
to honorable pursuits and stained with no action that can give me
remorse, I trust that the request that I make to your Excellency, at
this serious period and which is to soften my last moments will not be
rejected.
Sympathy toward a soldier will surely induce your Excellency and
a military tribunal to adapt the mode of my death to the feelings
of a man of honor. Let me hope, Sir, that if aught in my character
impresses you with esteem towards me, if aught in my misfortune marks
me the victim of policy and not of resentment, I shall experience the
operation of those feelings in your breast by being informed that I am
not to die on a gibbet.
I have the honor to be your Excellency’s most obedient and most humble
servant,
JOHN ANDRÉ,
Adj. General to the British Army.
His request, however, was not granted and in the early afternoon of
October 2, 1780, arrayed in full dress uniform he paid the penalty on
the scaffold. His body was buried beneath his gibbet but removed to
England in 1831 where it rests in Westminster Abbey.
West Point and the Revolutionary cause was saved to the Americans!
The shock of Arnold’s traitorous act with its narrowly averted
consequences caused Washington to take even more stringent measures
for West Point’s defense. Orders were issued to continue work on all
of the fortifications and during 1781 and 1782, the garrison labored
faithfully and uncomplainingly notwithstanding the great sufferings
of the men from lack of provisions. At times the stores on hand were
numbered by a few barrels of salt pork and a little flour.
Major-General Knox now assumed command of the Post. After the cessation
of hostilities he was very busy mustering out troops and putting the
garrison in shape.
Despite the poverty that prevailed at West Point, Washington ordered a
celebration to be held in honor of the birth of the Dauphin of France,
Louis Joseph, the son of Louis XVI., born October, 1781. A magnificent
fête was arranged in which all of the troops stationed in the Highlands
participated. Upon the Plain at West Point, Major Villefranche erected
a curious edifice, an improvised temple with a grand colonnade of 118
pillars made of the trunks of trees. The entire building was festooned
with American and French flags, with designs and emblems, muskets and
bayonets fancifully arranged. Washington, with a party of five hundred
distinguished guests, assembled in the colonnade for a banquet. A
series of thirteen toasts were drunk, each one accompanied by a salute
of thirteen cannon. During the evening there was a grand display of
fireworks for the troops and a ball for the officers and their guests.
This dance, led by General Washington, was the first real West Point
hop.
The various details left over from the Revolution were now disposed
of by General Knox and his successor, Lieut.-Col. Rochefontaine. The
genesis of the Military Academy was foreshadowed by the presence of the
Invalid Corps which by act of Congress, 1777, was, among other things,
“to serve as a military school for young gentlemen previous to their
being appointed to marching regiments.”
The dark days of the Revolution were over and the troops could now rest
from their strenuous labors. There were important matters, however,
to occupy the leaders, not the least of which was the establishment
of an institution for training officers for the Army. No lesson of
the war was so well learned as the need for such educated leaders,
and immediately the Revolution was over, Washington, Hamilton, and
Knox began urging Congress to establish a National Military Academy.
Although Washington never lived to see his recommendations carried out,
he would have rejoiced, I am sure, to know that Congress three years
after his death founded the United States Military Academy, at his
favorite Post, West Point.