This book is intended to give, aside from a brief historical sketch of West Point, something of the feelings of the cadet from the moment that he reports for duty until he graduates four years later. Perhaps some of my fellow West Pointers will disagree with me in regard to my interpretation of their feelings, but what I have written thereon is drawn from my own experience and from many conversations with cadets of to-day. The customs, traditions, methods of training of the Academy are, I believe, unique, and they make an unforgettable impression upon the cadet. Especially does he become imbued with an almost indefinable influence that we of the Academy call the Spirit of West Point, and in the pages that follow I have tried to seize and translate into words this spirit of the institution. I have greatly enjoyed writing these pages about West Point, a subject very dear to my heart, and I offer this book to the public in the hope that my fellow countrymen may become better acquainted with the aims and ideals of their National Military Academy.

It gives me the greatest pleasure to acknowledge here my appreciation and thanks to Lieutenant Colonel L. H. Holt, U. S. A., Professor of English and History U. S. M. A., not only for his helpful suggestions and criticisms, but for his encouragement and unselfish interest in the preparation of this book.

I also wish to acknowledge the courtesy of the Reverend Herbert Shipman of New York, formerly Chaplain at the Military Academy, in allowing me to use his poem The Corps, with which I close the volume.

Since this book has gone to press, Colonel John Biddle, the Superintendent, has been promoted to the grade of Brigadier-General and relieved from the command of West Point. He has been succeeded by Colonel Samuel E. Tillman, Retired, who until 1910 was the Professor of Chemistry and Electricity at the Military Academy. Colonel Tillman perhaps more than any officer in the Army is better qualified for this important position. He is a graduate of West Point, to whose advancement he has devoted most of his life and he has made an exhaustive study of its needs. His appointment by the President seems to be particularly felicitous for he possesses a most intimate knowledge of the Military Academy. All West Pointers rejoice that West Point is in such good hands.

Robert Charlwood Richardson, Jr.

West Point, N. Y.,
May, 1917.