Military Academy: Difference between revisions

The [[Mexican–American War]] brought the academy to prominence as graduates proved themselves in battle for the first time. Future [[United States Civil War|Civil War]] commanders [[Ulysses S. Grant]] and [[Robert E. Lee]], who also later became the superintendent of the academy, first distinguished themselves in battle in Mexico.<ref name="grantlee">{{cite web |url=http://www.usma.edu/Bicentennial/history/1833.asp |title=Challenges and Validation|work=USMA Bicentennial|publisher=United States Military Academy|access-date=16 December 2008|archive-date=12 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012175449/https://www.usma.edu/Bicentennial/history/1833.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{sfnp|Crackel|2002|p=120}} In all, 452 of 523 graduates who served in the war received battlefield promotions or awards for bravery.<ref name="grantlee"/>{{sfnp|Simpson|1982|p=46}} The school experienced a rapid modernization during the 1850s, often romanticized by the graduates who led both sides of the Civil War as the "end of the Old West Point era."<ref name="Mexican War">{{cite web |url=http://www.usma.edu/Bicentennial/history/1848.asp|title=Mid-Century Time of Trial|work=USMA Bicentennial|publisher=United States Military Academy|access-date=20 December 2008|archive-date=27 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527195822/http://www.usma.edu/Bicentennial/history/1848.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref> New barracks brought better heat and [[gas lighting]], while new ordnance and tactics training incorporated new rifle and [[musket]] technology and accommodated transportation advances created by the steam engine.<ref name="Mexican War"/>{{sfnp|Simpson|1982|pp=48–49}} With the outbreak of the Civil War, West Point graduates filled the [[general officer]] ranks of the rapidly expanding [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] and [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] armies.{{sfnp|Crackel|2002|p=135}} 294 graduates served as general officers for the Union, and 151 served as general officers for the Confederacy.<ref name="Mexican War"/> Of all living graduates at the time of the war, 105&nbsp;(10%) were killed, and another 151&nbsp;(15%) were wounded.<ref name="Mexican War"/> Nearly every general officer of note from either army during the Civil War was a graduate of West Point, and a West Point graduate commanded the forces of one or both sides in every one of the 60 major battles of the war.<ref name="Mexican War"/>{{sfnp|Crackel|2002|p=135}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usma.edu/wphistory/sitepages/notable%20graduates.aspx |title=Notable USMA Graduates: Did You Know?|publisher=United States Military Academy|access-date=14 July 2014}}</ref>