Although the Military Academy at West Point was founded by Congress fifteen years before Sylvanus Thayer became its Superintendent, it was not until he took command that any real claim could be made for it as a school for the military training of officers. He was the first of his era to insist upon both scientific and military preparedness, and his visionary genius assured future generations of a professional officer corps and trained engineers. In the sixteen years of his devoted administration, the Military Academy grew from a badly conducted rudimentary school to become the first military school in the United States operated under military discipline, teaching military and natural sciences, as well as those arts essential for the mental training and educational equipment of an officer.

At nine, Sylvanus Thayer left his poverty-stricken home in Braintree, Massachusetts, to live with his uncle, a storekeeper in Washington, New Hampshire. Sylvanus worked hard in the store, while attending school and learned mathematics and Latin. He was an avid reader, loved history and biography, and Napoleon, whose star was then in the ascendancy, was his hero. At sixteen Sylvanus was teaching school and studying hard to achieve the goal he had set for himself—a college education. He worked his way through Dartmouth College and then accepted an appointment to West Point, by this time determined to become an engineer.

As a second lieutenant, he helped in the construction of coastal defenses and was an instructor of mathematics at the Military Academy until the outbreak of the War of 1812. Under fire from the British and Indians, he was aghast at the shameful blundering of our forces and realized the tragic cause—we had neglected to train officers in peacetime. West Point, with its lax, outmoded standards, must be completely reformed. Young as he was, Sylvanus Thayer hoped to bring about that reform.

Under government orders, he went to Europe to study foreign methods, tactics and military schools; to collect books and instruments for West Point. Upon his return to America, President James Monroe appointed him Superintendent of West Point. At thirty-two Thayer began the supreme fight of his life—against hostility, intrigue, prejudice and politics. Captain Partridge, the deposed Superintendent, tried to resume command and instigated cadets to revolt. Thayer was labeled a slave-driving tyrant. The position was a difficult one, but he was equal to its demands. Slowly, steadily, he developed the strict discipline, the code of honor and high educational standards that made West Point the mightiest military school in the world, and justly earned him the title of Father of the Military Academy.

Time has proved Sylvanus Thayer to have been a master builder. Almost all of the principles, policies and methods of chief importance established by him have endured for more than 125 years to remain the vital substance of West Point today. They have made West Point the model that is followed faithfully in whole or in part by all of the military schools and colleges of the country. These are the lasting marks of Sylvanus Thayer's skill as an organizer, an administrator and an educator. Few men in our history have so fatefully shaped the destiny of modern Americans.

From the dust jacket