West Point Cemetery

West Point Cemetery is a historic cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. It overlooks the Hudson River, and served as a burial ground for Continental Army soldiers during the American Revolutionary War, and for early West Point residents prior to its designation as a military cemetery in 1817.

West Point Cemetery
West Point Cemetery's old section in January 2009
Details
Established1817,[1] 207 years ago
Location
U.S. Military Academy
West Point, New York, U.S.
CountryUnited States
Coordinates41°23′56″N 73°58′02″W
TypeMilitary
Owned byU.S. Military Academy
No. of gravesApproximately 10,000
Websitehttps://www.westpoint.edu/about/west-point-cemetery
Find a GraveWest Point Cemetery
West Point is located in the United States
West Point
West 
Point
Location of West Point Cemetery in the United States
West Point is located in New York
West Point
West 
Point
Location of West Point Cemetery in New York state

Northwest of the cadet area, it was known as "German Flats" before its formal designation as the official cemetery in 1817.[2] Until that time several small burial plots scattered in mid-post also served as places of interment. The graves from these plots and the remains subsequently found during building excavations were removed to the new site.

An improved road to the cemetery was constructed in 1840, and the caretaker's cottage was erected in 1872.[1] The cemetery is home to several monuments, including the Dade Monument, Cadet Monument, Custer Monument, Wood's Monument, and Margaret Corbin Monument.

Notable interments

The cemetery includes interments of many notable people:[3]

Old Cadet Chapel at the entrance to the cemetery
Caretaker's Cottage
  • Major General Wesley Merritt, Civil War veteran, Military Governor of the Philippines
  • Major General Bryant Edward Moore, Korea IX corps, World War II 8th Infantry Division "Timberwolves" and Pacific Theatre.
  • General Alexander M. Patch, commander of U.S. Seventh Army
  • 2nd Lieutenant Emily J. T. Perez,  † Iraq – 2006, NCAA Award of Valor – 2008.
  • Colonel Russell Potter "Red" Reeder, Jr., World War II veteran and author.
  • Major General Thomas H. Ruger, Civil War veteran, United States Military Academy Superintendent
  • Major General Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Sr., the first superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.
  • General H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., commander of coalition forces in the Gulf War.
  • Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, longest serving American general (1813–1861), commanded the U.S. Army from 1841 to 1861.
  • Major General George Sykes, Civil War general and corps commander.
  • Brigadier General Sylvanus Thayer, known as "The Father of the U.S. Military Academy" for the strict regimens implemented at his direction
  • Brigadier General John T. Thompson, inventor of the Thompson submachine gun
  • Brevet Major General John Caldwell Tidball, Civil War veteran, commandant of the U.S. Army Artillery School.
  • Brigadier General George H. Torney, Surgeon General of the United States Army
  • Ensign Dominick Trant, a native of Cork, Ireland and a soldier in the Ninth Massachusetts Regiment in the Continental Army, died at West Point in 1782. His grave is the oldest in the cemetery.
  • Colonel Theodore S. Westhusing, highest-ranking officer to die in Iraq War – 2005, "Multi-national Security Transition Command – Iraq".
  • General William Westmoreland, Army Chief of Staff, Superintendent, U.S. Military Academy, Commander of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam from 1964 to 1968.
  • Lieutenant Colonel Ed White, first American to make a spacewalk, killed in the Apollo 1 fire on 27 January 1967.
  • Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Eleazer D. Wood, first West Point Graduate to die in battle. Actually a cenotaph; arguable whether he is actually buried there.[4]

See also
  • Military funeral
  • Category:Burials at West Point Cemetery
  • West Point Cadet Chapel

References
  1. "The West Point Cemetery". usma.edu. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
  2. Lange, Robie (1984). Historic Structures Inventory United States Military Academy West Point, NY Vol 2. Washington, DC: National Park Service. p. 39.
  3. "West Point Cemetery" (PDF). United States Military Academy. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  4. "Eleazer D. Wood • Cullum's Register • 17". penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
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