The Use of the Virginia Military Institute Corps of Cadets as a Military Unit before and during the War between the States
Abstract
During the Civil War, the Confederate Government passed legislation creating a national military academy and establishing the rank of Cadet. The national military college was unnecessary because the Confederacy already possessed numerous state military colleges. However, the Confederate Government failed to properly engage these individual state schools by providing curriculum recommendations or commissioning their graduates. This shortsighted and domineering attitude by the Confederate Government ensured that the military colleges failed in their mission to produce a large number of officers for the Confederate Army. It was the State Governments (especially Virginia and South Carolina), not the Confederacy, that realized the importance of military colleges to the Confederacy and kept them operating with very little Confederate support. Virginia made a conscious decision to keep the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) open, not as a short-term "officer candidate school," but with her four-year military and academic curriculum intact. Because of this support from the State of Virginia, VMI stayed open and it produced the largest number of officers of the southern military colleges for service in the Confederate Army. Additionally, the cadets themselves were used as a military unit by the Confederate and state governments numerous times during the war.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA452099
Entities
People
- Michael M. Wallace
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College