West Point / An Intimate Picture of the National Military Academy and of the Life of the Cadet

by Robert C. Richardson

The second floor is called Thayer Hall, a large, beautifully proportioned room used for public functions, officers’ and cadets’ dances. At one end there is a small stage and a few scenic fixtures. In this hall are the portraits of graduates who have not only gained the rank of general officer, but have commanded in time of war units commensurate with their rank.

The building south of Memorial Hall is the Officers’ Mess, where the bachelor officers obtain their meals. The building was constructed and partially furnished from Government funds, but it is kept up and managed by personal funds of officers on duty at West Point. In design it conforms closely to Cullum Hall, although plainer and more modest. It was so built as to be inconspicuous and not detract from the classic beauty of its stately neighbor.

The interior of the Mess is quite beautiful, especially the main dining-hall and reading-room, whose principal features are mantels ornamented with small replicas of the figures of Day and Night, Morning and Evening, that adorn the tomb of the Medicis in Florence. Both Cullum Hall and the Mess were designed by the late Stanford White and completed, the former in 1899 and the latter in 1903. The Mess is an organized body incorporated under the laws of the State of New York as the West Point Army Mess. It was started in 1841 by General McClellan. There is no Mess in our Army that has had a continued existence for so long a term as this Mess, and I have heard it stated that few English or continental Messes are as old in the above sense.

The trip around the buildings brings us to the Library for which we all entertain a genuine affection. The quiet and repose of its fine rooms have an attraction for both officers and cadets that no other building offers, so that it is usually filled with lovers of books, especially on winter afternoons. Cadets, officers, enlisted men, women, and children frequent the various rooms whenever an opportunity presents itself. There is no greater pleasure, I believe, at West Point than to draw a big leather armchair over in one corner of the library and there forget the world in a good book.

Like so many of the buildings at West Point it was built of native granite, and in the Gothic style of architecture. The present building was erected in 1841 on the site of the old gun shed and cost approximately $50,000. It was, however, entirely remodeled in 1900-1901. The Library was originally designed by a board of Army officers and the style of architecture determined upon was used seven years later in the present South Cadet Barracks. The dominant note that these two buildings gave to the character of the structures at West Point, determined the style of architecture in the comprehensive rebuilding of the Academy that began in 1904.

The library proper was founded in 1812, and with the years has grown until at the present time it contains 99,148 books. I am informed that the 100,000 mark will be celebrated by the purchase of a memorable volume. The Library may be said to be the oldest inhabitant of the neighborhood, for all its former associates, the old Riding Hall, the Cavalry Barracks, and the old Cadet Chapel are gone.

The latter building, however, has not permanently disappeared. Sentiment against its demolition was so strong that an appropriation was obtained to remove it to the cemetery to be used as a mortuary chapel. Consequently in 1911 it was taken down, each stone marked, and so carefully reconstructed that it is impossible to detect the slightest change in its appearance. The tablets, and the painting of “Peace and War” by the late Professor Weir have been preserved, but the British flags have been removed to the Ordnance Museum.

The cemetery is a beautiful, peaceful spot set aside for the repose of West Point’s dead. In the northeast angle is the cadet monument erected in 1818, to Cadet Vincent M. Lowe of New York, by his fellow-cadets. On New Year’s day, 1817, Cadet Lowe was killed by the premature discharge of a cannon while he was firing a salute. The pedestal is covered with the names of other cadets who died later on. Among the illustrious dead buried in the cemetery are Major Sylvanus Thayer, General Winfield Scott, Robert Anderson, and George A. Custer.

Along the main roads both north and south of the Plain are modest dwellings furnished for the officers on duty at West Point. The south end terminates in a broad plain used for the Cavalry and Field Artillery drill of the cadets.

In order that thorough instruction in both of these arms may be imparted to the cadets, detachments of Cavalry and Field Artillery are stationed at the Academy. Their barracks and stables form part of the new buildings, and are fine examples of what intelligence and taste can do for comfort and convenience. Along the west side of the drill field are the stables and, directly above, gracefully placed on the hillside, are the barracks provided with the best and most modern equipment. The presence of these two detachments of enlisted men, as well as that of the detachment of Engineers, is absolutely essential to the efficient instruction of the cadets.