Joseph Gardner Swift - 1814-1818

1814-1818

After completing the defenses of New York, Swift was called upon to form a new system of infantry tactics, to reduce the Army to a peacetime establishment, and later, with Colonel George Bomford, to rebuild the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., which had been destroyed by the British in the War of 1812.

Shortly after the war, Congress authorized the President to employ Brigadier General Simon Bernard of the French Army, a distinguished engineer under Napoleon, as an assistant in the Corps of Engineers. He was placed at the head of the Board of Engineers while Swift became solely Superintendent of the Military Academy. Swift protested the admission of foreigners into the American military, who in the event of war might become enemies. However, Bernard stayed on the Board of Engineers until 1831.

As Superintendent, Swift recommended sending two Engineer officers to Europe to examine French and Dutch fortifications and to purchase books to form a library at West Point. It was also hoped that one of them would replace him as Superintendent. Swift also secured a loan from Jacob Barker, a rich Quaker merchant, because no government appropriations were available. Swift saved the institution from abandonment when he personally arranged a $65,000 loan at 7% interest.

For some time, Swift remained in local command at West Point, and in January 1817, proceeded to Washington to present his grievances to President James Madison. This resulted in Swift’s resuming his position in Washington at the head of the Corps of Engineers and leaving Bernard without any military control.

Swift accompanied newly elected President James Monroe on his trip to examine the northern states and during the seven-week excursion was able to study the battlefields of the American Revolution and the War of 1812, as well as inspect arsenals, Navy yards and fortifications, and study the capacity of the country for defense. He also examined institutions of learning, particularly the Military Academy, in which Monroe was very interested.

At the time of this visit to West Point, it was decided that Partridge would be replaced by then-Major Sylvanus Thayer, who became Superintendent of the Academy on 28 July 1817. The Presidential tour continued to Maine, and Swift and a joint board of Army and Navy officers examined fortifications from Penobscot, Maine, to Connecticut. He also traveled to the Chesapeake Bay area and chose a site for a Navy yard at Norfolk, Virginia.

In 1818, just before leaving the military, Swift’s main duties were in Virginia. He studied the northern tributaries of the Chesapeake and made his last inspection of the Military Academy in September 1818. He was engaged with Governeur Kemble and four others in establishing the West Point Foundry at Cold Spring-on-the-Hudson. After contemplating civilian life for more than two years, he submitted his resignation on 12 November 1818, reserving all his rights as a brevet brigadier general in the Army, to be called into service in the event of war. He maintained this status until his death.

Soon after he left the Army, Swift was asked by the Corps of Engineers to sit for a portrait in his honor. The portrait, painted by Sully, was hung in the Library at the Academy upon its completion and hangs there today.