page_title: History of the United States Military Academy
section_title: Mexican War until the Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: History of the United States Military Academy / Mexican War until the Civil War
caption_attribution_description: English: West Point Cadets circa 1870
context_page_description: The history of the United States Military Academy can be traced to fortifications constructed on the West Point of the Hudson River during the American Revolutionary War in 1778. Following the war, President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation establishing the United States Military Academy on the site in 1802. In 1817 the Academy was transformed by the appointment of Sylvanus Thayer who drastically reformed the curriculum.
context_section_description: Robert E. Lee (class of 1829) was the Superintendent from 1852–1857. In 1857, West Point began the current process of admitting candidates nominated by the members of the United States Congress, one for each congressional district. The 1850s saw a modernization of many sorts at West Point, and this era was often romanticized by the graduates who led both sides of the Civil War as the "end of the Old West Point era". New barracks brought better heat and gas lighting, while new ordnance and tactics training incorporated new rifle and musket technology and advancement such as the steam engine. With the outbreak of the Civil War, West Point graduates filled the general officer ranks of the rapidly expanding Confederate and Union armies. Two hundred ninety four graduates served as general officers for the Union, and 151 served as general officers for the Confederacy. An astounding 10% of all graduates (105) were killed in action during the war, and another 15% (151) were wounded in action. Nearly every general officer of note from either side during the Civil War was a graduate of West Point.
caption: The Corps of Cadets, circa 1870s
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