United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy (USMA) is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort during the American Revolutionary War, as it sits on strategic high ground overlooking the Hudson River 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City. It is the oldest of the five American service academies and educates cadets for commissioning into the United States Army.
Secretary of the Army Pete Geren, center, with the U.S. Corps of Cadets senior leadership and Brig. Gen. Michael Linnington, far left, Commandant of the Corps of Cadets, after the congressional retirement review of the Corps of Cadets for Rep. Dave Hobson, center right, and Rep. Jim Saxton, center left, 2008
Artillery cadet in 1805, wearing a mixture of commissioned and non-commissioned uniforms prescribed for artillery cadets
West Point, from Phillipstown (1831) engraving by W. J. Bennett showing the original buildings of the United States Military Academy
Thayer monument
West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York, General George Washington stationed his headquarters in West Point in the summer and fall of 1779 during the American Revolutionary War, and later called it "the most important Post in America" in 1781 following the war's end. West Point also was the site of General Benedict Arnold's infamous and failed attempt at treason during the Revolutionary War.
Aerial view of West Point (at the center), the Hudson River, Highland Falls (on right), Cold Spring (on left) across the river in Putnam County
View of the West Point area from Fort Putnam, c. 1865
Looking north on the Hudson River from West Point (Seth Eastman, 1875)
View of West Point from the eastern shore of the Hudson River