South of the Cadet Mess is the Hospital for cadets, a large granite building perched on a terrace, well back from the road. It consists of a central portion of three stories and basement, with two wings of two stories each and basement. The older portions date from 1875, but the wings are of more recent construction. The wings are practically detached from the main portion of the building for the possible isolation of cases. The equipment is, of course, modern in every respect. Each wing contains two wards, making four in all, named respectively Cuyler, McElderry, McParlin, and Wheaton in honor of former distinguished military surgeons on duty at West Point. I do not suppose that there is a building on the Post which arouses in cadets so many different kinds of feeling. To some it is a place to be avoided, but to a large number, especially to those who succeed in entering for minor ailments, it is viewed as a haven of rest. It is the one place where the cadets are free from the irksome routine, where there is no reveille, and where the convalescents revel in what appears to them epicurean feasts. Vatel, the famous French chef, never enjoyed more renown than does the cook at the hospital.
Almost every cadet has a secret longing to be in the hospital at least for a short period during his course, and those who “break in” for slight ailments are regarded with a special esteem by their fellows. One of the first adages that a plebe learns at West Point is “faint heart never broke into the hospital.” The surgeons, however, are pretty clever men and they size up the situation very clearly in each case.
The North Cadet Barracks
I remember that upon one occasion when I was a cadet, a group of convalescents were, one winter day, holding a mutual congratulatory meeting in one of the wards, the burden of the conversation being their luck and also their skill in remaining so long in this abode of rest. Arthur C——, who was the most successful of the disciples of the “rest cure,” was perched upon a bed explaining to an admiring line of heads in little snow-white cots, the strategy necessary to remain in the ward, finishing his discourse oratorically; “Some may come and some may go but I stay on forever!” when the door opened and in walked the surgeon. Cadet C—— was next day returned to duty.
The officer in charge of the hospital is the Post Surgeon, who is assisted by three or four captains of the Medical Corps, and by several Dental Surgeons. These officers are also in charge of the Soldiers’ Hospital, a separate building for the enlisted men of the garrison, and are responsible for the general health of the command.
The chief buildings of the Academy occupy relatively a small area of ground. Just north of the Cadet Mess and flanking the main road are the two Academic buildings, known as the East and West Academic. The East building is new, having been completed in 1913, one of the last provided for in the rebuilding of West Point. The West Academic building, which was completed in 1895, is built of Massachusetts granite and cost about five hundred thousand dollars. In this building are located the Departments of Civil and Military Engineering, Mathematics, Law, Drawing, Ordnance and Gunnery, and English and History; in the East building the Departments of Modern Languages, Chemistry and Electricity, Natural and Experimental Philosophy. The latter building is provided with the most modern lecture rooms, electrical and chemical laboratories, besides a mineralogical and geological museum. The major portion of both buildings contain the section rooms for recitation purposes. Visitors are admitted if accompanied by an officer.
The architecture of both of these buildings is Gothic, but that of the new or East building is of a more exquisite beauty. Splendidly situated, it gives the impression of bulk and mass, much the same feeling that one has in regarding a dreadnought for the first time, but this impression soon gives way to an appreciation of a certain delicacy of treatment, a simple dignity that pleases. One of the best impressions of its beauty is obtained about dusk when the evening mists dim its outlines and its surface is bathed in shadows relieved only by the glimmering of the mediæval lanterns on either side of the main door.
Immediately facing the center of the East Academic Building and across the road, is a large opening known as a sally-port through which the sections of cadets must march to recitations in the East Academic building. This passageway connects the main road with the area of barracks, a space of ground that derives its name from the brown-stone buildings that bound a portion of its perimeter. Along one side is a cement walk on which the cadets form to be marched to their recitations, and a sidewalk borders the barracks. With the exception of a small plot of grass near the Academic building the area is devoid of verdure, but is covered with a fine gravel that gives a clean and well-groomed appearance to the ground. The word “Area” has great connoting power. To a large number of cadets, it vividly brings to mind the punishment tours that they wearily trudged on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons across its surface. To the majority, however, it is the “hub” of cadet life, the assembly place for recitations, sometimes for meals; the scene of many an inspection or a guard mount, and most important of all, it contains a small insignificant building with a clock tower where dwell the Commandant of Cadets and his assistants, the Tactical officers.
The building on the north and west of the area is the South Cadet Barracks, built in 1848. This edifice, of 360 feet frontage, is constructed of native granite, with crenelations and cornices of red sandstone, and the Elizabethan style of its architecture harmonizes perfectly with the Gothic of the new buildings. In fact, the old Cadet Barracks is one of West Point’s handsomest buildings. There are two hundred rooms in the building, 14 × 22 feet, each planned to accommodate two cadets. It is completely supplied with modern plumbing, heating, and electric lights. The barracks are divided into divisions, each containing sixteen rooms. There is no lateral communication between the divisions, but a certain number of them are assigned to a company, according to its strength. At present the 1st Bn. Cos. A, B, C, and D are quartered here.