Few institutions have influenced U.S. history as profoundly as the
U.S. Military Academy at West Point, which will celebrate its 200th
anniversary on March 16, 2002. Born conceptually in Revolutionary
War times, the USMA developed alongside the fledgling U.S.
government, responded to presidential mandates, and produced dozens
of national leaders. Yet the Academy itself receives short shrift
from historians, who prefer to study its graduates. In To the
Point: The United States Military Academy, 1802-1903, George Pappas
offers the first fully developed chronicle of the USMA itself, seen
through the eyes of the cadets and graduates who attended the
Academy during its first hundred years. Colonel Pappas has drawn
from hundreds of primary sources not previously available to or
consulted by historians: military records, cadet and graduate
letters, newspaper clippings, private diaries, scrapbooks, and
photo albums. Taking special care to correct preexisting
misconceptions, cadet sinkoids, and inaccurately reported facts and
occurrences, he has interwoven the personal and the official to
create a magnificent historical work. The reader discovers a key
feature of the book in its very first section. Here, informed by
newly available documents, Pappas describes in unprecedented detail
the 27 years preceding the USMA's official beginnings in 1802. The
reader learns of the Academy's precursors, the daily life of the
early cadets--down to band practice and powdered hair--and the
roots of a curriculum. Explained are the pivotal roles of such
movers as Henry Burbeck, Jonathan Williams, and Henry Dearborn in
effecting the Congressional mandate for the USMA. Subsequent
sections, consistently displaying Colonel Pappas' tireless
research, pursue the USMA's controversial first years, the
selection and training of faculty members, development of the
Academy's scientific and engineering curriculum, cultivation of
administrators such as Alden Partridge and Sylvanus Thayer, and the
institution's sometimes stormy relationship with the federal
government. Moving through the USMA's first century, the book
considers internal difficulties, disciplinary measures, and cadet
recreation, integrating the USMA story with the Civil War and other
historical events. The reader meets many historical figures such as
George Washington, Jefferson Davis, Edgar Allan Poe, Davy Crockett,
and James Madison--not as focal points but as players in the
Academy's history. Pappas also marks the USMA's long-term impact,
identifying graduates who performed outstandingly in the War with
Mexico, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, as elected
officials, as founders of colleges, as builders of railroads,
canals, bridges, and roads across the United States. Throughout,
readers will find the author's engaging, literate prose as
captivating as the story he tells--a style that makes rich use of
vignettes, folklore, humor, and the words of ordinary people to
bring history to life. Historic maps and numerous photos, many
previously unpublished, enhance detailed descriptions of physical
settings.
General
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