West Point: An Intimate Picture of the National Military Academy and of the Life of the CadetRichardson, Robert C. (Robert Charlwood)
History
West Point: An Intimate Picture of the National Military Academy and of the Life of the Cadet
Richardson, Robert C. (Robert Charlwood)
United States Military Academy
Passing once more under the arch, we admire again for a moment the
graceful Herculean proportions of the Administration Building whose
imposing square tower, tipped with four smaller towers at the corners,
rises precipitately one hundred and sixty feet. It is an interesting
fact in these days of steel construction that this tower is built of
solid masonry. At the southeast angle of the building, on a level with
the base of the main floor, is an enormous eagle carved in granite,
its head high, its wings outstretched and flattened back proudly
against the two sides of the edifice, as if proclaiming to the world
its mission of protection over the Academy whose administrative heart
is enclosed in this structure. As we ascend the stairway, alongside
the basement at the left, we pass a large Gothic window which affords
light to a vaulted hall used for courts-martial. The interior of this
hall is in keeping with the mediæval donjon appearance of the whole
building, and of such a chill and forbidding aspect as to inspire in
the accused a feeling of guilt, _nolens volens_. The flight of stairs
mounts to the level of the Post proper where an eastern view of the
building is disclosed. A large sally-port leads into the court around
which the building is constructed.
The exterior walls are ornamented with shields representing the
coats-of-arms of various states, territories, and foreign possessions
prepared from the official seals, and expressed according to the
laws of Heraldry. The only coat-of-arms of an individual is that of
George Washington, at the top of the east elevation of the courtyard.
The obverse and reverse of the great seal of the United States will
be found above the east and west entrances, respectively, of the
sally-port. Flanking the obverse of the great seal are the seal of the
War Department and the device of the Corps of Engineers. In addition
to the shields, the devices of the various staff departments, usually
associated with a headquarters, have been placed in the sally-port. Two
of them, the Adjutant-General’s Department, and the Quartermaster’s
Department, are on shields on the north side of the sally-port, and
the Subsistence Department, Signal Corps, Pay Department, Ordnance
Department, Inspector-General’s Department, Judge-Advocate-General’s
Department, Medical Department, and Chaplain’s Corps, are on corbels at
the bases of the ribs of the arch.
[Illustration: Colonel Jonathan Williams, Corps of Engineers
First Superintendent of the Military Academy
From the Painting by Thomas Sully, Library U.S.M.A.]
In the courtyard the names that are carved in the granite were selected
for the following reasons:
WILLIAMS Colonel Jonathan Williams, first Superintendent
of the Military Academy.
SWIFT Colonel Joseph G. Swift, first graduate
of the Military Academy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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