West Point Cemetery is a historic cemetery in the
eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, on the grounds of the
U.S. Military Academy
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...
in
West Point, New York
West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York, West Point was identified by General George Washington as the most important strategic position in America during the Ame ...
. It overlooks the
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
, and served as a burial ground for
Revolutionary War soldiers and early West Point inhabitants long before 1817, when it was officially designated as a military cemetery.
Northwest of the cadet area, it was known as "German Flats" before its formal designation as the official cemetery in 1817. Until that time several small burial plots scattered in mid-post also served as places of interment. The graves from these plots and the remains subsequently found during building excavations were removed to the new site.
An improved road to the cemetery was constructed in 1840, and the caretaker's cottage was erected in 1872.
The cemetery is home to several monuments, including the
Dade Monument,
Cadet Monument,
Custer Monument,
Wood's Monument, and
Margaret Corbin Monument.
Notable interments
The cemetery includes interments of many notable people:
* Brigadier General
Clare Hibbs Armstrong
Clare Hibbs Armstrong (January 23, 1894 – July 12, 1969) was a highly decorated officer in the United States Army with the rank of brigadier general. A graduate of the United States Military Academy, he was the commanding officer of the 50th Ant ...
, commanded Anti-Aircraft defense of
Antwerp during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
* Major General
Robert Anderson, Union Army officer in command of
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is a sea fort built on an artificial island protecting Charleston, South Carolina from naval invasion. Its origin dates to the War of 1812 when the British invaded Washington by sea. It was still incomplete in 1861 when the Battle ...
at start of the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
*
Earl "Red" Blaik,
Army football
The Army Black Knights football team, previously known as the Army Cadets, represents the United States Military Academy in college football. Army is a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) member of the NCAA. The Black Knights play home g ...
head coach (1941–1958), member of the
College Football Hall of Fame
*
John Milton Brannan,
Union army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...
general
* Major General
John Buford
John Buford, Jr. (March 4, 1826 – December 16, 1863) was a United States Army cavalry officer. He fought for the Union as a brigadier general during the American Civil War. Buford is best known for having played a major role in the first day ...
, Union cavalry commander who set the stage for the
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...
* Major General
Daniel Butterfield
Daniel Adams Butterfield (October 31, 1831 – July 17, 1901) was a New York businessman, a Union general in the American Civil War, and Assistant Treasurer of the United States.
After working for American Express, co-founded by his father, ...
, composer of ''Taps''
*
Eugene Asa Carr, Medal of Honor recipient
* General
Lucius D. Clay, "Father of the
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, roa ...
"
*
Margaret Corbin
Margaret Cochran Corbin (November 12, 1751January 16, 1800) was a woman who fought in the American Revolutionary War.James, Edward T., et al''Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary'' Vol. II, p. 385-86 (1971) () On Novembe ...
, Revolutionary War heroine.
* Brevet Lieutenant Colonel
Alonzo Cushing
Alonzo Hereford Cushing (January 19, 1841 – July 3, 1863) was an artillery officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was killed in action during the Battle of Gettysburg while defending the Union position on Cemetery Ridge agai ...
, Union artillery officer, killed during
Pickett's Charge
Pickett's Charge (July 3, 1863), also known as the Pickett–Pettigrew–Trimble Charge, was an infantry assault ordered by Confederate General Robert E. Lee against Major General George G. Meade's Union positions on the last day of the ...
at Gettysburg; posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2014
* Brevet Major General
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.
Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...
, Union cavalry commander during the Civil War and the Indian Wars, killed at the
Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...
*
Glenn Davis,
Heisman Trophy winner for 1946
*
Maggie Dixon, women's basketball coach at West Point, 2005–2006
* Major General
Halstead Dorey, Commanded
4th Infantry Regiment during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
; recipient of
Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries.
*Distinguished Service Cross (Australia)
The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is a military decoration awarded to ...
* Major General
John M. Devine, commanded
8th Armored Division during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
;
* Captain
Philip Egner, the longtime director of the
West Point Band and composer of the
West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
fight song "On, Brave Old Army Team."
* Brigadier General
John Eisenhower
John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower (August 3, 1922 – December 21, 2013) was a United States Army officer, diplomat, and military historian. He was a son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower. His military career sp ...
, historian, author, son of Dwight Eisenhower.
* Lieutenant General
James Maurice Gavin, commander of the
82nd Airborne Division during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
* Major General
George Washington Goethals
George Washington Goethals ( June 29, 1858 – January 21, 1928) was a United States Army General and civil engineer, best known for his administration and supervision of the construction and the opening of the Panama Canal. He was the State E ...
, "Builder of the Panama Canal"
* Major General
Frederick Dent Grant
Frederick Dent Grant (May 30, 1850 – April 12, 1912) was a soldier and United States minister to Austria-Hungary. Grant was the first son of General and President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Grant. He was named after his ...
, son of President
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
* Lieutenant General
Howard Dwayne Graves, Superintendent, United States Military Academy
* Major General
William H. Hay, commander of the
28th Infantry Division in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
* Major General
Ethan Allen Hitchcock,
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
veteran, special advisor to the president during the Civil War
* Brigadier General
Ranald S. Mackenzie, Civil War veteran, commander of
Buffalo Soldiers
Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This nickname was given to the Black Cavalry by Native American tribes who fought in t ...
during the Indian Wars
* Master Sergeant
Martin "Marty" Maher, Jr., athletic trainer and central character in the film ''
The Long Gray Line
''The Long Gray Line'' is a 1955 American Cinemascope Technicolor biographical comedy-drama film in CinemaScope directed by John Ford based on the life of Marty Maher and his autobiography, Bringing Up the Brass'' co-written witNardi Reeder Cam ...
''
* Colonel
David "Mickey" Marcus, Israel's first general, only American buried here who died fighting under a foreign flag
*Brigadier General
Tully McCrea. Civil War veteran, artillery officer.
* Major General
Wesley Merritt
Wesley Merritt (June 16, 1836December 3, 1910) was an American major general who served in the cavalry of the United States Army during the American Civil War, American Indian Wars
The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier ...
, Civil War veteran, Military Governor of the Philippines
* Major General
Bryant Edward Moore, Korea IX corps, World War II 8th inf div "Timberwolves" and Pacific
* General
Alexander M. Patch, commander of
U.S. Seventh Army
* 2nd Lieutenant
Emily J. T. Perez, KIA IRAQ – 2006, NCAA Award of Valor – 2008.
* Colonel
Russell Potter "Red" Reeder, Jr., World War II veteran and author.
* Major General
Thomas H. Ruger, Civil War veteran, United States Military Academy Superintendent
* Major General
Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Sr., the first superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.
* General
H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., commander of coalition forces in the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
.
* Lieutenant General
Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott (June 13, 1786May 29, 1866) was an American military commander and political candidate. He served as a general in the United States Army from 1814 to 1861, taking part in the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the early s ...
, longest serving American general (1813–1861), commanded the U.S. Army from 1841 to 1861.
* Major General
George Sykes
George Sykes (October 9, 1822 – February 8, 1880) was a career United States Army officer and a Union General during the American Civil War.
He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1842, and served in numerous conflicts, ...
, Civil War general and corps commander.
* Brigadier General
Sylvanus Thayer
Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General Sylvanus Thayer (June 9, 1785 – September 7, 1872) also known as "the Father of West Point" was an early superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point and an early advocate of engineeri ...
, known as "The Father of the U.S. Military Academy" for the strict regimens implemented at his direction
* Brigadier General
John T. Thompson, inventor of the
Thompson submachine gun
The Thompson submachine gun (also known as the "Tommy Gun", "Chicago Typewriter", "Chicago Piano", “Trench Sweeper” or "Trench Broom") is a blowback-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed selective-fire submachine gun, invented by United Sta ...
*Brevet Major General
John Caldwell Tidball, Civil War veteran, commandant of the
U.S. Army Artillery School.
* Brigadier General
George H. Torney, Surgeon General of the United States Army
* Ensign Dominick Trant, a native of
Cork, Ireland and a soldier in the
Ninth Massachusetts Regiment in the
Continental Army, died at West Point in 1782. His grave is the oldest in the cemetery.
* Colonel
Theodore S. Westhusing, highest-ranking officer to die in Iraq War – 2005, "Multi-national Security Transition Command – Iraq".
* General
William Westmoreland
William Childs Westmoreland (March 26, 1914 – July 18, 2005) was a United States Army general, most notably commander of United States forces during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968. He served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from ...
, Army Chief of Staff, Superintendent, U.S. Military Academy, Commander of
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) was a joint-service command of the United States Department of Defense.
MACV was created on 8 February 1962, in response to the increase in United States military assistance to South Vietnam. MACV ...
from 1964 to 1968.
* Lieutenant Colonel
Ed White, first American to make a
spacewalk, killed in the
Apollo 1
Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was intended to be the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, the American undertaking to land the first man on the Moon. It was planned to launch on February 21, 1967, as the first low Earth orbita ...
fire on 27 January 1967.
* Brevet Lieutenant Colonel
Eleazer D. Wood Eleazer Derby Wood (December 1783 – September 17, 1814) was a Colonel and American Army officer in the War of 1812. Fort Wood, which became the base of the Statue of Liberty, was named in his honor.
Early career
Wood was born in Lunenburg, ...
, first West Point Graduate to die in battle. Actually a
cenotaph
A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...
; arguable whether he is actually buried there.
See also
*
Military funeral
A military funeral is a memorial or burial rite given by a country's military for a soldier, sailor, marine or airman who died in battle, a veteran, or other prominent military figures or heads of state. A military funeral may feature guards o ...
*
:Burials at West Point Cemetery
*
West Point Cadet Chapel
References
External links
*
Interment.net: West Point USMA CemeteryMap of the West Point Cemetery*
*
{{USMA
Military cemeteries in the United States
Cemeteries in Orange County, New York
Cemetery
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...
Tourist attractions in Orange County, New York
1817 establishments in New York (state)