PERSPECTIVE VIEW FROM THE RIVER ON THE EAST. (FROM A DRAWING.)
CHAPTER IX.
UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY.
“Where proud and free the Hudson flows,
Above the Highlands grand,
And in its placid bosom shows
The charms of Nature’s hand”
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.