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The United States Military Academy (USMA), also referred to metonymically as West Point or simply as Army,[7] is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort during the American Revolutionary War, as it sits on strategic high ground overlooking the Hudson River 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City. It is the oldest of the five American service academies and educates cadets for commissioning into the United States Army. The academic program grants the Bachelor of Science degree with a curriculum that grades cadets' performance upon a broad academic program, military leadership performance, and mandatory participation in competitive athletics.
Candidates for admission must apply directly to the academy and receive a nomination, usually from a member of Congress. Other nomination sources include the president and vice president.[8] Students are officers-in-training and are referred to as "cadets" or collectively as the "United States Corps of Cadets" (USCC). The Army fully funds tuition for cadets in exchange for an active duty service obligation upon graduation. About 1,300 cadets enter the academy each July, with about 1,000 cadets graduating.
The academy's traditions have influenced other institutions because of its age and unique mission. It was the first American college to have an accredited civil engineering program and the first to have class rings, and its technical curriculum became a model for engineering schools. West Point's student body has a unique rank structure and lexicon. The academy fields 15 men's and nine women's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sports teams. Cadets compete in one sport every fall, winter, and spring season at the intramural, club, or intercollegiate level. Its football team was a national power in the early and mid-20th century, winning three national championships. Among the country's public institutions, the academy is the top producer of Marshall and Rhodes scholars.[9][10] Its alumni are collectively referred to as "The Long Gray Line," which include U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ulysses S. Grant; Confederate President Jefferson Davis; Confederate general Robert E. Lee; American poet Edgar Allan Poe; U.S. generals Douglas MacArthur and George Patton; presidents of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and the Philippines; and 76 Medal of Honor recipients.
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The Continental Army first occupied West Point, New York, on 27 January 1778,[11] and it is the oldest continuously operating Army post in the United States.[12] Between 1778 and 1780, the Polish engineer and military hero Tadeusz Kościuszko oversaw the construction of the garrison defenses.[13] However, Kościuszko's plan of a system of small forts did not meet with the approval of New York Governor (and General) George Clinton or the other general officers. It was determined that a battery along the river to "annoy the shipping" was more appropriate, and Washington's chief engineer, Rufus Putnam, directed the construction of a major fortification on a hill 500 feet (150 m) above sea level that commanded the West Point plain. General Alexander McDougall named it Fort Putnam.[14] The Great Hudson River Chain and high ground above the narrow "S" curve in the river enabled the Continental Army to prevent the Royal Navy from sailing upriver and dividing Patriot forces in the Northern colonies from the south.[15][16] While the fortifications at West Point were known as Fort Arnold during the war, as commander, Benedict Arnold committed his act of treason, attempting to turn the fort over to the British.[17][18] After Arnold betrayed the patriot cause, the Army changed the name of the fortifications at West Point, New York, to Fort Clinton, named after General James Clinton.[17] With the peace after the American Revolutionary War, various ordnance and military stores were left deposited at West Point.[19]
"Cadets" underwent training in artillery and engineering studies at the garrison since 1794.[20] During the Quasi-War, Alexander Hamilton laid out plans for the establishment of a military academy at West Point and introduced "A Bill for Establishing a Military Academy" in the House of Representatives.[21] In 1801, shortly after his inauguration as president, Thomas Jefferson directed that plans be set in motion to establish at West Point the United States Military Academy.[22] He selected Jonathan Williams to serve as its first superintendent.[23] Congress formally authorized the establishment and funding of the school with the Military Peace Establishment Act of 1802, which Jefferson signed on 16 March.[2] The academy officially commenced operations on 4 July 1802.[24] The academy graduated Joseph Gardner Swift, its first official graduate, in October 1802. He later returned as Superintendent from 1812 to 1814.[20] In its tumultuous early years, the academy featured few standards for admission or length of study. Cadets ranged in age from 10 years to 37 years and attended between 6 months to 6 years.[20] The impending War of 1812 caused the United States Congress to authorize a more formal system of education at the academy and increased the size of the Corps of Cadets to 250.[20]
In 1817, Colonel Sylvanus Thayer became the Superintendent and established the curriculum, elements of which are still in use as of 2020[update]. Thayer instilled strict disciplinary standards, set a standard course of academic study, and emphasized honorable conduct. He was very much inspired by the curriculum of the French École Polytechnique where he had been sent upon his demand for two years in order to study the scientific and technological achievements developed by the French Republican faction and bring them back to the United States. Known as the "Father of the Military Academy," he is honored with a monument on campus for the profound impact he had upon the academy.[25][26] Founded as a school of engineering, for the first half of the 19th century, USMA produced graduates who gained recognition for engineering the bulk of the nation's initial railway lines, bridges, harbors and roads.[27][28][29] The academy was the only engineering school in the country until the founding of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1824. It was so successful in its engineering curriculum that it significantly influenced every American engineering school founded prior to the Civil War.[28][29][30]
In 1835, during the Army's first year of the Second Seminole War, they had only three generals: Winfield Scott, Edmund P. Gaines, and Thomas S. Jesup.[31] The Army's remaining fourteen generals "held their rank by brevet only,"[32] and none of them were West Point graduates. Nearly the only way to obtain a commission up to 1835, was through the academy, "which created loud complaint", and added to the "Jacksonian Democracy...a deep desire to get rid of the Academy, where, Jacksonians were sure, an aristocratic tradition was being bred."[33]
The Mexican–American War brought the academy to prominence as graduates proved themselves in battle for the first time. Future Civil War commanders Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, who also later became the superintendent of the academy, first distinguished themselves in battle in Mexico.[34][35] In all, 452 of 523 graduates who served in the war received battlefield promotions or awards for bravery.[34][36] The school experienced a rapid modernization during the 1850s, often romanticized by the graduates who led both sides of the Civil War as the "end of the Old West Point era."[37] New barracks brought better heat and gas lighting, while new ordnance and tactics training incorporated new rifle and musket technology and accommodated transportation advances created by the steam engine.[37][38] With the outbreak of the Civil War, West Point graduates filled the general officer ranks of the rapidly expanding Union and Confederate armies.[39] 294 graduates served as general officers for the Union, and 151 served as general officers for the Confederacy.[37] Of all living graduates at the time of the war, 105 (10%) were killed, and another 151 (15%) were wounded.[37] Nearly every general officer of note from either army during the Civil War was a graduate of West Point, and a West Point graduate commanded the forces of one or both sides in every one of the 60 major battles of the war.[37][39][40]
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