Virginia Military Institute - Bomb Yearbook (Lexington, VA)

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I V. M. I. HER GLORIOUS PAST General Francis H. Smith ■ Upon the suggestion and argument of J. T. L. Preston, a young lawyer of Lexington, an act was passed at the 1835-36 session of the Virginia General Assembly providing for the establishment of a military school at Lexington to replace the State arsenal there and to be regarded and taken as a part and branch of Washington College. Two years later the act was amended, giving die military school an inde- pendent organization. The new school was named The Virginia Military Institute by Colonel Preston. Virginia, as a State institution, neither sectional nor denomi- national: Military, indicating its characteristic feature; Institute, as something differ- ent from either college or university. On November 11. 1839, the Virginia Military Institute began its sessions with two professors, thirty-two cadets, an annuity of six thousand dollars, and scanty, unfinished buildings. Major Francis Smith, a West Point graduate, was Principal Professor and Commandant; J. T. L. Preston was Professor of Modern Languages. • During the first ten years Major Smith laid deeply the foundations of discipline and thoroughness of instruction upon which the V. M. I. of today is built. The school likewise expanded materially. In 1842 the State Legislature increased the annuity to seven thousand and five hundred dollars, and directed that the Institute be constituted a normal school to supply the State with efficient teachers. The school was expanded in 1846, and two new proifessors were appointed. To meet the difficulty of increasing enrollment, the legislature authorized die construction of a new bar- racks. This was the close of the first decade of the Institute ' s existence. The outbreak of the Mexican War in 184.5 gave early opportunity for V. M. I. to vindicate the thoroughness of its military training. Only fifty-eight graduates had left her; yet, twenty-five V. M. I. men. nineteen of whom held commissions, served with distinction in Mexico. The decade 1850-60 was one of great expansion. Four new professors were appointed to meet the needs of an increased corps and an enlarged curriculum.