Virginia Military Institute - Bomb Yearbook (Lexington, VA)

Page 21 text:

The first appointnitiit of Cadets were : William D. Fair, of Amherst Co., ' a. ; William H. Henderson, of Loudon Co., ' a. : Edmund Pendleton, of Boteloure Co., ' a. ; T. J. B. Cramer, of Frederick Co., ' a. ; W att M. Elliot, of Buckingham Co., ' a. ; William Forbes, of Richmond City, ' a. ; John T. Smith, of Norfolk Borough, Va. ; Hamilton L. Shields, of Norfolk Borough, ' a. ; ' alentine C. Saunders, of Loudon Co., ' a. ; William S. Beale, of Shenandoah Co., Va. ; John H. Jamison, of Culpepper Co., ' a. ; James Marshall, of Front Royal, ' a. ; Benjamin Sharp, of Lee Co., ' a. ; Samuel Chilton, of Kanawha Co., Va. ; James Kenny, of Rockingham Co., ' a. ; Samuel B. Pryor, of Brunswick Co., ' a. ; Louis A. Garnett, of Esse.x Co., ' a. ; Oscar yi. Knight, of Nottoway Co., ' a. ; illiani Smith, of Richmond Co., ' a. ; James H. Lawrence, of Caroline Co., a. ; Joseph W. Bell, of Augusta Co., ' a. ; McCorklc, of Rockbridge Co., ' a. ; Andrew Jackson Hamilton, of Rockbridge Co., ' a. ; Charles Alfred Crump, of Powhatan Co., ' a. ; Philip J. Winn, of Fhnanna Co., ' a. ; John Bowie Strange, of Fluvanna Co., Va.; Boaz Burrows Tibbs, Henry B. Sumpter, of ard B. Washington, of Everett Carter, of Albe- P. Dverle, of Roanoke Williams, of Roanoke A written appoint- the above-named cadets. President of the Board of a printed copy of the in much the same form each cadet to report at of Monongalia Co., ' a. ; Campbell Co., ' a.; Rich- Fairfax Co., ' a. ; Cliarles marie Co., ' a. ; Charles Co., Va. ; George W. Co., Va. ment was sent to each of signed by Col. Crozet, as ' i.sitors, accompanied by Rules and Regulations, as now printed, ordering Lexington on the iilh of November, 1839, prepared to enter upon his duties. We all came by st.age — then the only mode of convevance to Lexington. The buildings, as thev were occupied by the old State Guard, consisted of a Barracks of brick, two stories high, and an Arsenal four stories high, also of Ijrick, containing boxes packed with flint-lock muskets and rifles, cartridge boxes and pipe clay leather belts. The l)uildings were enclosed by a brick wall, twenty feet high, and the windows of the Barracks were securely defended by stout iron bars, to restrain the wandering propensities of the guard. The only lights used bv the cadets were tin lamps, in which whale oil was burned. The water consumed by the cadets, both for ablution and for drinking purposes, was hauled in barrels from springs near the grounds. The basement of the Arsenal, with a brick floor, was utilized for a mess hall, and was heated by an ordinarv iron stove. The steward and commissary, with his family, occupied two or three rooms in the central portion of the second stor of the Barracks.

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Early Days at the V. M. I. Forsan et haec olim memenisse juvabit. I have been requested to write out uiv rectillections of the early days of the ' irginia Military Institute. I will endeavor to gather, out of m - fast fading recollections, all that 1 can now recall of these events of more than half a century ago. Amongst the prominent institutions of the town of Lexington, in former days, was a debating society, which assembled weekh- for the discussion of educational, social, economic, scientiiic and political questions. The membership of this society con- clergvnien, law -ers and other men of culture, ington, there stood on the present site of the stands of flint-lock fire-arms, muskets and rifles. These were guarded b - a company of twentx- under connnand of a captain, in State ser ' ice. It occurred to the members ot the Franklin priated to the support of the Arsenal and the the establishment and support of a State ?ililitary tar - Aeadenn- at West Point. Accordingly, in an Act of the General Assembly of 1S3S, a ceeded to organize the school by electing a .Smith, then Professor of jMathematics at Hamp- Point, was elected Superintendent and Professor was made Professor of Latin and Modern sisted of the professors of Washington College, In the vear 1838, near the town of Lex- V. M. I. a State Arsenal, containing about 30,000 for the use of the State militia in case of war. enlisted soldiers, with two negro musicians, at an annual cost tt) the State of $6,000. Literarv Society that the , ' ?6,ooo annually appro- guard might be more usefidly appropriated to School, somewhat on the plan of the U. S. Mili- the month of September, 1839, in pursuance of P)Oard of Visitors met at Lexington, and pro- Superintendent and Professors. Francis H. den Sydne - College, and a graduate of West of Mathematics, with the military rank of Major, and John T. L. Preston, A. M. Languages, with the rank of Captain. The first Board of Visitors consisted of: Col. Claude Crozet, a veteran Lieutenant of Engineers, of Napoleon ' s Russian army of invasion of 18 1 2, who was made President of the Board ; Gen. Charles P. Dorman, of Lexington, Va.; Gov. James xMcDowell, of Lexington, Va. ; Dr. Alfred Leybnrn, of Lexington, ' a. ; John T. L. Preston, Esq., of Lexington, Va. ; Hugh Barclay, Esq., of Lexington, Va. ; Gen. Thomas H. Botts, of Fredericksburg, Va. ; Gen. Peter C. Johnston, of Washington Co., Va. (a brother of Gen. Jos. E. Johnston); John F. Wiley, of Powhatan Co., Va. ; Gen. Bernard Peyton, of Richmond, Adjutant General and Ex-officio.

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The present parade ground was partly under cultivation as a corn-field, intersected by worm fences, and unoccupied by an - buildings except a few log cabins, which were utilized as section rooms. There was no professor ' s house as yet constructed ; except a brick hottse, built for the Superintendent, ]Major Smith, which stood at the west end of the fronting southward. The onl) ' tree on the parade ground at that which still stands on the gi ' ounds. There were a long since cea.sed to exist. The face of the hill was up. No path or avenue at that time connected the way of reaching the town of Lexington was by a of Main Street. At that da ■ there existed a connection lie- was brought about in this way : The old Society lutionary war, had a chapter called the ' irginia of General and other officers of the Revolution ; This societ ' had in its treasury several thousand the society, the funds on hand were bestowed on tions. The first, that the College should impart that thev should cause an oration, called the Cin- the fund, to be delivered each year by a member Washington College for military instruction, the drill and instruct in militar}- exercises twent - stu- class was to attend the daily drills and wear the the uniform, that where the cadets at the ' . ; I. I. of Washington College had a black star. Those who are old enough to remember the Winter of 1S39 and ' 40, will recall it as a Winter conspicuous for its severity. The ground, from the nth of November, was covered with snow for the greater portion of the Winter. But military discipline and the regular performance of guard duty were strictly enforced in spite of the weather. At that time no tailors had been appointed at the Institute, and the sole dependence of the cadets for proper clothing was upon the few tailors in the town of Lexington. The clothing department was not -et organized, and not until after the newly-appointed cadets had arrived, were Barracks, with its galile time was the hickory, known as the Guard Tree, few cedar trees on the face of the hill, which have dceph ' cut by gullies, which have since been filled ' . M. I. with Washington College, and the only pathway leading down the hill to the extension tween the ' . M. I. and Washington College, which of the Cincinnati, which existed during the Revo- Chapter of the Societ}- of the Cincinnati, composed and of which Cicorge Washington was President, dollars of funds. When it disbanded, by a vote of the trustees of Washington College on two condi- militar) ' instruction to its stridents ; and the second, cinnati Oration, commemorati -e of the origin of of the graduating class. Ha •ing no pro -ision at trustees requested the authorities of the V. M. I. to dents, to be known as the Cincinnati Class. This uniform worn by the cadets, with this difference in had a l.)uttou on each side of the collar, the students