West Point.

If you've ever been in New York's Hudson Valley, I hope you've had the time to visit West Point. This is, of course, the college of the United States Army, where the Black Knights play their home games. And as the US Military Academy it is an active college campus, albeit one where live ammunition is authorized and survival training is done on the surrounding hills. 

It's also a great place to see some American history. We were there not long ago for a little tour and a history lesson. 

I remember going when I was a Cub Scout, long before the boys' scouting organizations turned into the pantywaist outfits that they are now, and I think we were taken there to see where we might go to school if we were very smart and very tough and very dedicated and very fit. I think I failed on all four counts, but I still liked the trip.

Here's some random shots from our current-day visit, to display my lack of photographic skills and share a little trivia with you. 

View of the Mighty Hudson from the visitor's center. You can get a taste
of how lovely this river valley is from here. In autumn it is ablaze like glory.

The West Point Museum

Question: Name two Shea Stadiums in New York.

Answer: The Mets played in one Shea Stadium in Queens from 1964 to 2008. And the US Army plays lacrosse, sprint football, and various track and field events at its own Shea Stadium at West Point. (Michie Stadium is where the Black Knights play football.) The Mets' Shea was named for William Shea, who helped get the National League expansion franchise started; the Army's Shea was Richard Shea, an Army athlete was was killed in 1953 in Korea. There, now you can win a bar bet.

Very poor shot of the American Soldier's Statue (1980),
dedicated to the enlisted man. 

No history of West Point can fail to include the Great Chain, a chain of mighty links stretched across the Hudson to stop British ships coming from Canada in the Revolutionary War. When the British learned of the Great Chain and the many cannon waiting for them, they decided not to try that route. The tourists here are touching some of the actual links. Most were melted down for scrap. (The links, not the tourists.)

I'm informed by my sources in the valley that occasionally fake links show up, but there was one very famous hoax regarding the Chain (see the story here, along with a much better picture of the links).

Our guide showed us the many cannon that had been
captured in America's wars dating back to the Revolution;
1812, Spanish-American War, et al are represented. We were also
told that we no longer capture weaponry. What fun is that?

"Caution: This End Out."

Lady Fame graces the top of one of the tallest monuments in West Point, the Battle Monument of 1897, commemorating those who paid the ultimate price in the Civil War---for the North. Here the war is called the War of the Rebellion.

I was touched by everything about the monument, but I think especially these cannon on display---buried facing down, so brother may never fire upon brother again in these United States.

----

One final note: We did not get to see the famous statue of General George S. Patton, at least not up close, so the picture below is not mine. It famously took the mathematically poor Patton five years to graduate the four-year program at West Point---West Point still requires students to study engineering---and when asked about that he would say, "In the whole time I was at West Point, I couldn't find the library." In his statue he is seen with a pair of binoculars.

According to Maureen Oehler DuRant and Peter E. Carroll's book West Point, from which this photo comes, Patton's widow requested that his monument be placed at the West Point library. There he stands... facing away from the building. You'll find it one day, General.