SW046 In Seminole Wars, West Point's 1829 Military Academy Graduates Showed Mettle and Officer Corps' Institutionalized Professionalism

<p> Monument to Major Dade and His Command that perished in 1835 is located on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Although Major Dade himself did not graduate from West Point, the Academy graduated many officers who served honorably in the Second and Third Seminole Wars.</p> <p>Recently, a military historian cast his lens on the West Point Class of 1829. That class featured 11 cadets who later saw service in what was then termed, The Florida War. One 1829 graduate in fact served under Major Dade in 1835, but found himself detached to deliver a message and therefore unable to accompany Dade on that disastrous march in late December 1835. Another saw action at the First Battle of Loxahatchee in January 1838, ironically though, as a civilian contractor rather than as a military officer. He later put back on a military uniform advancing to general officer in both the Union, and, in 1861, in the Confederate States of America. One graduate, to commemorate a close friendship, changed his surname to that of a fallen comrade from the Class of 1828 who had died in the war. One other became a trusted Indian agent in the years leading up to the Third Seminole War. Other classes had representation in the Army during the long Second Seminole War, with most of the officers in Major Dade’s ill-fated command having West Point pedigrees. With us to discuss this West Point Class of 1829 and those among it who served in the Florida Wars – and one famous graduate, Robert E. Lee, who did not -- is Professor P.J. Springer. He is the chair for the Department of Research at the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. A military historian, he has taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and at the U.S. Army War College in Carlyle, Pennsylvania.  Along with Christopher Mortenson, he is the editor of the three volume Daily Life of U.S. Soldiers: From the American Revolution to the Iraq War. He is also the author of several books including America's C