West Point, September, 1911

12 WEST POINTDUTY • HONOR • C OUNTRY NEW YORK STATE ARCHIVES STATE YORK NEW A company of cadets forming for infantry drill at the United States Military Academy at West Point, September, 1911. NEW YORK archives • FALL 2002 13 BY JOSEPH P. FRANKLIN, Major General, U.S. Army (Retired) THE “KEY TO AMERICA” Celebrating 200 Years In 1775, New Yorkers rebellious colonies. To further is the site of the United States foreign friends made a differ- Christopher Tappan and James impede British navigation, an Military Academy. Thaddeus ence for the American army. Clinton visited and surveyed iron chain was forged and Kosciuszko, the Polish nobleman To keep an eye on British Ithe Hudson River Valley after stretched bank to bank across who had come to America in attempts to move up the river, the Continental Congress the river. Called the “Great 1776 to design the fortifications in 1779 George Washington charged the New York Assembly Chain,”or the “West Point Chain,” at Saratoga and to help plan established his headquarters with defense of the Hudson the links were attached to the defenses of the Continental at West Point, calling it the “key River against British forces in log booms, since the huge Congress in Philadelphia, was to America.” the colonies. Fifty miles above chain would have sunk with- given the rank of colonel and New York City, Tappan and out these floating supports. traveled to West Point in 1778 A Traitor in Their Midst Clinton discovered that the to complete its defenses, which But the road ahead was not wide, tranquil river suddenly Foreign Aid at West Point had been designed by the without perils. Major General narrowed into a sharp, S-shaped However, the American French engineer Lieutenant Benedict Arnold persuaded bend with steep cliffs rising to rebellion was confronting an Colonel Louis de la Radiére. Washington to give him rocky terrain on either side. experienced and numerically Captain Frederick von Steuben, command of West Point. The swift water and limited superior force, and in 1777 the Prussian Army officer who Arnold had earned his rank by space forced ships to slow British troops captured and down so they could negotiate destroyed the forts and the the dangerous passage. Great Chain. Fortunately, the TO KEEP AN EYE ON BRITISH ATTEMPTS Maps taken from Tappan and American victory at the Battle TO MOVE UP THE RIVER, IN 1779 Clinton’s surveys named the of Saratoga persuaded the GEORGE WASHINGTON ESTABLISHED promontory on the western British to withdraw to New bank of the river “West Point.” York City. But as the opposing HIS HEADQUARTERS AT WEST POINT, Recognizing the strategic armies went into winter CALLING IT THE “KEY TO AMERICA.” value of this terrain in control- quarters at the end of 1777, ling navigation on the Hudson, the outcome of their conflict local militia began to build was far from certain. had journeyed to America to courageous service in many forts on the surrounding hills Then a series of events join the rebellion in 1777, major battles, including south of West Point, near Bear centering on West Point set the arrived at West Point in 1779 Saratoga. He was reputed to Mountain. Inexplicably, West stage for the eventual triumph to begin drilling and disciplin- be one of Washington’s best Point itself was not fortified. of the fledgling United States. ing America’s untrained commanders, and West Point The intent of these defenses In January, 1778, General Continental Army troops in was seen at the time as was to prevent the British Samuel Parsons marched a the manner he had begun America’s strongest military from using the waterway as a garrison of troops from Peekskill the previous winter at Valley post. However, Arnold’s second means to isolate New England, across the frozen Hudson to Forge. These technical skills wife was from a Philadelphia considered the heart of the occupy the ground that today brought to the battlefield by family loyal to the British Crown, www.nysarchives.org 14 Background: This 1776 map shows the S-shaped bend in the Hudson River that contributed to West Point’s strategic military value. and he may have begun to No Support for an Academy professionals to provide the plot his treason as early as Historians, poets, and philoso- expertise for modern warfare. 1778, when he commanded phers have recorded since Critical among the technical the defenses of that city. In time immemorial that the end skills needed were gunnery; addition, many grievances of war quickly erodes support aiming and adjusting artillery were shared by the officers of for all things military. For fire; and engineering, situating, the Continental Army, among America, it meant the fading and building fortifications. them low pay and lack of from memory of Washington’s Nonetheless, reflecting the political support, which Continental Army, the trained politics of the day, Thomas undoubtedly contributed to and disciplined units that had Jefferson, Washington’s secre- Arnold’s traitorous behavior. ultimately been victorious. tary of state, argued that the By 1780, Arnold had found With so many other pressing Constitution did not grant a British officer, Major John matters to address, the people power to the government to André, to help him carry out and their political representa- provide for a national academy his scheme: turn West Point tives soon came to believe of any sort. Jefferson was over to the British, and profit that the militia—the “Minute also opposed to the creation personally in the bargain. But Men” who had won the battle of an elite class of military André was caught in civilian of Bunker Hill so brilliantly in professionals commanding clothes with the plans of 1775—could be the guarantors the power that a standing West Point’s fortifications—in of America’s military defense. army could wield. Arnold’s handwriting—hidden This opinion fit conveniently The Need for Education in his stocking. André was with the lingering fear that a hanged as a spy at Tappan, standing army would become World events would eventually New York, but Arnold escaped an elite force that supported bring changing attitudes. In exactly the sort of dictatorial addition to the threats posed regime Americans had risked by hostile foreign interests, THOMAS JEFFERSON...ARGUED THAT THE their lives to escape. None of education in America became CONSTITUTION DID NOT GRANT POWER this bode well for the estab- a central concern for the country’s future prosperity. TO THE GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE FOR lishment of a military academy, so from 1785 until 1790, with While major institutions of A NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ANY SORT. New York City serving as the higher learning had been United States’ capital and educating a small portion of Washington elected its first the populace for over a century, on a British ship and lived out president in 1789, there was their curricula were focused on the rest of his life with his family faint support for any sort of scholarship, philosophy, and in England. The British did not regular army. religion. There were no univer- ultimately test the defenses of As commander of the sities for scientists, engineers, “America’s strongest military Continental Army, General or builders. In recognition of post,”Washington eventually Washington had envisioned the need to impart some marched south to victory at the creation of an academy to technical skills to the country’s Yorktown in 1781, and the new train the nation’s military leaders small army, Congress in 1794 United States found a tempo- in the art of war. As president, authorized the grade of cadet, rary peace with its fractious he continued to press for an and a military school was trading partners in Europe. academy, citing the risky and finally built at West Point. The unsatisfactory alternative Army’s tiny Corps of Artillerists of depending on foreign and Engineers was moved WEST POINT MUSEUM COLLECTION, UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY ACADEMY MILITARY UNITED STATES WEST POINT MUSEUM COLLECTION, NEW YORK archives • FALL 2002 15 French engineer Lieutenant Colonel Louis de la Radiére designed the defenses at West Point, Polish nobleman Colonel Thaddeus Kosciuszko helped to complete them, and Prussian Captain Frederick von Steuben trained troops there. WEST POINT MUSEUM COLLECTION, UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY ACADEMY MILITARY UNITED STATES WEST POINT MUSEUM COLLECTION, known as the “father” of West Point). Coincidentally, Washington and Jefferson had also established the first engineering school in America, the first institution of higher learning in America not founded by a religious order, and the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. And from the very there, and Colonel Henry of the Founding Fathers, he A Change of Heart beginning, it has been New Burbeck, Chief of Artillery, set perceived the threat such an for Jefferson York State that has hosted this up a school in rudimentary army could pose to the hard- Although originally opposed to great and unique institution. ■ gunnery and engineering for fought liberties they had the idea of a military academy, cadets and junior officers. created and protected; thus Jefferson had undergone a The U.S. Military Academy Library Unfortunately, the school the idea of a military academy change of heart as president, (http://usmalibrary.usma.edu) burned down in 1796, and did not move President motivated in part by the maintains extensive documen- the idea of a military academy Adams to action. possibility of putting the new tation of the history of West languished. In 1799, one of It remained—until Thomas academy in Virginia, where Point, the Academy itself, and Washington’s last earthly acts Jefferson became president in cadets could be drawn from Academy alumni in its Special was to write a letter to 1801—for the coincidence of families supportive of his own Collections and Archives.

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