Wearing the Military Uniform of the United States

This chapter presents two excerpts from Ramseur's first letter to his mother from West Point, dated August 15, 1855 that illustrates his transition from upbringing to matriculation. It reports that the U.S. Military Academy was the nation's premier engineering school with a curriculum designed to prepare its graduates to build the river and harbour works, lighthouses, canals, and railroads needed by a burgeoning nation. The U.S. Military Academy also served to prepare topographical and military engineers for times of war. The chapter notes that the institution had been founded early in the nineteenth century, modeled after Sandhurst and St. Cyr, its counterparts in England and France respectively.