Brigadier General
Sylvanus Thayer (
June 9,
1785 -
September 7 1872) also known as "the Father of West Point" was an early superintendent of the
United States Military Academy at West Point and an early advocate of engineering education in the
United States.
Biography
Thayer was born in
Braintree, Massachusetts, the son of farmer Nathaniel Thayer and his wife Dorcas. In 1793, at the age of 8, Thayer was sent to live with his uncle Azariah Faxon and attend school in
Washington, New Hampshire. There he met General
Benjamin Pierce, who, like Faxon, was a veteran of the
Revolutionary War. In 1803 Thayer matriculated at
Dartmouth College, graduating in 1807 as valedictorian of his class.
Thayer, however, never gave the valedictory address at Dartmouth, having been granted an appointment to West Point by President
Thomas Jefferson at the behest of General Pierce. Thayer graduated from the Military Academy after a single year, and received his commission as a second lieutenant in 1808.
During the
War of 1812, Thayer directed the fortification and defense of
Norfolk, Virginia, and was promoted to major. In 1815, Thayer was provided $5,000 to travel to Europe, where he studied for two years at the French
École Polytechnique. While traveling in Europe he amassed a collection of
science and especially
mathematics texts that now form a valuable collection for
historians of mathematics . In 1817, President James Monroe ordered Thayer to West Point to become
superintendent of the Military Academy. Under his stewardship, the Academy became the nation's first college of engineering.
Statue and Memorial to Sylvanus Thayer
Colonel Thayer's time at West Point ended with his resignation in 1833, after a disagreement with President
Andrew Jackson. Thayer returned to active duty in the
Army Corps of Engineers. Thayer spend the great majority of the next 30 years as the chief engineer for the Boston area. During this time he oversaw the construction of both Fort Warren and Fort Independence to defend Boston Harbor. Thayer retired from the Army in 1863 with the rank of brevet brigadier general.
As a result of Thayer's enduring legacy at the
United States Military Academy, in 1869 a notable meeting took place in Braintree between Thayer and the celebrated West Point graduate and Civil War hero Brigadier General
Robert Anderson. An outcome of Anderson's 1869 meeting with Thayer was establishment of the Military Academy's
Association of Graduates (AoG).
In 1867, Thayer donated $30,000 to the trustees of
Dartmouth College to create the
Thayer School of Engineering. Thayer personally located and recommended USMA graduate Lieutenant Robert Fletcher to Dartmouth president
Asa Dodge Smith. Fletcher became the school's first—then only—professor and dean.
The Thayer School admitted its first three students to a graduate program in 1871. Also in 1871 at the bequest of his will
Thayer Academy in
Braintree, Massachusetts was conceived. It opened September 12, 1877. Sylvanus Thayer died on September 7, 1872 at his home in Braintree. He was reinterred at
West Point Cemetery in 1877.
Thayer is not a very common name. Most Thayers are directly related to him. Most of the family now lives in Maryland as well as in Massachusetts.
To honor his achievements, in 1958, the
Sylvanus Thayer Award was created by the United States Military Academy.
See also
