West Point and WPAOG Highlights
West Point and WPAOG Highlights By J. Phoenix, Esquire 1850: George W. Cullum, Class of 1833, publishes a “Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy from 1802 to January 1, 1950,” which is a forerunner to the later Biographical Register for which he is esteemed. 1853: The Class of 1821 held the first Class Reunion at West Point. 1860: Joseph E. Johnston, Class of 1829, was the first Academy graduate to be promoted to brigadier general. 1867: George W. Cullum publishes the first edition of his Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy. 1869: Robert Anderson, Class of 1825, in a letter to Sylvanus Thayer, Class of 1808, suggested the formation of an association of graduates to promote the welfare of the Academy. 1869: The Association of Graduates held its first meeting at the College of the City of New York, at which it adopted its constitution and bylaws and elected Professor Charles Davies, 1815, as permanent chairman. 1870: The first reunion of the Association was held at the West Point Chapel (now the Old Cadet Chapel). 1872: Eugene McLean, Class of 1842, then one of seven Southern members, was the first former Confederate officer to attend an Association reunion. 1874: At the annual meeting it was resolved that all graduates should be encouraged to join the Association and attend the 1875 meeting to celebrate the centennial of the Battle of Bunker Hill. 1877: At the annual meeting, a committee of five, including former superintendent George W. Cullum, coordinates the removal of the remains of Sylvanus Thayer, Class of 1808 and former Superintendent (1817-33), from South Braintree, Massachusetts, to be re-interred later that year at West Point.
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