History of United States Military Academy - Post Civil War Until Spanish American War

Post Civil War Until Spanish American War

The years immediately following the American Civil War war a difficult time for the Academy as it struggled to admit and reintegrate cadets from former Confederate states. The first cadets from Southern states were re-admitted in 1868, and 1870 saw the admission of the first African-American cadet, James Webster Smith of South Carolina. Smith did not graduate, so Henry O. Flipper of Georgia become the first African-American Graduate in 1877, graduating 50th of a class of 77. In the 35 years between the Civil War and 1900, the Academy admitted 12 African American cadets, with three graduating. Despite the low graduation rate, that fact that West Point admitted African-American cadets at all was unusual and progressive for the country as a whole during this time. The post Civil War Era also saw a shift in the Academy's curriculum from being very focused upon engineering to a more broad education. The control of the Academy was changed from the Corps of Engineers to the Secretary of War, and for the first time, Superintendents were not from the Engineer Branch. As the "Gilded Age" saw a blossoming of liberal arts education in the private sector, West Point struggled to adapt and change its engineering-heavy curriculum to match the times. 1875, Willard Young, son of Mormon leader and pioneer, Brigham Young, became the first Latter-day Saint to graduate. Other more notable graduates during this period were George Washington Goethals from the Class of 1880 and John J. Pershing from the Class of 1886. Goethals would gain notoriety as the chief engineer of the Panama Canal and Pershing would become famous for chasing the famed Pancho Villa on the Mexican border and for leading American Forces during World War I. The outbreaks of the Spanish–American War and the Philippine–American War saw the classes of 1899 and 1901 graduate early, the first such classes to do so.