The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-02-16
WEST POINT FAMOUS FOR ITS GREAT MEN Special Class Will Be Graduated
 This Week DOES MUCH FOR NATION Four Great Wars Have Been Fought Largely With Men From This
 nstitution-Services In
 Peace and War.
DOES MUCH FOR NATION
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

United States military academy at West Point, a full three months ahead of the | usual time for graduation. This is done to answer the call for more officers in the field On account of vacancies in the grade of second lieutenant in the army these newly graduated men will not have to wait for duty but will find that opportunities for distinction are ready for them all. The number of graduates which is to be determined by the final examination will make the total of gradu- ates from this great institution, since It's foundation in 1892, nearly 3000. Included in this number are the names of many of the most distinguished men of modern times.
 West Point graduates have honored every sphere of human endeavor to which they have devoted themselves While the larger proportion of them have re- nlained in the calling for which they were originally trained, the number of those who have turned to other pursuits is 1 considerable, and a remarkably high per centage has been eminently useful in civil pursuits. Particularly have they been of notable service in the cause Of higher education. Drawn from every part of the union they have benefited every pG-1t or the union Dy lHelr dCIOiH- plishments, their learning, their zeal, their fidelity to duty and their high character. To be a West Point graduate is a marx of unusual distinction for any American. His alma mater is recognized as one Of the foremost educational institutions of the world, and his diploma is certificate of honor worthy to be cherished.
 The graduates of West Point have been the master martial spirits of four great a led the westward march of civilization, clearing the way for the foundation of states and cleaning the vast domain or q continent for the building of a grand republic, faithful always to duty and glV- ing their lives to maintenance or me union Those who have remained in tliG army have made every branch of the service honorable by ther integrity and resplendent with their genius. The best equipped pioneers of civilization, they | have surveyed it's future home and marked out it's boundaries, improved the | navigation of it's rivers and harbors, applying a skill and degree of practical l learning which have been of incalculable 1 value to the commercial advancement Of | the country. West Point graduates have | been the foremost instructors of the exact sciences in schools in almost every state; | they have been builders of great railway | systems, manufacturers and inventors, | and have done more than any other class of alumni of our colleges and universities to elevate the standard of scientific at l tainment in America.
 | To have a national military academy | was one of the dearest aims of Pres- l dent Washington, and what he said to | arouse interest in the consummation was l approved by nearly all of his associates 1 in the founding of the republic In his | last annual message he remarked: What l ever arguments may be drawn from par | ticular examples, superficlally viewed, a 1 thorough examination of the subject will evince that the art of war is both com ] prehensiVe and complicated; that 1t de- mands much previous study and that the i possession of 1t in it's most improved and perfect state is always of great mo- ment to the security of the nation.
 West Point had its beginning in Wash ington's administration in the designation | of a limited number of young officers oi l artillery and engineer branches of the army for special instruction: but it was not until Jefferson's administration that the academy was actually founded-ir 1892. From that year until 1918 graduates were given their diplomas without class rank Since the graduation of the class of ISIS the member of every one of 9( classes has been ranked according to his proficiency as a student and a soldier.
 West Point was too young an institu ton to have affected the fortunes of tht war of 1872 in the same way that its graduates have turned the tide of cam. paigns in other wars in which the United States was involved. When the war with Mexico was fought West Point was fairly well established and its instructors were among the best of all countries. How we'll the graduates served their country was told by Gen. Winfield Scott, who said that but for them the war would have lasted four or five years begin ming with reverses, whereas by their skil and daring a great country had been conquered with the loss of single bat tie or skirmish
 But the genius cf the West Point grad uate and the matchless worth of his training at the military academy were best illustrated in the great Civil War Over thousand graduates served the two sides, about one-third being on the Confederate side. Of the graduates or the union sde one rose to the grads of lieutenant general, specially created for him, six to be major generals, Il tC be brigadier generals in the regular army and 112 to be brigadier generals of vol unteers. The Confederate military estab lishment from President Davis, throusl the most distinguished officers of tn rank of general, were graduates of Wes Point.
 The two titans of the great conflict Ulysses S. Grant and Robert Q. Lee were graduates of West Point. As loni
 as the art of war is studied there wil
 be afforded no narrative of fighting ant strategy of more absorbing and striking interest than the continuous battle tough
 in Virginia for more than Il month
 between these two great American chief
 tains. While there were not few gen
 eral officers who by bravery and meri
 rose from the ranks O. the volunteers t do brilliant service for the cause the
 espoused. it was mainly upon splend . captains supplied from West Point grad
 uates under them that both Grant an
 Lee depended for the organization. tn
 morale and the cohesive effectiveness 0
 their soldiers in stratcgem and strus
 gle.
 With Grant for the Union were McCle
 Ian. Sherman, Sheridan, Burnside, Buel
 Pope, Rosecrans. Porter, Hancock, Hook
 CT, Meade Stanley, Sedgewick, McPher
 son. Thomas Sykes, Hunt, Warren, slo
 cum, Stanley, Granger. McCook an
 scores of other famous graduates of Yves ' Point. With Lee were such graduates a
 Albert Sidney Johnston Joseph E. John
 ston. Beauregard Stonewall Jackson
 Longstreet Bragg, Hardee. the two Hills
 A. P. and D. II. Early Ewell. J. E. I
 Stuart A. P. Stewart. Pemberton, Frencf
 Van Dorn, McLaws, Pendleton, Alexande
 and many others.
 How greatly these fought all the worl
 knows. When peace came they were tn
 first to clasp hands and the most faith
 ful in preserving the compact Their es
 amples have been worth more for tn
 preservation of harmony and unity anon l the states than all the constructive CT