Virginia Military Institute - Bomb Yearbook (Lexington, VA)

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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

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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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an - purchases made of cloth or buttons for the uuifonns. The temporary supply of rou ;h, blanket o ercoats was purchased for the use of the sentinels, to protect them against the severe wintry blasts. The consequence was that colds were ver) ' pre ' alent among the cadets, and great dissatisfaction and a spirit of mutiny prevailed to a large extent. So much so that a meeting assembled and angrily discussed the question whether they would not disband and return to their homes. This action, on being put to the vote, very narrowly escaped being decided in the affirmative ; but the resolute spirit of a few of the cadets, upheld and encouraged by their young Superintendent, who was then but twenty-si.K years old, sa ed the imperilled life of the Institute. In the Spring of 1S41 it was thought best b - the Board of ' isitors to add to and reorganize both the Academic and Military Staffs. In that year Major Smith, Superintendent, was promoted to the rank of Colonel ; Captain Preston was appointed Professor of Latin, French and German ; and Thomas H. Williamson, Esq., then an engineer on the Norfolk Petersburg Railroad, was appointed Commandant of Cadets, with the rank of Captain and Professor of Engineering. Two of the cadets — Fair and Henderson — were also thought sufficiently advanced in their studies to be appointed assistant professors, the one of Mathematics, and the other of French. The insignia of rank with these assistant professors was an added nmnber in the single row of buttons on the front of the cadet coatee. The name of Francis H. Smith, for more than a half century the honored and faithful Superintendent of the N ' iiginia Militarv Institute, will ever be associated with its history as its real father and tounder ; for to him, more than to any other man, is due its real foundation and its successful establishment, growth and progress, through all the vicissitudes which ha •e attended its varied existence through peace and war. By him its original plan was conceix ' ed and successfully executed, through years of labor and solicitude ; though the original, crude conception was roughly planned by others. The original Barracks and other buildings were twice destroyed, and as often rebuilt, under his super ision. Whenex ' er he handed to a cadet a diploma, certifying that he was a graduate of the . M. I., it was always accompanied by a beautifully bound Oxford edition of the Bible, as a present from the Superintendent, inscribed with some appropriate extract from the Old or Xew Testament. My own Bible, which has been in mv possession for nearlv fifty-four years, and which I carried with me all through the war between the States, has this in.scription on the fl -leaf, written in Creneral Smith ' s handwriting : •A TOKE.X OF AFFECTlOy FROM A PRECEPTOR TO H :S PVPlLr As a soldier of the Cross put on the -utltole armour of God, that you may be able to -jjitltstand in the eiil day . and liaxing done all, to stand. Stand therefore, haling your loins girt about with truth, and hazing on the breast-plate of righteousness ; and your feet • shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace ; aboze all. taking the shield of faith, zvherewith ye shall be able to guard all the fiery darts of the uicJted. And take the helmet of salvation, and the suord of the Spirit, zchich is the word oj Cod. — Ep. 6.- J, , o. 6. ;?.