West Point Cemetery is a historic cemetery in the eastern

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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy 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 Ne ...

, 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 Margaret Corbin Monument is a monument and United States Military Academy Cemetery, in honor of Margaret Corbin (November 12, 1751 – January 16, 1800), a heroine of the American Revolution. She died in Highland Falls, New York and was buried ...

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 A ...

, commanded Anti-Aircraft defense of

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

* 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 polici ...

* Earl "Red" Blaik, Army football head coach (1941–1958), member of the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vo ...

* 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 (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

general * Major General John Buford, 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 ...

* Major General Daniel Butterfield, 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, ro ...

" * Margaret Corbin, 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 aga ...

, Union artillery officer, killed during Pickett's Charge 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, No ...

* Glenn Davis,

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...

winner for 1946 *

Maggie Dixon Margaret Mary Dixon (May 9, 1977 – April 6, 2006) was an American collegiate women's basketball coach. Life Dixon was born in North Hollywood, California, and played basketball at Notre Dame High School. Dixon graduated in 1999 with a bac ...

, 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 List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

; 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) *Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) *Distinguished Service Cross (U ...

* Major General

John M. Devine John Matthew Devine (June 18, 1895 – March 8, 1971) was a highly decorated officer in the United States Army with the rank of major general. A graduate of the United States Military Academy, he is most noted as Commanding general, 8th Armored ...

, commanded 8th Armored Division during

; * Captain

Philip Egner Philip Egner (April 17, 1870 – February 3, 1956) was a U.S. military bandmaster who served as longtime director of the U.S. Army's West Point Band. As a child, Egner was a musical prodigy. During his early career he performed with the Metropoli ...

, the longtime director of the

West Point Band The West Point Band (also known as the U.S. Military Academy Band or USMA Band) is the U.S. Army's oldest active band and the oldest unit at the United States Military Academy, traces its roots to the American Revolutionary War. At that time, fif ...

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, historian, author, son of Dwight Eisenhower. * Lieutenant General James Maurice Gavin, commander of the

82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an airborne infantry division of the United States Army specializing in parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops Magazine'', 25 November 2012. Archived from tho ...

during

* Major General George Washington Goethals, "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 A ...

* Lieutenant General Howard Dwayne Graves, Superintendent, United States Military Academy * Major General William H. Hay, commander of the 28th Infantry Division in

* 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 ...

veteran, special advisor to the president during the Civil War * Brigadier General

Ranald S. Mackenzie Ranald Slidell Mackenzie, also called Bad Hand, (July 27, 1840 – January 19, 1889) was a career United States Army officer and general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was described by General Ulysses S. Grant as i ...

, 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 ...

during the Indian Wars * Master Sergeant Martin "Marty" Maher, Jr., athletic trainer and central character in the film '' The Long Gray Line'' * 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. Old_West_Point_Cadet_Chapel

West Point Cemetery Caretaker%27s Cottage

* Major General Wesley Merritt, 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 General Alexander McCarrell Patch (November 23, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was a senior United States Army officer who fought in both world wars, rising to rank of general. During World War II, he commanded U.S. Army and Marine Corps force ...

, commander of

U.S. Seventh Army The Seventh Army was a United States army created during World War II that evolved into the United States Army Europe (USAREUR) during the 1950s and 1960s. It served in North Africa and Italy in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations and Fra ...

* 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 Thomas Howard Ruger (April 2, 1833 – June 3, 1907) was an American soldier and lawyer who served as a Union general in the American Civil War. After the war, he was a superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, N ...

, 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 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. * 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, Civil War general and corps commander. * Brigadier General Sylvanus Thayer, 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 rifle, magazine-fed Selective fire, selective-fire subm ...

*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 Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

, Ireland and a soldier in the Ninth Massachusetts Regiment in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

, died at West Point in 1782. His grave is the oldest in the cemetery. * Colonel

Theodore S. Westhusing Colonel Theodore Scott Westhusing (November 17, 1960 – June 5, 2005), a West Point professor of English and Philosophy, volunteered to serve in Iraq in late 2004 and died in Baghdad in June 2005 from an allegedly self-inflicted gunshot wou ...

, highest-ranking officer to die in Iraq War – 2005, "Multi-national Security Transition Command – Iraq". * General William Westmoreland, Army Chief of Staff, Superintendent, U.S. Military Academy, Commander of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam from 1964 to 1968. * Lieutenant Colonel Ed White, first American to make a

spacewalk Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmental support. EVA in ...

, 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 orbit ...

fire on 27 January 1967. * Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Eleazer D. Wood, 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.

References

External links

*
Interment.net: West Point USMA Cemetery

Map 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 bu ...

Tourist attractions in Orange County, New York 1817 establishments in New York (state)

Notable interments

See also

References

External links