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A United States Military Academy, too known just when West Point & USMA, is a U.S. military academy and former Army fort. These are located in West Point, New York, on the west bank of the Hudson River about 50 miles (Eighty kilometer) n of New York City, and occupies 16,000 acres (65 km²) adjacent to the village of Highland Falls, New York in Orange County. A post itself was number 1 occupied around 1778, and these are so a oldest day and night occupied post in the United States.

West Point's slogan is Duty, Honor, United states. Overview
Academy graduates come awarded the Bachelor of Science degree and licenced when Second Lieutenants in the U.S. Army. It must help the minimum of 5 years in active duty followed by triad years in the reserves. Unlike most more bachelor-degree granting institutions in the U.S. (however such when a more armed forces academies), a Academy doesn't refer to its students as freshmen, soph, juniors, or even seniors; it is instead officially known as "fourth class," "third class," "second class," & "first class." Informally, freshmen come "plebes"; soph, "yearlings" or even "yuks"; juniors, "cows"; seniors, "firsties."

History
the places was selected for the construction of a fort by George Washington, and a fortifications were designed around 1778 by Tadeusz Kościuszko. Additionally to various forts surrounding a front yard, a great chain was strung through a Hudson River in order to obstruct British ships attempting to navigate the flow of any stream. Though never tested, a chain performed its purpose by preventing British movement higher & down the flow of any stream.

General Wa considered West Point one of a first positions on the continent. the high ground above a narrow "s" curve in a Hudson Flow of any stream enabled the Continental Army to control the vital flow of any stream traffic. He felt that a British Army could have split the colonies within both whenever it gained control of this land. It wwhen as commander of the fortifications at West Point that Benedict Arnold committed his famous treason after he attempted to sell a fort to the British.

George Wthe quickly realized a require for a national armed forces academy, all the same his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson argued that there was no provision in the Constitution which allowed for the creation of the military machine academy. Yet, once Jeffersin became president, he signed legislation establishing a United States Military Academy on March 16, 1802 and the school opened in July 4 of the same season.

A Superintendent from either 1817-1833 was Col. Sylvanus Thayer. He is referred to as a "father of the Military Academy." He upgraded academic standards, instilled military discipline & emphasized honorable conduct. Divine per French École Polytechnique, Thayer made civil engineering the foundation of the curriculum. For the foremost half century, USMA graduates were largely responsible the construction of the bulk of the united states's initial railway lines, bridges, harbors & roads.

the development of more technical indicator schools in a U.s. when you took the post-Civil War period of time allowed West Point to broaden its syllabus beyond a nonindulgent civil engineering focus.

When World War I, Superintendent Douglas MacArthur sought to further diversify a academic course of study. Inside recognition of the physical demands of modern warfare, MacArthur pushed for major changes in the good shape & athletic computer software. "Every cadet an athlete" became an significant goal. At a equivalent period, a plebe management of a Honor Models, yearn an unofficial tradition, was formalistic by owning the creation of the Cadet Honor Committee.

Around 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation increasing the nature and severity of the Corps of Plebe from either 2,529 to 4,417 (other recently reduced to 4,000).

Women were number 1 admitted around 1976.

There is no classes graduated around 1810 or 1816 and there were two graduating classes around 1861, 1917, 1918, 1922 and 1943.

West Point began collegial tradition of the class ring, beginning with a class of 1835, & continuing ever since. A only exception is the class of 1837, which experienced class cuff links.

Within recent decades, a Academy's curricular structure has been markedly changed to permit plebe to major in any one of to a higher degree the xii fields, including a wide range of cases from either the sciences to the humanities.

Women at the Academy
West Point number one accepted women once Plebe around 1976, when Congress authorized a admission of women to everthing of the service academies. Women comprise astir 15-17 percent of typing cadet—or even freshmen—& it pursue a equivalent academician & office how to training when run their male class fellow.

Charted a Air Force Academy sexual assault scandal and due to concern with sexual assault in the U.S. military the Department of Defense was required to establish a task force to investigate sexual harassment and assault at the United States military academies in the law funding the military for fiscal 2004. Though a definitions were wide, a report, issued August 25, 2005, showed that in the period of 2004 50% of the women at West Point reported cases of sexual harassment while 111 incidents of sexual assault were reported [http://www.dtic.mil/dtfs/doc_recd/High_GPO_RRC_tx.pdf].

Sports
Army Black Knights logo A Military Academy's sports teams were historically known as A Black Knights of a Hudson, however the nickname has been officially shortened to Black Knights. U.S. sports media utilize Army as a equivalent word for the Academy; this usage is officially endorsed. A Army mascot is the Mule.

Football
Army's eleven at once was considered the top tier college program, reaching its pinnacle under coach Earl Blaik when Army won consecutive national championships within 1944 and 1945 as well as produced leash Heisman trophy winning players; Doc Blanchard in 1945, Glenn Davis in 1946 and Pete Dawkins in 1958.

A eleven plays it's page games in Blaik Field at historic Michie Stadium located on campus touching Lusk Reservoir.

Inside recent years Army was the member of Conference USA, its NCAA Division I-The football program reverted to its former independent status fallowing a 2004 season. It competes by having a more academies for the Commander in Chief's Trophy. A 2004 football year marked Army's third sequentially loss in the Army-Navy Game.

Other sports
These are the member of the Section I personally Patriot League in most more sports; its men's hockey program competes in Atlantic Hockey.

Notable graduates

For the complete list of a lot victims by using Wikipedia articles, understand :Category:West Point graduates. A bit of notable graduates when well late served as Superintendent of the Academy: view names beneath.

Non-graduate alumni

The writer & poet Edgar Allan Poe dropped out of West Point prior to graduating. He would use at times been in the class of 1834. James McNeill Whistler, artist, dropped away from a class of 1855. Courtney Hodges, 4-star-general of Globe War Two, would keep close at hand been in a class of 1909; dropped retired fallowing the number 1 season because "found deficient" around maths (and so was his schoolmate Patton, but Patton reentered to graduate by using a next class) Timothy Leary, counterculture icon and LSD proponent, dropped out of a class of 1943. Fred Phelps, famously homophobic evangelist, was appointed to the class of 1950 but dropped out before potentially attending. Richard Hatch (reality TV), winner of the first Survivor (TV series), dropped out of a class of 1986. Dan Hinote, professional ice hockey player in the NHL, dropped out in 1996 whenever he was drafted per Colorado Avalanche, and is the 1st NHL streaming video player ever existence drafted from either West Point.

List of Superintendents
First Superintendent: 1801-1812: Gap. Jonathan Williams (1751-1815) – In June 1803, Light colonel Williams vacated (he did non resign) a post of Superintendent. He returned withwithin Superintendency in April 1805. 1803-1805: Maj. William Amherst Barron (1769-1825) - Major Barron resigned his commission on 14 June 1807, good prior to he was bring back test by the court martial for "for …neglect of the Military Academy…â€? 1805-1812: Col. Jonathan Williams (1751-1815) 1812-1814: Col. Joseph Gardner Swift (1783-1865), Class of 1802 1814-1817: Capt. Alden Partridge (1785-1854), Class of 1806 1817-1833: Col. Sylvanus Thayer (1785–1872), Class of 1808 1833-1838: Maj. Rene DeRussy (1796-1864), Class of 1812 1838-1845; Richard Delafield (1798-1873), Class of 1818 1845-1852: Henry Brewerton (1801-1879), Class of 1819 1852-1855: Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), Class of 1829 1855-1856: John Gross Barnard (1815-1882), Class of 1833 1856-1861: Richard Delafield (1798-1873), Class of 1818 January 23-28, 1861; Pierre Gustave Toutant (P.G.T.) Beauregard (1818-1893), Class of 1838 January 28-March 1, 1861: Richard Delafield (1798-1873), Class of 1818 1861-1864, Alexander Hamilton Bowman (1803-1865), Class of 1825 July to September 1864, Zealous Bates Tower (1819-1900), Class of 1841 1864-1866, George Washington Cullum (1809-1892), Class of 1833 1866-1871, Thomas Gamble Pitcher (1824-1895), Class of 1845 1871-1876, Thomas Howard Ruger (1833-1907), Class of 1854 1876-1881: Maj. Gen. John McAllister Schofield (1831-1906), Class of 1853 – Awarded the Medal of Honor at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in 1861. Later commanding general of the Army. 1881-1882: Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard (1830-1909), Class of 1854 1882-1887: Maj. Gen. Wesley Merritt (1834-1910), Class of 1860 1887-1889: Col. John Grubb Parke (1827-1900), Class of 1849 1889-1893: Col. John Moulder Wilson (1837-1919), Class of 1860 - Awarded the Medal of Honor at the Battle of Malvern Hill, VA in 1862 1893-1898: Col. Oswald Hurbert Ernst (1842-1926), Class of 1864 1898-1906: [http://www.homeofheroes.com/photos/1_spanish/mills_a.jpg Albert Leopold Mills] (1854-1916), Class of 1879 - Awarded the Medal of Honor as a 1st Lt. at San Juan Hill in Cuba. Appointed Superintendent to West Point by President McKinley, which carried an automatic promotion from 1st Lt. to Col. 1906-1910: Hugh Lenox Scott (1853-1934), Class of 1876 1911-1912: Thomas Henry Barry (1855-1919), Class of 1877 1913-1917: Clarence Page Townsley, 18??-1926, Class of 1881 1917-1919: Samuel Escue Tillman (1847-1942), Class of 1869 1919-1922: Brig. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Class of 1903 - Awarded the Medal of Honor in 1942 for his leadership to Philippine resistance to the Japanese invasion. 1922-1925: Brig. Gen. Fred Winchester Sladen (1863-1945), Class of 1890 1926-1928: Merch Bradt (M.B.) Stewart (1875-1934), Class of 1896 1928: Edwin Baruch Winans (1869-1947), Class of 1891 1929-1932: William Ruthven Smith (1868-1941), Class of 1892 1932-1938: William Durward Connor (1874-1960), Class of 1897 1938-1940: Jay Leland Benedict (1882-1953), Class Of 1904 1940-1942: Robert L. Eichelberger (1886-1961), Class of 1909 1942-1945: Francis Bowditch Wilby (1883-1965), Class of 1905 1945-1949: Gen. Maxwell Davenport Taylor, Class of 1922 1949-1951: Bryant Edward Moore (1894-1951), Class of Aug 1917 1951-1954: Maj. General Frederick Augustus Irving (1894-1995), Class of 1917 1954-1956: Blackshear Morrison Bryan (1900-1977), Class of 1922 1956-1960: Gen. Garrison Holt Davidson (1904-1992), Class of 1927 1960-1963: Gen. William Westmoreland (1914-2005), Class of 1936 1963-1966: James Benjamin Lampert (1914-1978), Class of 1936 1966-1969: Gen. Donald Vivian Bennett (1915-  ), Class of 1940 1969-1970: Maj. Gen. Samuel William Koster (1919-  ), Class of 1942 1970-1974: William Allen Knowlton (1920-  ), Class of Jan. 1943 1974-1977: Sidney Bryan Berry (1926-  ), Class of 1948 1977-1981: Lt. Gen. Andrew Jackson Goodpaster (1915-2005), Class of 1939 1981-1986: Gen. Willard Warren Scott, Jr. (1926-  ), Class of 1948 1986-1991: Lt. Gen. Dave Richard Palmer (1934-  ), Class of 1956 1991-1996: Lt. Gen. Howard Dwayne Graves (1939-2003), Class of 1961 1996-2001: Lt. Gen. Daniel W. Christman (1943-  ), Class of 1965 2001: Lt. Gen. William J. Lennox, Jr. (1950?-  ), Class of 1971 (incumbent)

For the tourist
Limited tours are given on the campus. The academy provides a bus, driver and guide for small groups that are made up as needed from individual arrivals. West Point is often the first place for automobile tourists to stop and view on the New York City to Albany scenic Hudson River route.

United States Military Academy at West Point
The mission of the USMA is to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character, committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country as an officer in the United States Army.

USMA Admissions
List of critical application dates, overview of admissions process, FAQs, and points of contact.

WP-Org Inc
This is a non-profit computer network serving the extended West Point Community. This network is composed of a series of web pages and listservers serving USMA class year groups, parents of current cadets, and West Point societies.

United States Military Academy Preparatory School
The purpose of the United States Military Academy Preparatory School is to prepare selected candidates for admission to the United States Military Academy.

The USMA West Point Bicentennial Website
1802-2002. Celebrating 200 years of commitment to Duty-Honor-Country at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York.

Gusto's West Point Homepage
A small glimpse of the U.S. Military Academy from a cadet's perspective. USMA Bicentennial Class of 2002

West Point Forum Frigate
Unofficial discussion forum and live chat devoted to discussing the USMA.

USMA West Point Girlfriends
Introduction, letters, songs and poems, West Point jargon, jokes, girlfriend survival guide and links.

West Point Yacht Club
Site include member benefits, events and notes, club leadership, club roster, membership forms and useful resources.


Society: Military: Educational and Academic






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