The Hudson Part 14

=The Cadet Barracks= was built in 1845-51 of native granite. In 1882 the western wing was extended adding two divisions.

=The Academy Building= is immediately opposite the Headquarters, of Ma.s.sachusetts granite, erected in 1891-95, and cost about $500,000.

It contains recitation and lecture rooms of all departments of instruction.

=The Ordnance Museum= contains an interesting and extensive exhibit of ancient and modern firearms, also many valuable trophies from the Revolutionary, Mexican, Civil and Spanish wars.

Among the fair and lovely Highlands of the Hudson, shut in by deep green heights and ruined forts, hemmed in all round with memories of Was.h.i.+ngton, there could be no more appropriate ground for the military school of America.

_Charles d.i.c.kens._

=The Cadet Chapel=, immediately north of the Administration Building, was erected in 1834. The chapel contains many valuable trophies of the Revolutionary and Mexican wars, including three Hessian and two British flags that were once the property of Was.h.i.+ngton. The walls have many memorial tablets and a famous "blank" of Arnold. Here also are several cannon surrendered at Saratoga, October 17, 1777.

=The Administration Building= was completed in 1871.

=The Library= adjoins the Cadet Chapel on the east, built of native granite in 1841, costing about $15,000. In 1900 the building was entirely reconstructed of fire-proof material by appropriation of $80,000. The exterior walls of the original building entered into the remodeled structure. The Library, founded in 1812, has about 50,000 volumes.

=The Gymnasium= adjoins the Barracks on the west, erected of native granite, costing $90,000.

=Memorial Hall=, plainly seen from the Hudson, completed in 1899, is of Ionic architecture. The building cost $268,000, a legacy bequeathed by Gen. George W. Cullum, built of Milford granite for army trophies of busts, paintings and memorials. The bronze statute of Gen. John Sedgwick in the northwest angle of the plain was dedicated in 1868.

The fine cenotaph of Italian marble was erected in 1885. It stands immediately in front of Memorial Hall.

=Kosciusko's Monument= was erected in 1828. It stands in the northeast angle of Fort Clinton.

=The Chain-Battery= walk runs from Kosciusko's Garden northward to Light House Point, near which was the battery that defended the chain across the river in the Revolution. The scene is of great beauty and has been known for many years by the name of "Flirtation Walk."

Where Kosciusko dreamed and proud scenes bring To mind the stormy days when Liberty Was cradled at West Point--the Highlands' key.

_Kenneth Bruce._

[Ill.u.s.tration: BATTLE MONUMENT, WEST POINT]

=The Battle Monument=, on Trophy Point, is the most beautiful on the reservation--a column of victory in memory of 2,230 officers and soldiers of the regular army of the United States who were killed or died of wounds received in the war of the Rebellion. It is a monolith of polished granite surmounted by a figure of Fame. The shaft is 46 feet in length, 5 feet in diameter, and said to be the largest piece of polished stone in the world. The cost of the work was $66,000. The site was dedicated June 15, 1864. The monument was dedicated in 1897.

The address was by Justice Brewer.

=Trophy Point=, on the north side of the plain, overlooking the river and commanding a majestic view of the Hudson and the city of Newburgh, has been likened by European travelers to a view on Lake Geneva.

Here are the "swivel clevies" and 16 links of the old chain that was stretched across the river at this point. The whole chain, 1,700 feet long, weighing 186 tons, was forged at the Sterling Iron Works, transported to New Windsor and there attached to log booms and floated down the river to this point.

=Old Fort Putnam= was erected in 1778 by the 5th Ma.s.sachusetts Regiment under the direction of Col. Rufus Putnam. It was originally constructed of logs and trees with stone walls on two sides to defend Fort Clinton on the plain below. It was garrisoned by 450 men, and had 14 guns mounted. In 1787 it was dismantled, and the guns sold as old iron. Its brick arch cas.e.m.e.nts overgrown with moss, vines, and shrubbery are crumbling away, but are well worth a visit. It is 495 feet above the Hudson. A winding picturesque carriage road leads up from the plain, and the pedestrian can reach the summit in 20 minutes.

On clear days the Catskill Mountains are visible.

=Fort Clinton=, in the northeast angle of the plain, was built in 1778 under the direction of the Polish soldier, Kosciusko. Sea Coast Battery is located on the north waterfront, Siege Battery on the slope of the hill below the Battle Monument. Targets for the guns on both batteries are on the hillside about a mile distant. Battery Knox, which overlooks the river, was rebuilt in 1874 on the site of an old revolutionary redoubt.

Bright are the moments link'd with thee, Boast of a glory-hallowed land!

Hope of the valiant and the free, Home of our youthful soldier band!

_Anonymous._

While Fort Putnam was being built Was.h.i.+ngton was advised that Dubois's regiment was unfit to be ordered on duty, there being "not one blanket in the regiment. Very few have either a shoe or a s.h.i.+rt, and most of them have neither stockings, breeches, or overalls. Several companies of inlisted artificers are in the same situation, and unable to work in the field."

What privations were here endured to establish our priceless liberty!

It makes better Americans of us all to turn and re-turn the pages of the real Hudson, the most picturesque volume of the world's history.

West Point during the Revolution was the Gibraltar of the Hudson and her forts were regarded almost impregnable. Fort Putnam will be rebuilt as an enduring monument to the bravery of American soldiers.

The best way to study West Point, however, is not in voluminous histories or in the condensed pages of a guide book, but to visit it and see its real life, to wander amid its old a.s.sociations, and ask, when necessary, intelligent questions, which are everywhere courteously answered. The view north seen in a summer evening, is one long to be remembered. In such an hour the writer's idea of the Hudson as an open book with granite pages and crystal book-mark is most completely realized as indicated in the Highland section of his poem, "The Hudson":

On either side these mountain glens Lie open like a ma.s.sive book, Whose words were graved with iron pens, And lead into the eternal rock:

Which evermore shall here retain The annals time cannot erase, And while these granite leaves remain This crystal ribbon marks the place.

Under Spring's delicate marshalling every hill of the Highlands took its own place, and the soft swells of ground stood back the one from the other in more and more tender coloring.

_Susan Warner._

[Ill.u.s.tration: LOOKING NORTH FROM WEST POINT BATTERY]

=West Point to Newburgh.=

The steamer pa.s.ses too near the west bank to give a view of the magnificent plateau with parade ground and Government buildings, but on rounding the point a picture of marvelous beauty breaks at once upon the vision. On the left the ma.s.sive indented ridge of Old Cro'

Nest and Storm King, and on the right Mount Taurus, or Bull Hill, and Break Neck, while still further beyond toward the east sweeps the Fishkill range, sentineled by South Beacon, 1,625 feet in height, from whose summit midnight gleams aroused the countryside for leagues and scores of miles during those seven long years when men toiled and prayed for freedom. Close at hand on the right will be seen Const.i.tution Island, formerly the home of Miss Susan Warner, who died in 1885, author of "Queechy" and the "Wide, Wide World." Here the ruins of the old fort are seen. The place was once called Martalaer's Rock Island. A chain was stretched across the river at this point to intercept the pa.s.sage of boats up the Hudson, but proved ineffectual, like the one at Anthony's Nose, as the impetus of the boats snapped them both like cords.

Some years ago, when the first delegation of Apache Indians was brought to Was.h.i.+ngton to sign a treaty of peace, the Indians were taken for an "outing" up the Hudson, by General O. O. Howard and Dr.

Herman Bendell, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Arizona. It is said that they noted with cold indifference the palaces along the river front: "the artistic terraces, the well-kept, sloping lawns, the clipped hedges and the ivy-grown walls made no impression on them, but when the magnificent picture of the Hudson above West Point revealed itself, painted by the rays of the sinking sun, these wild men stood erect, raised their hands high above their heads and uttered a monosyllabic expression of delight, which was more expressive than volumes of words."

The queenly Hudson circling at thy feet Lingers to sing a song of joy and love, Pouring her heart in rippling wavelets sweet, Which sun-kissed glance up to thy throne above.

_Kenneth Bruce._

Sir Robert Temple also rises into rapture over the northern gate of the Highlands. "One of the fairest spectacles to be seen on the earth's surface; not on any other river or strait--not on Ganges or Indus, on the Dardanelles or the Bosphorus, on the Danube or the Rhine, on the Neva or the Nile--have I ever observed so fairy-like a scene as this on the Hudson. The only water-view to rival it is that of the Sea of Marmora, opposite Constantinople."