Secession: A Crack in the Long Grey Line

The Civil War split West Point apart, as t did the entire United States. Of the 278 cadets present at the Academy on November 1, 1860, eighty-six cadets hailed from Southern States. By June 1861, sixty-five of these Southern cadets had been discharged, dismissed, or resigned do to causes related to the Civil War, leaving only twenty-one Southerners at the Academy. Why did the majority of Southern cadets resign from West Point despite having sworn to bear true faith and allegiance to their country? Loyalty to respective states, the influence of family and friends, and the resignations of respected and popular Southern officers at the Academy surface as the overriding reasons for the Southern cadets' resignations.