The Chapel
The Chapel
This edifice is in reality a large church with a seating capacity of fourteen hundred persons. In plan it is a crucifix, surmounted by a large central tower whose parapet is 130 feet above the pavement of the interior and 420 feet above the level of the river. The tower contains two stories: the bell-ringer’s story and the belfry above. There are as yet no chimes, but on national holidays, Christmas morning, and Easter, the band mounts to the bell-ringer’s story, and the airs appropriate for the day float out through the louver windows in a weird and mysterious manner, as if some invisible symphony was playing in the clouds.
Just above the stately clerestory windows, and around the cornice of the building, is a row of carved figures, little bosses, representing the quest of the Holy Grail. Over the door of the main entrance is a great two-handed sword, Excalibur.
One should pause for a moment on the terrace in front of the main entrance to enjoy the magnificent panorama. In the distance, flows the Hudson winding among the Highland hills, and skirting the great Plain along whose edge stand the Bachelor Building, Cullum Hall, and theOfficers’ Mess. Directly below, in the shelter of the chapel hill, are grouped all of the main buildings pertaining to the cadets, the most conspicuous of which are the barracks. Viewed from this height the arrangement of the buildings resembles a regular nest,le nid des cadets.
A winding road back of the barracks leads to the Chapel. The interior of the Chapel is 200 feet long, and across the transepts, 72 feet wide. The nave contains fourteen large Gothic windows, now filled with temporary glass but which will later be replaced with memorial windows.
The jewel of the interior is the great chancel window, with its noble inscription:
Erected to the glory of the God of Battles and in faithful memory of the departed graduates of the United States Military Academy, West Point, by the living alumni.
Erected to the glory of the God of Battles and in faithful memory of the departed graduates of the United States Military Academy, West Point, by the living alumni.
The deep shades of purple and red give the window an extraordinary richness. The best lights from the glass are obtained in the early afternoon about four o’clock. It is of rare richness and beauty, and for subject, color, and arrangement it is thought to be unexcelled in our country. There are twenty-seven panels, each of which contains an almost life-size figure representing one of the chief militant figures in the Bible. Services are held in the Chapel every Sunday morning at a quarter before eleven and are attended bycadets, officers, enlisted men, their families, and a large number of visitors. In addition to the regular service in the Chapel, where the cadet choir of one hundred and five voices is a feature, a series of organ recitals, free to the public, is given each year.
The Interior of the Chapel
The Interior of the Chapel
The organ is of unusually fine quality and is surprisingly effective for an instrument of three manuals, or keyboards. But it is still incomplete, being both undersized for this cathedral-like building and inadequate to the proper performance of the finest music. The addition of a fourth manual, with its pipes located in the gallery opposite the present organ, now eloquently vacant, is needed to bring the musical part of the service and the recitals up to the highest efficiency.
Upon the completion of the improvements contemplated the organ will become one of the art glories of the country, and with the Chapel,—perfect in architecture, surroundings, and acoustics—would create an atmosphere of rare idealism. The acquisition of every new stop given is indicated by a bronze tablet placed upon the console, or key desk, of the organ. The significance of such tablets would make this organ and console unique, not only in establishing historic traditions but also in affording substantial encouragement to the volunteer organist and to the choir.
The opportunity here presented is most worthy for anyone desirous of establishing a memorialto a graduate of the Academy, for a graduate wishing to honor the memory of one of his immediate family, for a class gift, or for anyone interested in furthering an artistic influence over the lives of the future officers of the Army of our country.
To assist in the completion of the organ, a fund, known as the “Organ Fund” has been started, which is kept alive by recital offerings, private subscriptions, and proceeds from sale of “The Corps,” a popular West Point song.
In the transepts are galleries but they are not at present equipped with seats. Along the nave also are covered galleries, almost hidden from view by the suspended flags.
A request made to the sexton will enable the visitor to see the crypt, a vaulted room beneath the Chapel that is designed to be the final resting place of West Point’s illustrious military dead.
To care for the spiritual welfare of the cadets and other residents of the Post, there is a Chaplain who is appointed by the President. His term of office is for four years, but he is usually re-appointed.
The location of the Chapel makes it visible from many places on the Post. In walking around the grounds, every once in a while an extraordinarily effective view of the fine building strikes the beholder. Each glimpse seems more beautiful than the previous one, and a general impression remains that the Chapel holds a spiritual dominionover the institution. Every corner of the main part of West Point seems under its influence. This feeling is particularly strong as we stand on the sidewalk between the old and new Cadet Barracks and gaze at this monumental pile of ethereal beauty that seems to lose itself in the sky. I never view the Chapel from this point without thinking of one of Maxfield Parrish’s imaginative paintings of the Arabian Nights.
In the southwest angle of the Plain, from where I like to view the Chapel, is a white granite statue of Major Sylvanus Thayer, class of 1808. The funds for this modest but beautiful monument, which was unveiled June 11, 1883, were contributed by loyal graduates of the Academy and by loving friends. General Thayer was Superintendent of the Academy from 1817 to 1833. He was the first to establish a real curriculum, and so valuable were his services that he has since been called “the Father of the Academy.” The body of the distinguished officer was brought from South Braintree, Mass., and reinterred in the Post cemetery on November 8, 1877. The sculptor of the monument was Carl Conrad.
On the west side of the Plain is the North Cadet Barracks, one of the new buildings completed in 1908. The Gothic style employed in the treatment of this building, while resembling somewhat that of the old barracks, has more dignity, beauty, and grace. Not enough difference exists between the two to cause any lack ofharmony. Chief among the changes made in the new barracks are the windows which are triple instead of single. As far as the interior is concerned the arrangement is identical. Modern plumbing has been installed in the old barracks to conform to its new neighbor, so that the cadets of today are no longer obliged to run down to the area to draw their water from the hydrant. The very mention of this ancient and picturesque custom brings back many memories, chiefly centered around reveille on a bitterly cold morning. Immediately upon the dismissal of the ranks, hordes of cadets (it seemed to me), clustered around one poor little hydrant from which a thin stream of icy water trickled into thepapier machébuckets. Now, upon each floor of barracks are faucets with hot and cold water! I wish that I were a cadet again!
No one would judge the building to be a military barracks. Rather, a study of its lines would suggest that it was the home of some religious order. It has an undeniable ecclesiastical character that impresses one immediately. I have always derived great pleasure in contemplating its beauty and my imagination at these times fancies it as the refuge, the shelter, the sanctuary of a body of men separated from the material affairs of the world. It seems made to house only the best and noblest in nature, to be the environment from which high ideals receive their greatest inspiration. A group of happy smilingcadets coming out of their rooms at this moment tells me that my imagination has been dwelling upon reality and not wandering into fantastic fields. This building is indeed the home of a splendid Order, the inspiring order of young manhood, clean-minded and honorable, trained in a school where they are taught the most scrupulous regard for the truth, and where they are given amens sana in corpore sano.
In the quadrangle the light brick facing gives, in all sorts of weather, a bright cheerful aspect, a sunny appearance, that contrasts in a most welcome manner with the gloom of the quadrangle of the old barracks.
Set well back from the Plain, and to the north of the new barracks, is the Gymnasium. It is not built of granite like its neighbor, the new barracks, but has received from the hands of the architect an artistic and interesting treatment of brick and limestone. The broad wall-like surface of the front is broken by six flat buttresses, whose terminals are richly decorated. Viewing the building from the southeast corner these buttresses appear like giant sentinels, fine specimens of the building’s physical development. Far across the parade ground the Bachelor Officers’ quarters, of similar design, serves with the Gymnasium to link in one harmonious whole the old and new buildings surrounding the Plain.
The second story is devoted to the gymnasium proper. It is lighted by large skylights, andequipped with every possible device for physical development. The remainder of the building houses a fine natatorium, 77 feet wide and 92 feet long, with a swimming-pool 40 feet wide and 80 feet long; a fencing-room, a boxing-room, a wrestling-room, besides the necessary dressing-rooms for both cadets and officers. In the basement is a shooting gallery for indoor rifle and pistol practice.
North of the Gymnasium and fronting the Plain, are the quarters of the Superintendent of the Academy, an interesting old house that dates from 1820. Surrounding the house is a quaint old ironwork porch of later date, but old enough to be a curiosity today. A well-proportioned central hall gives access to charming suites of spacious rooms on both sides of the quarters, but the suite on the left is the more beautiful for it offers a fascinating vista of three large rooms terminating in a conservatory filled with exotic plants. Delightful hospitality has been dispensed in these rooms to some of the most noted people in the world. Royalty, distinguished foreigners, civilians, and soldiers, noted American men and women are constantly visiting West Point to inspect the school and are always entertained by the Superintendent. If the walls of these quarters could speak they would relate some interesting incidents of the official life of West Point. The beauty of the rooms is today enhanced by a number of fine family portraits,painted by Thomas Sully, and the property of the present Superintendent, Colonel John Biddle, Corps of Engineers.
At any official function the guests usually crowd the fascinating old porch to watch the evolutions of the cadets upon the Plain opposite, or sometimes they indulgently stand on the front stone steps to pose for the breathlessly impatient movie men and photographers. The quarters are surrounded by beautiful, well-kept lawns and tall graceful elm trees.
A traveler may go far before he will behold so majestic a view as that of the Hudson River from Trophy Point and Battle Monument. For pure beauty it is unsurpassed. In the distance lies the city of Newburg, against a dim background of the Shawangunk Mountains, and in the foreground the little village of Coldspring nestles close to the side of rugged Breakneck. On the opposite side Cro’s Nest descends abruptly to the water. At this spot the Hudson seems to be surrounded on all sides by land so that the beholder might well imagine himself in Europe among the Italian Lakes.
Upon this spot are a number of trophies, among the most interesting of which is a portion of the old chain that, during the Revolutionary War, was stretched across the river from just above Gee’s Point to Constitution Island to prevent the passage of the British ships.
On a wooden carriage is a large Armstronggun, captured at Fort Fisher during the Civil War, and nearby are many other guns taken in the Mexican and Spanish Wars. The Swartzkopf torpedo inclosed in an iron railing was captured from the Spanish cruiserViscayain the war with Spain, and the twenty-pound stone ball was brought from Smyrna, Turkey.
The polished monolith of granite nearby upon whose tip stands winged “Fame,” poised with trumpet and outstretched wreath, is Battle Monument. The names which may be read upon its rolls are the victims of the Regular Army of 1861, to whose memory their comrades in arms have created this beautiful memorial.
In the words of the late Colonel Larned, “this memorial was not built by a grateful country, but by voluntary offerings from the hard-won pay of comrades in the field within hearing of the roarof battle, and in sight of the dead whose memory it preserves.... It is but right to add that the designer, Stanford White, and the sculptor, Frederick MacMonnies, have given a generous and enthusiastic labor to the work, far beyond the money recompense received, and in the true spirit of the artist and patriotic citizen.”
View up the Hudson River from Trophy Point
View up the Hudson River from Trophy Point
Toward the east is an equestrian bronze statue of the Father of our Country, seated upon his charger and with hand raised toward the Academy buildings as if in benediction of the institution that he labored so hard to establish. In these days of materialism, it is interesting to note that this magnificent gift was recently made to the Academy by someone who refused to disclose his name. The base of the pedestal bears the simple inscription “Presented by a Patriotic Citizen.”
The hotel, just in the rear of the Washington Monument, was built in 1829, and with the exception of a wing that was added in 1850, it has remained practically unchanged. It is not difficult to imagine, therefore, that its appointments fail to satisfy the luxurious tastes of present-day Americans, so that many complaints are heard, and not a few jokes passed at its expense. One humorist remarked that Washington was raising his hand not in benediction of the Academy, but in a warning to the guests to keep away from the hotel.
From the hotel, a steep little graveled path enticesthe visitor into a most enchanting walk that skirts the steep precipice along the river. For three-quarters of a mile, Flirtation Walk pursues its way with its windings and abrupt turnings, its ascents and descents, past the site of the old chain Battery, and farther on past old Lantern Battery on Gee’s Point, past the Bachelor Officers’ quarters, until at the base of Cullum Hall it ends in Kosciusko’s Garden. The latter is a cool little sheltered plateau, said to have been a favorite of the Pole. When the trees are in bloom, to stroll along the Walk is to feel the delicacy of nature, to behold the quintessence of her refinement. The foliage seems like maiden-hair fern through which charming little vistas of the river and the opposite bank are framed. On summer days it is a favorite for the cadets and their girls, who wander along its graveled path whiling away the time, or who seek out the choice nooks and screen themselves from profane eyes with a gaily colored parasol.
Near the end of Flirtation Walk alongside of old Battery Knox, a Revolutionary relic, stands the Bachelor Officers’ quarters. This building of brick and limestone, serves to tie the new buildings with the classic Cullum Memorial Hall and the Officers’ Mess. Its color is darker than the pink granite of Cullum Hall, to approach more closely the dark brown of the Library and the gray of the Academic, while its flat buttresses harmonize with the straight lines of Memorial Hall.
Photo White Studio“Spooning” on Flirtation Walk
Photo White Studio
“Spooning” on Flirtation Walk
In this building there are forty suites of three rooms and a bath each, besides rooms in the basement for the janitor and for officers’ servants.
Adjoining the Bachelor Officers’ quarters is the beautiful Cullum Memorial Hall, built of Milford pink marble and resembling somewhat in style, the Erechtheum, on the Acropolis at Athens. Just under the cornice and above the four Ionic columns is carved: “To the Officers and Graduates of the Military Academy.” To the left of the main hall is a small assembly room, whose walls contain bronze tablets to graduates who have been killed in action. The flags are guidons, carried by our Cavalry, both regular and volunteer, during our wars, chiefly during the Spanish War.
In the lower halls are tablets to Superintendents and to the deceased Professors of the Academy, besides fitting bronze memorial shields, recounting the battles of the Civil War in which graduates of the Academy participated.
Bronze trophy cannon are freely used in the adornment of the walls, both in the lower hall and in the hall on the second floor. They are chiefly Mexican and Confederate trophies, but a few were captured from the British at Stony Point (south of West Point) in July, 1779.
Among the most interesting perhaps of the cannon are the two large bronze ones in front of the main entrance. Both were made at Douay, France, in 1755, under the supervision of J. Béranger, royal commissioner of foundaries. Theone on the right (as one enters the building) is inscribed “Le Fâcheux,” and the one on the left “Le Conquérant.” Both were taken from the Punta Blanca Battery in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. These cannon are almost the exact duplicate of the five cannon at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., and very similar to two cannon at the Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Va. The latter guns, cast about eighty years before the others, are part of several cannon purchased from France by Virginia in 1778 for use in the Revolutionary War. It is surprising that the Spanish should have been using them in Cuba, since the Spaniards manufactured guns of equally high quality.
The four inverted bronze mortars that surmount the corners of the piazza were made, two at Sevilla and two at Barcelona, in Spain, and were surrendered by the Mexicans to the American forces, April 22, 1847. These mortars were known as stone mortars, and they were employed in siege operations to precipitate large masses of stone upon the heads of the enemy in the advanced trenches, or in like manner to clear the trench of its defenders preparatory to an assault.
The second floor is called Thayer Hall, a large, beautifully proportioned room used for public functions, officers’ and cadets’ dances. At one end there is a small stage and a few scenic fixtures. In this hall are the portraits of graduates who have not only gained the rank of general officer, but havecommandedin time of warunits commensurate with their rank.
The building south of Memorial Hall is the Officers’ Mess, where the bachelor officers obtain their meals. The building was constructed and partially furnished from Government funds, but it is kept up and managed by personal funds of officers on duty at West Point. In design it conforms closely to Cullum Hall, although plainer and more modest. It was so built as to be inconspicuous and not detract from the classic beauty of its stately neighbor.
The interior of the Mess is quite beautiful, especially the main dining-hall and reading-room, whose principal features are mantels ornamented with small replicas of the figures of Day and Night, Morning and Evening, that adorn the tomb of the Medicis in Florence. Both Cullum Hall and the Mess were designed by the late Stanford White and completed, the former in 1899 and the latter in 1903. The Mess is an organized body incorporated under the laws of the State of New York as the West Point Army Mess. It was started in 1841 by General McClellan. There is no Mess in our Army that has had a continued existence for so long a term as this Mess, and I have heard it stated that few English or continental Messes are as old in the above sense.
The trip around the buildings brings us to the Library for which we all entertain a genuine affection. The quiet and repose of its fine roomshave an attraction for both officers and cadets that no other building offers, so that it is usually filled with lovers of books, especially on winter afternoons. Cadets, officers, enlisted men, women, and children frequent the various rooms whenever an opportunity presents itself. There is no greater pleasure, I believe, at West Point than to draw a big leather armchair over in one corner of the library and there forget the world in a good book.
Like so many of the buildings at West Point it was built of native granite, and in the Gothic style of architecture. The present building was erected in 1841 on the site of the old gun shed and cost approximately $50,000. It was, however, entirely remodeled in 1900-1901. The Library was originally designed by a board of Army officers and the style of architecture determined upon was used seven years later in the present South Cadet Barracks. The dominant note that these two buildings gave to the character of the structures at West Point, determined the style of architecture in the comprehensive rebuilding of the Academy that began in 1904.
The library proper was founded in 1812, and with the years has grown until at the present time it contains 99,148 books. I am informed that the 100,000 mark will be celebrated by the purchase of a memorable volume. The Library may be said to be the oldest inhabitant of the neighborhood, for all its former associates, the old Riding Hall,the Cavalry Barracks, and the old Cadet Chapel are gone.
The latter building, however, has not permanently disappeared. Sentiment against its demolition was so strong that an appropriation was obtained to remove it to the cemetery to be used as a mortuary chapel. Consequently in 1911 it was taken down, each stone marked, and so carefully reconstructed that it is impossible to detect the slightest change in its appearance. The tablets, and the painting of “Peace and War” by the late Professor Weir have been preserved, but the British flags have been removed to the Ordnance Museum.
The cemetery is a beautiful, peaceful spot set aside for the repose of West Point’s dead. In the northeast angle is the cadet monument erected in 1818, to Cadet Vincent M. Lowe of New York, by his fellow-cadets. On New Year’s day, 1817, Cadet Lowe was killed by the premature discharge of a cannon while he was firing a salute. The pedestal is covered with the names of other cadets who died later on. Among the illustrious dead buried in the cemetery are Major Sylvanus Thayer, General Winfield Scott, Robert Anderson, and George A. Custer.
Along the main roads both north and south of the Plain are modest dwellings furnished for the officers on duty at West Point. The south end terminates in a broad plain used for the Cavalry and Field Artillery drill of the cadets.
In order that thorough instruction in both of these arms may be imparted to the cadets, detachments of Cavalry and Field Artillery are stationed at the Academy. Their barracks and stables form part of the new buildings, and are fine examples of what intelligence and taste can do for comfort and convenience. Along the west side of the drill field are the stables and, directly above, gracefully placed on the hillside, are the barracks provided with the best and most modern equipment. The presence of these two detachments of enlisted men, as well as that of the detachment of Engineers, is absolutely essential to the efficient instruction of the cadets.
An understanding of the uses of the buildings and some description of the prominent landmarks is necessary to a correct appreciation of the cadet’s life and activities. The survey that I have given in this chapter will show that West Point is indeed fortunate in many ways. Few places have been so endowed by Nature with such wonderful beauty and picturesqueness, and, in addition, a generous Congress has adorned the place with magnificent buildings equipped with the finest that money can buy for the training of the future United States officers.
Ina spacious room in the southeast corner of the massive Post Headquarters building dwells officially the man who orders all of the comings and goings of the residents of West Point: cadets, officers, and enlisted men and their families. He is detailed by the President to the immediate government and military command of the Academy and Post of West Point for a period of four years, and given the official title of Superintendent of the Military Academy, which carries with it the rank, pay, and allowances of a colonel.
The duties of the office are varied and complex. The Superintendent is directly responsible for the actual state of the discipline, instruction, police administration, fiscal affairs, and other concerns of the Academy. The necessary work is organized and under the control of various officers, his assistants, who constitute his staff. The office of Superintendent is regarded as one of the most desirable and most honored that the Government has to offer to an officer of the Army, and justly so, for the position carrieswith it a great responsibility, fascinating work, large powers, and enormous prestige. The President is in no way limited in his selection for the office. He may appoint an officer of any rank whatsoever, from second lieutenant to general officer, but the policy always pursued has been to intrust the important duties of the position to an officer of character, ability, and experience. The selection of the Superintendents of the Military Academy was confined to the Corps of Engineers from the establishment of the institution, March 16, 1802, till the passage of the law of July 13, 1866, which opened it to the entire Army. It is not an easy task to find just the man with all of the necessary requirements for this office. In addition to the officer’s military ability, grasp of affairs, and experience, it is desirable that his scholarly attainments be of a distinctly high order, for, since he isex-officiothe President of the Academic Board, he will find occasion to use his scholarship for the permanent benefit of the curriculum.
In general, the military demands upon the average officer’s time preclude the pursuit, on his part, of cultural and academic studies to any great degree, so that, while an officer may be of the highest moral character, have great experience, and on the whole make an admirable administrative chief, yet he might lack scholarship, which deficiency would lessen his value to the Academy as Superintendent.
Besides, the Superintendent should be a good judge of human nature, and in particular of young men. To be able to throw oneself back in memory to the age of twenty, re-grasp the fresh and immature viewpoint of youth, and then make the proper allowances for youth’s inability to see life as a whole, is a gift not given to many men. Some of us could do it if we would exert our minds, but many are incapable. Where sympathy and understanding of young men are lacking on the part of the commanding officer there is too often a tendency to judge a cadet by the standard held by his superiors which they have gained only through years of experience. Moreover, a broad man in command dissipates with a word all of the trivialities of military life that seem big for the moment, and relieves his subordinates of the haunting fear of an excess of participation in their affairs.
During the one hundred and fifteen years of its existence West Point has had but twenty-six Superintendents, each of whom has left a permanent influence for good at the Academy. The present incumbent, appointed in June, 1916, is Colonel John Biddle, Corps of Engineers, a graduate of West Point, Class of 1881.
The military staff of the Superintendent consists of the Adjutant, the Quartermaster, the Treasurer, and the Surgeon, all officers of the Army detailed to perform the duties of their respective offices.
The Adjutant is the Superintendent’s right-handman. He is in fact his chief spokesman and representative in all official and social matters. He is, moreover, charged with all of the records and papers of the Academy except those relating to disbursements. Ordinarily, this officer is the personal choice of the Superintendent, for it is essential that perfect trust and harmony exist between these officers. It may be of interest to the layman to know that an Army Post is very much like a large family, or perhaps a patriarchal tribe would better describe the relations of the residents. The Superintendent is the head, and the Adjutant his executive officer.
In the olden days when troops were stationed on isolated frontier posts, the officers’ families were entirely thrown upon one another for society. Although the necessity for these posts has long since disappeared, Congress has never authorized their abandonment, because their presence near some city or small town means a financial benefit to the towns people. The influence of the Representative of that district is sufficient to retain it, and consequently, as of yore, officers’ families must live together as one tribe.
This condition does not exist to the same extent at West Point as at other posts. The Adjutant is the peacemaker, diplomat, aide, buffer for the Superintendent in his administration of military and social duties. As may be imagined, he must be a man of great tact, good judgment, and possessed of Machiavelian diplomacy. He is alwaysbeing called upon to make decisions, and since every decision affects somebody adversely, he has great need of a feeling for humanity. His official decision is tantamount to that of the Superintendent in whose name he is always supposed to act.
The Superintendent’s QuartersBuilt in 1820
The Superintendent’s QuartersBuilt in 1820
All official letters to the Superintendent, or between officers, must pass over the Adjutant’s desk, so that in a sense he is the central operator, making connections of the invisible ties for the time being, between the various departments and persons on the Post. He also acts as a shield to the Superintendent, saving him from the annoyance of the minor routine details.
In addition, he is regarded as the hub of the Post’s social wheel. He initiates the public entertainments and authorizes the general social events of the officers and cadets. Naturally, he has nothing to do with functions of a private character, but for hops, dances, or other forms of distraction where one of the public buildings is used, he gives the authorization of the Superintendent. He makes it his duty to mingle freely with the officers of the command; at the dances he sees that visitors are introduced; whenverydistinguished guests arrive at the Post, he puts on his full-dress uniform and goes to the station to meet them. If the guests are merely distinguished, he details some officer to act in his stead, and if they are plain sightseers with letters of introduction, a young subaltern gets the job. He is Adjutant of theMilitary Academy and of the Post of West Point. The duties of the former office pertain solely to cadets, their discipline and instruction, whereas the duties of the latter concern the officers, enlisted men, and other residents of the Post.
A sort of Damon and Pythias are the Adjutant and Quartermaster: a mention of one suggests the other. The Quartermaster is in charge of the public lands and buildings; of the material for the erection of buildings, and for the repairs and improvements, and for all other public property for which no other person is especially responsible. Under the direction of the Superintendent, he enters into contracts and makes purchases for the Academy and prepares all accounts, returns, and rolls relative to the public property under his charge. He is also in control of the workmen employed in the erection or repairs of the public buildings, or in the improvement of the grounds.
A Quartermaster is in reality a supply officer. Everything necessary for the up-keep of the Post and the command, come from his storehouses. Clothes, trucks, wagons, frying-pans, rakes, road-rollers, twine, furniture, garden hose are a few of the diverse articles that he must keep on hand. In his work at West Point he is assisted by several officers, among whom he distributes the various duties pertaining to the care of the property, purchase of supplies, pay of officers and enlisted men. The supply of the cadets, however, is not under his jurisdiction.
Colonel John Biddle, Corps of EngineersSuperintendent
Colonel John Biddle, Corps of EngineersSuperintendent
The Quartermaster’s office is not entirely free from the official cumbersome machinery and red tape that clogs all Government branches. So efficiently does it check up upon all of its property, even to the most minute screw, that it has inspired great respect for its routine into those who borrow from its storehouse. Some years ago, one of the officers’ wives discovered the chimney of her house on fire. As she lived near the Hospital her first thought was to borrow one of the fire extinguishers. She rushed to the telephone:
“Hello! Hello! send over right away a fire extinguisher to Lieut. K’s quarters!”
“I’m sorry, madam,” replied the attendant, “I have no authority to let the fire extinguisher leave the Hospital.”
“But my house is on fire!” shrieked the angered lady! “What shall I do?”
“You had better telephone the Quartermaster, madam, and get his permission, for the Hospital holds the fire extinguisher on memorandum receipt.”
All matters that relate to the clothing, equipment, and subsistence of the cadets, including the purveying and supervision of the Cadet Mess, are under an officer of the Army detailed as Quartermaster and Commissary for the Corps of Cadets and Treasurer of the United States Military Academy.
The Government allows each cadet $600 per year and one ration per day, or commutation thereof, 40 cents per day, making a total of $746.00, but thecadet never receives in cash nor manages, his pay. The amount due him is turned over to the Treasurer, who keeps an account with each cadet in which he credits him with his monthly pay and charges him with the cost of his maintenance on a pro-rata basis plus what he has spent for clothing and supplies. The Treasurer furnishes each cadet an itemized statement of his account at the close of each settlement period so that he knows just how much money he has saved, or owes. The pay provided is ample. Cadets who are economical and take good care of their clothes, who lose no government property for which they are responsible, are able to accumulate a nice balance that is paid to them upon graduation.
In order, however, to insure that all cadets shall leave the Academy without debts, and with their initial equipment paid for, the Treasurer deposits fourteen dollars per month from the pay of each cadet. This fund is known as the Equipment Fund and totals $704 during the four years. Before graduation each cadet is required to submit a certificate to the effect, if such be the case, that all articles of an officer’s uniform ordered and received by him have been paid for; that, in case the complete outfit has not been received and paid for, he has in his possession $475 or that amount less whatever has been paid out for this purpose, which sum will be held and applied promptly to the payment of such articles of his uniform and equipment as have not yet been received and paid for;and that he has no unpaid debts contracted during the time he has been a cadet.
This provision is a very wise and beneficial one to the cadet, for he enters the Service free from the terrifying load of debt. Formerly the Equipment Fund was turned over to the graduating cadet, without any restrictions whatsoever. The consequence was that the largest part of it was spent in New York a few days after graduation, and the young officer was in debt for his uniform for many months thereafter. He started his career with a millstone around his neck, to which weight a few added that of a wife. As one experienced officer remarked, “The ladies are all right, but do not marry until you are out of debt, else every time you take a drink in the Club, you will feel as if you are swallowing the baby’s socks.”
One of the most important and difficult duties of the Treasurer is catering to eight hundred ravenous young appetites. To be a successful Mess officer for this large number requires much study, especially in this age of the high cost of supplies. The food provided is excellent in quality and well prepared. In general it is plain and wholesome, just what one would expect at a Military School, but the menu is sufficiently varied so as to please even the fastidious. Southern palates are not forced to long for fried chicken nor Eastern palates for oysters. To make the New Englander feel quite at home periodic boiled dinners gladden their gastronomic lives. Then,too, ice-cream, since the installation of an electric freezer, has become as common as the proteids.
The monthly cost of the mess per cadet is about twenty dollars. The Treasurer charges against the cadet not only the cost of his board, but also his laundry, his uniforms, his clothing, his room equipment, mattress, pillows, sheets, towels, and all other necessary articles. Moreover, the salaries of the policemen who clean the halls of the barracks, the bootblacks, the cost of the cadet hops, athletics, and text-books, in fact, the cadet’s entire maintenance is charged against his pay. The Government, however, provides for the up-keep of the buildings, the heating, lighting, and repairs, from separate appropriations.
The fourth member of the military staff is the Surgeon, who with his four assistants, medical officers of the Army, watch over the health of the command. Under his charge is the hospital for cadets, and that for enlisted men.
The Surgeon has authority to excuse an officer or cadet from any duty whatsoever on account of illness. In the eyes of the cadets he stands as the guardian of the Gates of Paradise. When the body is fatigued, or one’s head is choked up and eyes running from a bad cold, illnesses that in reality do not incapacitate one for duty, to have a nice sympathetic Dr. St. Peter jingle his keys and take you into the hospital for a brief rest is like the first whiff of a jasmine scented spring. The cadets soon learn to estimate the sympathetic qualitiesof a new Surgeon, and quickly pass around the word whether there has commenced the reign of an adamantine or tender Æsculapius.
The officers and cadets are required to undergo an annual physical examination, of which accurate records are kept. In case of illness, the nature is noted on special cards and filed with his record in Washington. The health, therefore, of officers, cadets, and enlisted men is constantly under the Surgeon’s eyes, so that really serious illnesses are rare. In case of persistent or long illness, the officer or cadet may be granted a sick leave upon the Surgeon’s recommendation.
The conduct of the business methods and military departments of the Military Academy, by the Superintendent and his staff, is annually inspected by the Inspector-General of the Army, who comes on from Washington for the purpose, or by officers recommended by him acting under specific instructions from the War Department. In addition to the above inspection, a Board of Visitors annually visits the institution. Formerly, the President appointed to this Board distinguished citizens from all parts of the country, who arrived at West Point the first of June and remained until graduation, about ten days later. They were shown the workings of the school, and had explained to them the necessities for changes and improvements, whereupon they made to the President a written report containing comments and recommendations that seemed desirable. The Board performed its duties well, butCongress thought that all information, upon which appropriations are based, should be more direct. A law was passed therefore decreeing that:
The Board of Visitors to the United States Military Academy shall consist of five members of the Committee on Military Affairs of the Senate, and seven members of the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives, to be appointed by the respective chairmen thereof, who shall annually visit the said Military Academy, together or separately as the said committee may elect, during the session of Congress; ... It shall be the duty of the Board of Visitors to inquire into the actual state of the discipline, instruction, police administration, fiscal affairs, and other concerns of the Academy.
The Board of Visitors to the United States Military Academy shall consist of five members of the Committee on Military Affairs of the Senate, and seven members of the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives, to be appointed by the respective chairmen thereof, who shall annually visit the said Military Academy, together or separately as the said committee may elect, during the session of Congress; ... It shall be the duty of the Board of Visitors to inquire into the actual state of the discipline, instruction, police administration, fiscal affairs, and other concerns of the Academy.
With the passing of the visits in June of the former Board, some of the picturesqueness and flavor of the social life of June week has gone. At this season of the year the beautiful natural scenery of West Point formed a superb setting for the thrilling artillery drills, the cavalry charges, the infantry manœuvres, the bridge building, the concerts, the dances arranged in their honor. The cadets were at their best for they had just completed their spring training and there were no recruits in ranks to spoil the smoothness and precision of these manœuvres. It therefore seemed the best time for an Inspection Board to view and report upon the work.
Accompanying the Board of Visitors werealways the wives and daughters of the members, who added to the social charm of the Board’s visit. The cadets privately referred to the young ladies attached to the Board as “splinters.” I remember, upon entrance, hearing one cadet ask another if he would “drag a splinter” for him. I later found out that this expression meant that he would be pleased if his comrade would escort one of the young ladies to a dance. The present Board usually pays its visit in mid-winter when the cadets are busiest with their studies, so that the equally charming Congressional “splinters” have little chance to win young hearts.
In the work of the institution the Superintendent is aided by a large number of subordinates. The number of officers and others in prominent positions on duty at the Academy is shown in the following list:
The majority of the officers are detailed from the Army-at-large for varying periods of time, but seven of the professors are permanent. The Superintendent, the heads of all Departments of Instruction, including the detailed heads, compose the Academic Board, which controls the program and methods of instruction. It is non-military in character, its duties pertaining almost solely to the various branches of learning. More especially, its duties are to examine cadets, decide upon their merits and proficiency, grant diplomas, and recommend for commission in the Army. It reports, through the Superintendent, to the War Department, on the course of studies and methods of instruction. It also recommends the text-books to be used by the cadets in each department. Each member has one vote, including the Superintendent.
The work of the Board is largely done by committees, both General Committees and Class Committees. The latter are composed of theheads of those departments whose studies any one class are pursuing.
At the close of every examination the Academic Board reports to the War Department the names of all cadets who are deficient in studies or conduct and who are recommended by the Board for discharge or transfer to a lower class.
The seven professors permanently attached to the Academy are: the Professor of Civil and Military Engineering, Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Chemistry and Electricity, Modern Languages, Mathematics, Drawing, and English and History. These members are appointed by the President and usually selected from officers of the Army, graduates of the Academy, who have specialized along the lines of their department. The President usually appoints an officer recommended by the other members of the Board, but he is not restricted in his choice and may select whom he pleases for the position. All of the permanent Professors at present are graduates except the Professor of English and History who is a graduate of Yale. When the Department of English was created in 1910, it was felt that the head of it should be a man who had specialized in English Literature.
Without reflecting on the graduates of the Academy, no one officer appeared upon the horizon with the requisite qualifications, a fact not to be wondered at, for few officers are ever in a position to pursue English courses that would equip themfor this position. Upon the creation of the Department of English, History was transferred to this Department from the Department of Law with which it had long been associated.
In addition to the permanent members of the Board, the detailed ones are the Surgeon, who as the head of the Department of Hygiene, is entitled to a seat; the Professor of Practical Military Engineering, the Professor of Law, the Professor of Ordnance and Gunnery, and the Commandant of Cadets, all four of whom are detailed by the Secretary of War from the officers of the Army for a period of four years.
In the Department of Mathematics and Modern Languages the Professor has an associate professor and an assistant professor whose duty is to assist in the administrative work as well as the instruction. The other departments have only assistant professors, officers detailed from the Army who might be said to act as an Adjutant for the Professor. In common with the remaining officers, they perform administrative routine duties, relieving the Professor of the necessity of attending to minor questions. The Professor’s time is very much occupied in the solution of problems that affect the Academy as a whole, in addition to the development of their respective courses, so that it is essential that his time be not employed with the unavoidable trivialities that arise in the conduct of his Department.
The great mass of officers on duty at the Academyare, of course, the instructors. These men are all officers of the Army, graduates of the Academy, who are detailed for duty in the various departments. Formerly, the tour of duty was for four years, but since the passage of a law by Congress, the Detached Service Law, familiarly called the “Manchu Law,” the time that an instructor can remain on duty at West Point, is dependent upon the amount of duty that he has had with troops during the preceding six years. No officer can remain on detached service, such as that at West Point, for more than four years.
It is apparent, therefore, that the corps of instructors is constantly changing, resulting in the introduction into the work of new blood and fresh viewpoints. This changing of instructors maintains a high standard of enthusiasm for teaching, so often lacking in institutions of learning where a subordinate teacher goes over, year in and year out, the same ground.
Moreover, the system of officer instructors is employed on account of the disciplinary value of their presence over the cadets. West Point is first and foremost a Military Academy, and it is of primary importance that the cadets shall absorb by example the spirit of discipline, and military deportment. Not the least of the advantages of having officers teach cadets is the contact that their presence maintains between West Point and the Army.
Officers are selected for duty at the Academyby the Heads of Departments who make every effort to secure men especially qualified for the work. For example, the instructors in the Department of Engineering are all Engineer officers; in Ordnance and Gunnery, mostly Ordnance officers; in Chemistry and Electricity, usually Coast Artillery officers; in Mathematics, officers of the staff and line who excelled in this study as cadets; in English and History, line officers with recognized literary tendencies; in Languages, officers whose advantages have enabled them to acquire a good speaking knowledge of either French or Spanish. Until the outbreak of the European War, officers on duty in the Department of Languages were ordered to spend the summer in study in either France or Spain. They thereby were able to perfect their knowledge to an extent that rendered them most efficient instructors. Detailed to this Department are two native Spaniards and two Frenchmen, whose services are employed to carry along the instruction of the officer instructors as well as that of the cadets, so that every opportunity is offered to the cadet to progress as far as his ability will permit him in the time allotted these studies.
The time of the officer is well employed while on duty at the Academy. In those departments whose period of recitation is an hour and a half, he has two sections daily, but if the period is one hour, he instructs three sections. He averages, therefore, from fifteen to eighteen hours of actualteaching per week. To this amount must be added the conferences of the instructors, conducted either by the Professor or one of his assistants. These conferences are held, usually daily, and vary from one to two hours and cover the material in the lesson or in advance work. By means of these conferences, the Professor is able to standardize the teaching without restricting the personality or individuality of his officers.
The routine work, that is, the keeping of records, weekly reports, the correcting of exercises, problems, and compositions, all demand a greater or less amount of time, and then what is most important, the instructor must spend many hours in preparation. I have known many instructors to work every night until midnight after the routine work of the day.
In the demand upon an officer’s time, consideration is given the fact that with him teaching is an incident in his career, and he must therefore have at his disposal, whether he uses it or not, at least a couple of hours per day for professional work and study. When absent from troops an officer becomes more or less rusty upon the duties of his arm, and he should, consequently, by reading, the solution of problems, writing or what not, keep up with the progress made in his branch of the Service.
General Orders of the Army prescribe also that at least one hour per day must be employed in bodily exercise, riding, walking, tennis, golf,swimming, polo, etc., and the officer is required to submit a certificate stating that he has taken the prescribed amount.
I give in somewhat tedious detail the employment of the officer’s time, because so frequently I hear, expressed by the layman, the opinion that officers of the Army have practically nothing to do. It is ordinarily difficult to disabuse their mind of this idea, chiefly because it is already made up. A visitor arrives at West Point to spend the day and seeing a few officers playing golf in the morning he assumes thatallofficers have nothing to do. He perhaps little realizes that the same golfers, or tennis players, are trying to get their exercise at a time that will not interfere with their academic duties that begin for each department at varying hours. That same officer, who plays a game of golf at 9:30A.M., will in all probability spend a part of the forenoon and afternoon with the cadets, and all evening in preparation. Appearances are often very deceptive. This is particularly true in the Army, which has been, until the war came upon us, subject to more unjust criticism than any other professional body.
In order to facilitate the instruction, the cadets are arranged in four distinct classes, corresponding with the four years of study. The cadets in the first year’s course constitute the Fourth Class, those in the second year’s course, the Third Class, those in the third year’s course the Second Class, and those in the fourth year’s course theFirst Class. The designation of senior, junior, sophomore, and freshman is not used at West Point as in colleges and universities, but the terms “Yearling” and “Plebe” are familiarly applied to cadets of the third and fourth classes respectively. The advancement of the cadets from one class to another is based upon proficiency in their studies, the details of which will be found in the chapter on “The Discipline of the Mind.”
In order to distinguish the classes one from another, the device of putting bands of braid on the sleeve of the uniform has been adopted. These lengths of mohair are called service stripes and are issued one for each year of service, so that the “plebe” sleeve is bare, the “yearling” has a single stripe, the second classmen, two stripes, the first classmen, three stripes. This insignia is of black braid for all gray uniforms except the full dress coat, on which gold braid is used. The chevrons, although primarily a designation of rank, also serve to distinguish some members of the classes. The cadet officers and the sergeants are members of the First Class and the corporals are of the Second Class. To many people, chevrons, or insignia or rank, means nothing. Girls especially have so little idea of their significance that they readily swallow anything a cadet tells them. It is the same today as of yore. I was at a hop not long ago when I overheard a young miss say to her cadet escort, who had just lost his chevrons, been “busted” as the cadets say:
“Why don’t you wear some of those lovely gold stripes on your arm?”
“Well—er—you see,” replied the ‘buck,’ “why that’s a sort of private matter with me now.”
O Tempora! O Mores! Tempora Mutantur, but not at West Point.
Until 1816, the cadets had no regular uniform, but were permitted to wear pretty much what they desired. Poor chaps, I scarcely blame them, because from the records it appears that for the large part of the time they were in rags. In winter especially, they hardly had enough clothes to keep them warm. In 1814, a uniform was prescribed, but little attention was paid to the prescribed dress, everything being worn according to fancy up to a major-general’s uniform. General R. G. Ramsey (Cullum Register, Vol. III.) states that “during the winters of 1814 and 1815 cadets were greatly exposed to cold; great coats had not become the fashion for boys and such comfort was a specialty. My wardrobe had been carefully prepared, but the inventory did not include the great coat.” This is the first mention of the cadet overcoat.
In 1816, however, an order from the Adjutant-General changed the uniform of 1814, and with few modifications made from time to time, this uniform is worn today. The gray color is said to have been adopted out of compliment to General Scott and his troops who, clothed in gray (due to the inability of the government to furnish themwith blue), had, on July 4, 1814, won a victory over the British at Chippewa.
Today the cadets have a few more uniforms, but the general appearance and the pattern have been only slightly changed since 1816. The present list includes a full-dress coat, a single-breasted coat of blue gray cloth, with three rows of gilt bell buttons in front, and button-holes of black silk cord in herring-bone form with a festoon turned at back end. The standing collar hooks in front and is ornamented with a blind hole of cord formed like that of the breast with a button on each side. The coat is cut off in front just below the waist line, but has in rear a skirt, ornamented with three buttons and cord holes. The full-dress coat is a garment of rare beauty and taste. I have never seen a more military uniform, one that expresses so well the purpose for which it is intended. It accentuates the good carriage of the cadets and at the same time clothes him with an air of elegance. It seems to me that anyone could look smart and well set-up in a cadet full-dress coat. When seen in full dress without his accoutrements, the cadet, with his slim waist, his well-developed shoulders, and chest proudly displaying those shiny buttons, and the little tail hanging down stiffly and conservatively, appears for all the world like proud young cock-robin going a-courting Jenny Wren. The full-dress coat is worn for ceremonies, church, official receptions, hops, and for social calls, dining out, and entertainments.
For habitual wear, a dress coat, or a blouse (as it is more familiarly called) is prescribed. The garment was first worn, June 15, 1889. It is of the same style as the officers’ blouse, being of gray cloth and bound around the edges, the cuffs, and up the seams in the back with black mohair braid, having a collar of the same material, of height suited to the wearer.
The trousers are of gray cloth with a black stripe up the side, one and one-half inch wide. In summer, white is worn, either full white, blouse, trousers, and cap, or a combination of the gray coat and the white trousers. This mixed uniform is the most effective, especiallyen masse, at a ceremony when the white belt and cross belts are worn.
For certain drills a gray flannel shirt is issued, and suitable breeches are provided for riding. The various combinations of the uniform are published in a table and designated by letter, so that the cadet consults the table for, we will say, “Full Dress A,” where he finds in detail all articles of uniform to be worn for a ceremony.
The uniform is admirable in color, appearance, and utility. It is regrettable that the gray color is not used in the Regular Army instead of the lifeless ugly olive drab. It is equally as invisible, more attractive in appearance, no easier soiled, and easier to clean when soiled.
The only article of cadet uniform that seems out of harmony with the rest, is the cadet cap. This headgear has no distinction and should beabolished. It replaced, some years ago, a forage cap patterned after those worn in the Civil War, but I do not think that the change was any improvement. The visor is too drooping, and the crown, too narrow and rigid, is clumsily fashioned. The majority of the cadets look as if they had put on by mistake, their small brother’s hat, giving them a vaudeville appearance, in some cases as ludicrous as Weber and Fields.
The day’s work of the Powers that Be, however, includes so many more important things than the appearance of a cadet cap that the style of the cap passes by unnoticed. The great aim of the Academy is to mold a man’s character and train him to think. The Superintendent must constantly keep his finger on the Academy’s pulse to see that these aims are being successfully carried out. To the cadets he is as far removed from their life as were the gods of Olympus from the common mortals. Not that the Superintendent wishes it so, but because of circumstances. The big problems of the Academy occupy so much of his time that he comes into comparatively little personal contact with the cadets. Like Henry IV., by being seldom seen, he is, when he appears, like a comet wondered at by them who tell each other:
“That is he, the ‘Supt.’”
To be summoned before his presence makes a cadet anticipate the feeling when he will appear before the final bar of justice. He dons his full-dressuniform, pulls on a pair of white lisle thread gloves, puts a visiting card in his hat band to have it ready for Woods, the Superintendent’s messenger, and sallies forth, his heart a-tremble at the thought of appearing before Olympus.
He quickly reviews his past, wondering what he has done, for he thinks of course that he has unwittingly committed some offense. It is only when he finds himself standing before the Superintendent’s desk saluting and saying:
“Sir, Cadet Ducrot reports as ordered,” that he realizes that he is in the presence of a very human person like himself.
The wonderful prestige that the Superintendent has with the cadets is due, not so much to his rank, but to the fact that he too was once a cadet, and passed through experiences similar to their own. They appreciate the success that he has made in their chosen profession, and his example affords inspiration to many, for they argue that once upon a time, long ago, he too was a new cadet in “Beast Barracks.”