Virginia Military Institute - Bomb Yearbook (Lexington, VA)

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•FaVIH General Thomas J. Jackson Among them was Brevet-Major Thomas J. Jackson of the United States Army, later to become world-famous as Stone- wall Jackson. By 1860 an addition to barracks and new quarters for profes- sors had been built, and many improve- ments had been made to the buildings already in existence. At the close of her second decade, V. M. I. was one of the most complete and flourishing in- stitutions of learning in the South. During the Civil War V. M. I. be- came to the South what West Point is to the nation. At the outbreak of the war the Corps was ordered to Camp Lee in Richmond, where it trained the Confederate armies of the first two years of the War. In 1862 the Institute was reopened to serve as a training school to supply the loss of officers in the army. During this time the bat- talion was ordered to be in readiness to give support whenever their services should be required. L nder these or- ders, the Corps supported General Jack- son at the Battle of McDowell. Again it was called to support General Fitzhugh Lee at Covington. On May 15. 1864, the Corps joined General Breckinridge and contributed materiallv to the victory at the Battle of New Market, suffering a loss of fifty-seven killed and wounded. The bravery of the Corps at New Market is an immortal tradition of the Institute. The memory of it will never fade. • In June, 1864, General Hunter com- pletely destroyed the Institute. Materi- ally, conditions were worse than in 18.39. V. M. I. ' s indebtedness was much greater than her assets: two hundred and fifty-nine former Cadets and three of the professors had been killed in battle. Notwithstanding, the school was opened in 1865, and the faculty was strengthened by the appointment of some of the most distinguished scientists in the country. Among them was Com- modore Mathew Fontaine Maury. The Institute was rebuilt rapidly, but only at the cost of tremendous and unselfish labor by General Smith, the Superin- tendent, and unbelievable sacrifices on the part of the faculty — they received practically no pay for years. In 1890 General Smith retired after fifty years of self-sacrificing ser- vice. He was the builder and rebuilder of V. M. I. — truly the father of a great Commodore Mathew F. Maury 1

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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.

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institution. He was succeeded by General Scott Shipp, then Commandant of Cadets. During the administration of General Shipp V. M. I. began to attain its present proportions. A new Mess Hall, the Maury-Brooke Building, the Library, the Power Plant, and two professors ' houses were constructed. Colonel (later Lieutenant-General ) Edward West Nichols succeeded General Shipp in 1908. Under General Nichols the barracks quadrangle was completed and the parade ground enlarged to its present size. Jackson Memorial Hall and Alumni Field were completed, and many improvements were made both in the buildings and in the courses of instruction. • In 1917 V. M. I. was again called upon to fulfill its mission as a military school. The Institute was taken over by the government, and its Superintendent was com- missioned as commanding officer: its entire tactical staff were commissioned as officers, and all Cadets were enlisted as privates to be trained at the Institute for commissions. During this time all the army officers stationed at V. M. I. were her own graduates. V. M. I. was the only institution in the country so honored. The Institute furnished about two thousand officers to the armed forces alone. Among these were five general officers and 233 field officers. After the war four units of the R. 0. T. C. were installed, and the military functions of the Institute came under the control of the Federal Government. The unit of Engineers was later discontinued. General Nichols retired in 1924. after fifty years of service, to be succeeded by General William Cocke, a graduate of the Class of 1894. General Cocke resigned in 1929 and was succeeded by the present Superintendent, Major-General John A. Lejeune, Commandant of the United States Marine Corps from 1920 to 1929. In 1931 the New Engineering Building completed the V. M. I. of today. The difficulties in the path of V. M. I. during nearly a century of growth have, at times, been almost insurmountable. But, perhaps, it is from these very difficulties that V. M. I. has drawn its virility and its unconquerable spirit. The Institute. 1843 IBOi