Sylvanus Thayer Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General Sylvanus Thayer ( June 9 , 1785 – September 7 , 1872 ) also known as " the Father of West Point " was an early superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point and an early advocate of engineering education in the United States . Biography . Thayer was born in Braintree , Massachusetts , the son of farmer Nathaniel Thayer and his wife Dorcas . In 1793 , at the age of 8 , Thayer was sent to live with his uncle Azariah Faxon and attend school in Washington , New Hampshire . There he met General Benjamin Pierce , who , like Faxon , was a veteran of the Revolutionary War . In 1803 Thayer matriculated at Dartmouth College , graduating in 1807 as valedictorian of his class . Thayer , however , never gave the valedictory address at Dartmouth , having been granted an appointment to West Point by President Thomas Jefferson at the behest of General Pierce . Thayer graduated from the Military Academy after a single year , and received his commission as a second lieutenant in 1808 . During the War of 1812 , Thayer directed the fortification and defense of Norfolk , Virginia , and was promoted to major . In 1815 , Thayer was provided $ 5 , 000 to travel to Europe , where he studied for two years at the French École Polytechnique . While traveling in Europe he amassed a collection of science and especially mathematics texts that now form a valuable collection for historians of mathematics . In 1817 , President James Monroe ordered Thayer to West Point to become superintendent of the Military Academy . Under his stewardship , the Academy became the nation ' s first college of engineering . Colonel Thayer ' s time at West Point ended with his resignation in 1833 , after a disagreement with President Andrew Jackson . He was elected an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1834 . Thayer returned to duty with the Army Corps of Engineers . Thayer spent the great majority of the next 30 years as the chief engineer for the Boston area . During this time he oversaw the construction of both Fort Warren and Fort Independence to defend Boston Harbor . Thayer ' s great engineering ability can be observed in both of the above mentioned forts . Thayer retired from the Army on June 1 , 1863 with the rank of colonel in the Corps of Engineers . On April 21 , 1864 , President Abraham Lincoln nominated Thayer for the award of the honorary grade of brevet brigadier general , United States Army ( Regular Army ) , to rank from May 31 , 1863 , the day before he retired , for long and faithful service . The U . S . Senate confirmed the award on April 27 , 1864 . As a result of Thayer ' s enduring legacy at the United States Military Academy , in 1869 a notable meeting took place in Braintree between Thayer and the celebrated West Point graduate and Civil War hero Brigadier General Robert Anderson . An outcome of Anderson ' s 1869 meeting with Thayer was establishment of the Military Academy ' s Association of Graduates ( AoG ) . In 1867 , Thayer donated $ 30 , 000 to the trustees of Dartmouth College to create the Thayer School of Engineering . Thayer personally located and recommended USMA graduate Lieutenant Robert Fletcher to Dartmouth president Asa Dodge Smith . Fletcher became the school ' s first — then only — professor and dean . The Thayer School admitted its first three students to a graduate program in 1871 . Also in 1871 at the bequest of his will Thayer Academy in Braintree , Massachusetts was conceived . It opened September 12 , 1877 . Sylvanus Thayer died on September 7 , 1872 at his home in Braintree . He was reinterred at West Point Cemetery in 1877 . To honor his achievements , in 1958 , the Sylvanus Thayer Award was created by the United States Military Academy . He has been honored by the United States Postal Service with a 9¢ Great Americans series postage stamp .