[ALDEN PARTRIDGE.]
Alden Partridge, Captain in the United States Corps of Engineers, Professor and Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point, and the Founder of a class of institutions in which the military element is recognized and provided for as an essential part of the training of the American citizen, was born at Norwich in Vermont, on the 12th of January, 1785. His father was a farmer, in independent circumstances, served in the war of the Revolution, and took part in the capture of Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga. He brought up his son in the New England fashion, at such district school as the times and the country afforded in the winter, and at all sorts of work about the house and on the farm at other seasons, until he was sixteen years of age, when, being of studious turn, and fond of reading, he was allowed to fit for college, and entered Dartmouth in August, 1802. We have no knowledge of his studies in college, but it is presumed that his predilections were for the mathematics, and from the lateness with which he commenced his Latin and his subsequent declarations, his aversion was for the languages. Before completing his collegiate course he received the appointment of cadet[20] in the regiment of artillerists in the United States service, with orders to repair to West Point, and report himself to the commanding officer of the Military Academy at that place.
The Military Academy at the time Cadet Partridge arrived at West Point was very inadequately equipped with the men and material aids of instruction, although the two teachers appointed were abundantly capable in their respective departments. Jared Mansfield, especially, the teacher of natural philosophy, had won such reputation in mathematical studies that he received his commission as a captain of engineers from Mr. Jefferson for the very purpose of becoming a teacher at West Point, which he did by appointment in 1802, although in reality he did not perform his duties regularly, and then only for one year, having been, in 1808, appointed by President Jefferson to the responsible post of Surveyor-General of the North-western territory. Such instruction as was given was received by Cadet Partridge in 1806, and in July of that year, he was transferred to the Corps of Engineers, and in October, commissioned as first lieutenant. In November, 1806, he was appointed assistant professor of mathematics, Fedinand K. Hassler, a little later, having been made Professor in place of Capt. Barron, retired. From Prof. Hassler, he received great help in his mathematical studies, as he afterwards repeatedly acknowledged. In 1808, Prof. Partridge was called to act in place of the Superintendent in the absence of Col. Williams, and continued to do so, with brief intervals, until January, 1815, when he was appointed to the office which he filled till March, 1816. In 1809, Mr. Hassler resigned the professorship of mathematics, and the instruction before given by him devolved on his assistant, Mr. Partridge. In 1810, he succeeded, after repeated applications to the Secretary of War, in obtaining two field pieces, for practical instruction of the Cadets as Artillerists.
In 1812, the Academy was re-organized, and was made to consist of the Corps of Engineers and the following Professors, in addition to the teachers of the French language and drawing, viz.: “one professor of natural and experimental philosophy; one professor of mathematics; and one professor of the art of engineering; each professor to have an assistant taken from the most prominent of the Officers or Cadets.” The number of Cadets was increased to two hundred and fifty, and were directed to be arranged into companies of non-commissioned officers and privates, according to the directions of the commandant of Engineers, and be officered from that corps, “for the purposes of military instruction, in all the duties of a private, non-commissioned officer, and officer, and to be encamped at least three months of each year, and taught all the duties incident to a regular camp.” The age of admission was fixed, the minimum at fourteen, and maximum at twenty-one, and preliminary knowledge to be well versed in reading, writing, and arithmetic. It was further provided that any Cadet who shall receive a regular degree from the Academical Staff, after going through all the classes, shall be considered among the candidates for a commission in any corps, according to the duties he may be judged competent to perform. The sum of $25,000 was appropriated towards the buildings, library, implements, &c. On this broad basis the Academy was progressively enlarged to its present capabilities of usefulness.
Under the new arrangement of 1812, Mr. Partridge was appointed professor of mathematics, with the pay and emoluments of a major, which appointment was soon after, at the request of the Secretary of War, exchanged for that of professor of engineering, it being found more difficult to fill the latter post than the former. The duties of this professorship he continued to discharge from September 1, 1813, till December 31, 1816.
In 1808, Capt. Partridge was ordered by Col. Williams to take charge of the internal direction and control of the Military Academy as Superintendent, which duties he discharged until January 3, 1815, when, by regulations of that date, he was made the permanent Superintendent, which post he held-till November 25th, 1816, and was finally relieved on the 13th of January, 1817.
By the regulation of January 3, 1815, the commandant of the Corps of Engineers was constituted Inspector of the Academy, and made responsible for instruction, and to report to the Department of War. Out of this appointment, and the instructions relating thereto, grew a difference of opinion, which resulted in the final withdrawal of Capt. Partridge from the institution, the resignation of his commission in the military service of the United States, and his subsequent devotion to the dissemination by lectures and personal efforts of the views which he had formed of the education required by the American citizen, and the establishment of institutions in which these views could be carried out.
After resigning his commission in the military service of the United States, Capt. Partridge was engaged, in the summer of 1818, as military instructor to a volunteer corps, and in giving a course of lectures on fortifications and other branches of military science to a class of officers and citizens in the city of New York. The views which he then presented on the best means of national defense were in advance of the “piping times of peace” in 1818, but have been since demanded to be eminently sound and practical by the terrible experience of 1861–1862.
His chief reliance for national defense was in the military habits of the great body of the American people—organized into suitable militia departments corresponding in the main to the limits of the several states, officered by men of the right capacity, scientific education, and military training. The officers were required to assemble annually at stated periods, either in camps or rendezvous, at some central point in the department, to receive instruction from a few competent teachers of the military art. We give the plan in his own language as published at the time.
I. Let the United States be divided into military departments, say thirty in number; each of those departments to be wholly comprised within the same state, whenever this can be done.