Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PART I. HISTORY OF MILITARY EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. chapter{Section 4HISTORY OF MILITARY EDUCATION. CHAPTER I. WEST POINT ON THE HUDSON ITS HISTORY AS A MILITARY POST DURING THE REVOLUTION PLAN OF GENERAL BURGOYNE TO CUT AND CRUSH THE COLONIES THE VOLUNTEERS SURROUND AND CAPTURE THE BRITISH EXPEDITION THE CITIZEN-SOLDIER A NEW FEATURE IN THE HISTORY OF BATTLE-FIELDS BENEDICT ARNOLD AND MAJOR ANDRE. THE locality on the Hudson River embraced within the term West Point is one of historic interest to the American. At an early period it was called the "Gibraltar of America;" but, from the outbreak of the Revolution to the period of Arnold's treason, its position and possession covered vastly more in relation to ultimate consequences than can be alleged of the water-passage by Gibraltar in any period of which we have record. If Burgoyne's and Clinton's expeditions had succeeded in their object in October, 1777, there can be little doubt that the colonists would have been crushed and that the present American States might still be British dependencies. Or, if Arnold's treason had succeeded, three years later, there is at least the probability that a like result would have ensued. After the Independence had been secured, West Point, though abandoned as a military post, was soon selected as the locality upon which to establish a military academy; and at this time it is the only institution supported by the Government of the United States for the education of officers for the army. Many of the names that will appear upon the subsequent pages of this volume are to be found upon the register of the Academy, while some of the reflections connected with the subject of the book are intimately related to the school and the system it represents. In vi...