U.S. Military Academy established | March 16, 1802

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

The United States Military Academy—the first military school in the United States—is founded by Congress for the purpose of educating and training young men in the theory and practice of military science. Located at West Point, New York, the U.S. Military Academy is often simply known as West Point.

Located on the high west bank of New York's Hudson River, West Point was the site of a Revolutionary-era fort built to protect the Hudson River Valley from British attack. In 1780, Patriot General Benedict Arnold, the commander of the fort, agreed to surrender West Point to the British in exchange for 6,000 pounds. However, the plot was uncovered before it fell into British hands, and Arnold fled to the British for protection.

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Ten years after the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy in 1802, the growing threat of another war with Great Britain resulted in congressional action to expand the academy's facilities and increase the West Point corps. Beginning in 1817, the U.S. Military Academy was reorganized by superintendent Sylvanus Thayer—later known as the "father of West Point"—and the school became one of the nation's finest sources of civil engineers. During the Mexican-American War, West Point graduates filled the leading ranks of the victorious U.S. forces, and with the outbreak of the Civil War former West Point classmates regretfully lined up against one another in the defense of their native states.

In 1877, the first African American cadet graduated from the U.S. Military Academy, and in 1976, the first female cadets were admitted. The academy is now under the general direction and supervision of the department of the U.S. Army and has an enrollment of more than 4,000 students.

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on March 16th

1751  -- James Madison, "Father of the Constitution," is born

On March 16, 1751, James Madison, drafter of the Constitution, recorder of the Constitutional Convention, author of the Federalist Papers and fourth president of the United States, is born on a plantation in Virginia. Madison first distinguished himself as a student at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), where he successfully completed a […]

1850 -- "The Scarlet Letter" is published

Nathaniel Hawthorne's story of adultery and betrayal in colonial America, The Scarlet Letter, is published. Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804. Although the infamous Salem witch trials had taken place more than 100 years earlier, the events still hung over the town and made a lasting impression on the young Hawthorne. Witchcraft figured […]

1881 -- 18-year-old woman murders her lover

Francisco "Chico" Forster is shot to death by Lastania Abarta.

1894 -- Gunslinger John Wesley Hardin is pardoned

Infamous gunslinger John Wesley Hardin is pardoned after spending 15 years in a Texas prison for murder. Hardin, who was reputed to have shot and killed a man just for snoring, was 41 years old at the time of his release. Hardin probably killed in excess of 40 people during a six-year stretch beginning in […]

1903 -- Judge Roy Bean dies

On March 16, 1903, Roy Bean, the self-proclaimed "law west of the Pecos," dies in Langtry, Texas. A saloonkeeper and adventurer, Bean's claim to fame rested on the often humorous and sometimes-bizarre rulings he meted out as a justice of the peace in western Texas during the late 19th century. By then, Bean was in […]

1926 -- First liquid-fueled rocket takes flight

On March 16, 1926, American Robert H. Goddard successfully launches the world's first liquid-fueled rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts, the first man to give hope to dreams of space travel. The rocket traveled for 2.5 seconds at a speed of about 60 mph, reaching an altitude of 41 feet and landing 184 feet away. Fueled by […]

1955 -- NHL star Maurice Richard suspended; riot ensues

On March 16, 1955, NHL president Clarence Campbell suspends Montreal Canadiens star Maurice "Rocket" Richard for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs after he attacks an opponent with his stick and slugs a referee in the head. Riots erupt the following day at the Red Wings-Canadiens game in Montreal, causing the game to […]

1968 -- Vietnamese villagers killed by U.S. soldiers in My Lai Massacre

On March 16, 1968, a platoon of American soldiers brutally kills as many as 500 unarmed civilians at My Lai, one of a cluster of small villages located near the northern coast of South Vietnam. The crime, which was kept secret for nearly two years, later became known as the My Lai Massacre. In March […]

1970 -- Motown soul singer Tammi Terrell dies

On March 16, 1970, Motown star Tammi Terrell died of complications from the malignant brain tumor that caused her 1967 collapse. Over a span of just 12 months beginning in April 1967, the duo of Terrell and Marvin Gaye and enjoyed a string of four straight hits with some of the greatest love songs ever […]

1972 -- James Brown performs at Rikers

On March 16, 1972, the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, performs two shows for inmates on Rikers Island, the notorious New York City prison complex. Brown pulls out all the stops, taking the show as seriously as any other gig and delivering a message of hope to crowds consisting of young men being held in […]

1985 -- American journalist Terry Anderson kidnapped

In Beirut, Lebanon, Islamic militants kidnap American journalist Terry Anderson and take him to the southern suburbs of the war-torn city, where other Western hostages are being held in scattered dungeons under ruined buildings. Before his abduction, Anderson covered the Lebanese Civil War for The Associated Press (AP) and also served as the AP's Beirut […]

1988 -- President Reagan orders troops into Honduras

As part of his continuing effort to put pressure on the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua, President Ronald Reagan orders over 3,000 U.S. troops to Honduras, claiming that Nicaraguan soldiers had crossed its borders. As with so many of the other actions taken against Nicaragua during the Reagan years, the result was only more confusion […]

2003 -- 23-year-old peace activist Rachel Corrie is crushed to death by Israeli bulldozer

An Israeli-owned bulldozer kills 23-year-old American woman Rachel Corrie on March 16, 2003, as she protests a demolition campaign that destroyed over a thousand homes in the Gaza Strip. Following the death of their daughter, Corrie's parents filed a civil lawsuit against the state of Israel, asserting she had been intentionally killed—or that the soldier driving […]

2005 -- Actor Robert Blake acquitted of wife's murder

On March 16, 2005, after a three-month-long criminal trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, a jury acquits Robert Blake, star of the 1970s television detective show "Baretta," of the murder of his 44-year-old wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. Blake, who was born Mickey Gubitosi in 1933 in New Jersey, made his movie debut at the age […]

2008 -- Bear Stearns collapses, sold to J.P. Morgan Chase

On March 16, 2008, Bear Stearns, the 85-year-old investment bank, narrowly avoids bankruptcy by its sale to J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. at the shockingly low price of $2 per share. Bear Stearns seemed to be riding high with a stock market capitalization of $20 billion in early 2007. But its increasing involvement in the […]