West Point Museum

On January 15th, my brother and I went to the West Point Museum for the first time... what an incredible place! Not just a history of West Point, it's really the entire history of military concepts, and they have some amazingly rare things in there...and some super historically important things as well! Not only that, everything is labeled so you know what you are looking at too. Not only do you have the Museum itself, there is also a section that tells the story of what prospective soldiers go through to become the US Army members they set out to do. It was a frigid 9 degrees when we visited the first time, making it the coldest adventure we've gone on yet...and by the end of the day, I would set a new personal high for number of photos I had taken in one day...1898. I would have taken even more but my back gave out, and I couldn't do two entire floors of the 5-floor museum. We had to go back, and by time I am writing this, we already did go back and finish, and I took another 850 pictures...but those will be in another post. 

The museum and on the left is the Malek center, which is basically another museum.

My entire life has been along the Hudson.

There is a spectacular view of the Hudson River out the large picture windows in the Malek Center.

Military campaigns are commemorated by a banner that each person who fought in it is allowed to wear. Here are just some of them.

Replica signatures of some famous visitors from abroad

An aerial view of West Point

Each building is numbered

The original mascot was a real, live mule. That's why Blackjack is the stand-in.

The transport Corps logo. No, not the Detroit Red Wings.

Lenticular used in a museum again, and awesome again!

Although opened originally in 1854, the Museum has only been in the current building since 1988. The building itself dates to 1934.

Buffalo Soldier sculpture. How cool would it have been if they rode actual buffalos into battle?

It's amazing how much of the original chain from the 1770s survives...as you may recall, Washington's Headquarters museum in Newburgh also has some. 

An original Gilbert Stuart painting of Washington. And my reflection. 

Thayer's dress sword.

The early days of West Point were mostly focused on engineering. 

The oldest surviving Cadet uniform, dating to 1827, and was worn by Washington Hood, the 500th graduate of West Point.

Now we move into the History of Warfare wing, and this may be my favorite part of the entire place. 

They use Dioramas to tell the story of several famous battles!

Model of a Trebuchet, my favorite weapon in history

An actual suit of armor! The first I've ever seen in person! This is German, and dates to the late 16th century. 

Some of these figures are models of my direct ancestors. We know from extensive genealogical research that they were present at this battle. 

bust of Gustavus Adolphus

Polish Winged Hussar's helmet. They actually wore wings into battle. 

Dutch pikeman's officer's armor from the late 17th century

Frederick the Great is also related but not a direct ancestor, I don't believe. 

Napoleon's sword and pistols. 

Circa 1850 Prussian Garde du Corps helmet.

An actual piece of the metal plating from the Monitor. Yes, THE Monitor!

Signal flags

Prototype helmets. These were not worn in battle. 

Norden Bomb sight

Wow! The actual pen that signed Japan's surrender in WWII. 

This is original!

Replica of a Roman headstone. And now you know why they are called "headstones"

1770s buckskin suit

Model of the Battle of Saratoga! 

Mexican armor from the Mexican War of the 1840s.

Confederate torpedo

That little round blob on the pedestal is an apple that was petrified by the Atomic bomb tests. 

A lot of people probably don't know that NASA was once a branch of the military...and this suit went to space. 

The gift shop wasn't the best, but you could get these...

but I stuck with some post cards. 

They have a Sherman tank on display outside.

 I was too cold and mostly too sore to walk over to the statue, but we drove by it. I think it's George Washington riding a mule. 

Like I said, I couldn't finish because I was in so much pain, but it was an incredibly awesome museum, I would give it my highest recommendation. And I only posted a small fraction of what I saw in this post...

I did get back the next weekend and finish it, so stay tuned for part 2...