Transcriber's Note:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.For a complete list, please see the end of this document.
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GUIDE
TO
WEST POINT,
AND THE
U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY.
WITH
MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS.
NEW YORK:
D. VAN NOSTRAND, 192 BROADWAY.
1867.
GUIDE TO WEST POINT.
Fifty-one miles above New York, on the west bank of the Hudson river,in the midst of scenery of the most picturesque and impressivecharacter, and on a bold shelving plateau, formed by the crossing of arange of the Alleghany Mountains, which here assume almost Alpineproportions, is a name dear to every lover of his country—a namereplete with memories of the struggle for Independence, and clusteringwith historic associations.
West Point, the property of the United States by purchase,possesses a primary interest from its military importance during theperiod of the American Revolution, and a secondary one from its beingthe seat of the National Military Academy. The creative hand ofnatural beauty—the romance of war—the distinguished career of those[6]who have gone forth from this locality in the defense of AmericanLiberty, and the spectacle presented by those preparing for futurepublic usefulness, have united to inspire the visitor with emotionsunlike those excited at any place of popular resort within the limitsof the United States.
Ninety years ago, when West Point possessed no attraction beyond thatpresented by similar adjoining wild and uncultivated woodland tractsin the Highlands, a band of Commissioners, appointed by the ProvincialCongress of the Colony of New York, instituted an undertaking whichfirst imparted a public interest to this favored spot. The war forAmerican Independence was in progress, and then, as now, the Hudsonriver afforded the principal channel of communication between thetheatre of the strife and the country lying northward to Canada andthe west.
Nor was its importance thus limited. As a strategic line, separatingthe New England Colonies from the more productive region south-west[7]of them, the control of the Hudson became, early in the war, one ofthe principal objects toward which the attention of the militaryauthorities directing the contending parties was attracted.
Between abrupt and lofty mountains above West P