CHAPTER II
THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS
When at last the colonies found themselves free, and realized that they were in no immediate danger from any foe, the thoughts of the people, so long occupied with war, eagerly turned toward the establishment of their new government. It was only natural that the Army, weary of the long struggle for independence, should gladly welcome their release from service, and resume once again the peaceful pursuits of civil life. For seven long years their days had been filled with arduous marches through heat and through snow, with tedious vigils on outposts, or with bloody encounters with the British, and the great mass of the people joyfully hailed the piping times of peace, and without ado they turned their battle-axes into billhooks, and their helmets into beehives.
It could not be expected that during the reaction that followed the Revolution much attention would be given to the subject of military education. As a matter of fact, for seven years this question was allowed to sleep; but Washington, ever on the alert for the welfare of the new country, suggested in his annual message of 1790 to the Congress the establishment of a National Military Academy. In spite of the great prestige that he enjoyed both as President and as the man who had successfully waged the Revolution, his words were not heeded by Congress until some years afterwards.
The Congress of those days apparently was like our own and needed to have a matter brought to its attention many times before any definite action was taken. Washington undoubtedly appreciated this condition for we find that on numerous occasions he spoke of his plan, telling Congress that “it is an inquiry that cannot be too strongly pursued.” His efforts were not without reward, for in 1794 the grade of Cadet was created, and a military school was established at West Point. This school was composed of the cadets who were by law attached to the Engineer and Artillery Corps of the garrison. In each company there were two of these young men styled “cadets of the Service,” whom the Government aimed to train to become commissioned officers of the Army. There was, however, no organization to the school, nor scientific system of instruction, so that the cadets did about as they pleased, pursuing their studies in a desultory manner.
It was not until the 16th of March, 1802, that the United States Military Academy was definitely established by law. Congress then authorized the President to organize the Corps of Engineers whose cadre contained, in addition to the officers, ten cadets. West Point was designated as the station of the Corps which was to constitute the Military Academy. The next year forty cadets, to be appointed from the artillery troops of the Army, were added and in 1808, 156 additional men.
During the first ten years of its existence the Military Academy was in a most chaotic condition. It was in reality “a foundling barely existing among the mountains, out of sight of, and almost unknown to, its legitimate parents.” It is greatly to be wondered at that the Academy ever survived the terrible throes of its birth. Almost no provisions for its existence were made by Congress. The cadets were lodged in an old barrack of the Revolution, called the “Long Barrack,” that occupied the site of the present hotel, and their instruction was given in a wooden building called the “Academy” that stood on the spot of the present Superintendent’s quarters. They were allowed to board around promiscuously, really living from hand to mouth. Among the student body there was very little discipline, but a great deal of idleness and dissipation.
In 1812, a new law placed the school on a firm basis and furnished the principles upon which the institution has been conducted to this moment. Two hundred and fifty cadets were authorized and the respectable sum of twenty-five thousand dollars appropriated for buildings. To offset this good fortune, the Academy had to fight against the hostility of Madison’s Secretary of War, Eustis, who tried his utmost to strangle the new-born institution. But happily the exigencies of the War of 1812 frustrated his hostile designs.
Despite insuperable difficulties, the Academy began to grow, not scientifically, but in a muddling sort of way. Where the Superintendent had heretofore been a rover up and down the Hudson Posts, he now became permanently located at West Point. The professors began to work together with more harmony, going so far as to recommend a broadly planned course that included most of the subjects studied today. By the Regulations of 1815, the cadets were required to mess at a common table, instead of boarding at private houses, their age limit was fixed at fourteen to twenty, and their uniform was definitely prescribed. A little order was being brought out of chaos. Annual vacations were granted, to commence immediately after the examination in July and to end on the first day of August. Notwithstanding the excellence of the above features, the general condition of this infant school was far from satisfactory. A picture of its inner life is revealed in a letter written in 1815 by Andrew Ellicott, the Professor of Mathematics, to the Secretary of War, in which he states:
Until I came here the Academy was abandoned by the Professors and a great part of the students from the first of December until, the first of April following every year. This practice I immediately put a stop to, and kept the Academy open two winters, not even excluding Sundays, without the aid of any other Professor or regular assistant. The winter before last, I kept together more than twenty students, 16 of whom were commissioned last July, and last winter more than 80, some of whom would do credit to any country or nation, and will be found among our future rulers. These extra services are not ideal—they are substantial.