April 9, 2023 1

West Point

By Fady Makram and Amr Ibrahim

• West Point was considered one of the most important strategic places in America.

• General George Washington told Thaddeus Kosciuszko to design its fortifications.

• West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in America.

• Fortress West Point was never captured by the British.

Origins of West Point

• It started off with a strict civil engineering curriculum.

• George Washington proposed that it should focus on the arts and sciences of military warfare.

• 20 years later, President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation establishing USMA in 1802.

• He made sure that West Point students were of a democratic society.

Reasons for its Existence

• West Point was designed to reduce America’s reliance on engineers and artillerists during times of war.

• “A Peace Establishment for the United States of America may in my opinion . . . [include] Academies, one or more for the Instruction of the Art Military; particularly those Branches of it which respect Engineering and Artillery, which are highly essential, and the knowledge of which is most difficult to obtain.”  —George Washington, “Sentiments on a Peace Establishment,” May 1783

• The Academy was also created because the US was, at nature, a nation of war.

• Soon, its graduates began to command armies on both sides of the Civil War.

• General Robert E. Lee of the South was one of its graduates.

• General Ulysses S. Grant of the North was also a graduate of West Point.

• Colonel Sylvanus Thayer upgraded its academic standards.

• He also instilled military discipline and honorable conduct.

Graduate Class of 1860

Early Years of West Point

• The Mexican-American War brought the academy fame when its graduates proved themselves in battle for the first time.

• Civil War commanders Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee proved themselves in the Mexican War.

Ulysses S. Grant

Robert E. Lee

Modernization

• During the Colonial period, West Point was going through rapid modernization.

• Better heat and gas lighting was developed because of new barracks.

• New training methods and tactics incorporated new rifle and musket technology and advances such as the steam engine.

West Point’s Role in the Civil War

• With the outbreak of the Civil War, West Point graduates filled the general officer ranks of the rapidly expanding Union and confederate armies.

• 294 graduates served as general officers for the Union, and 151 served as general officers for the Confederacy.

• Nearly every general officer of note from either army during the Civil War was a graduate of West Point.