Stuart Rink

The Plain is the parade field at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. The flat terrain of the Plain is in contrast to the varied and hilly terrain of the remainder of the campus. The Plain rises approximately 150 feet (45 m) above the Hudson River and has been the site of the longest continually occupied U.S. Army garrison in America since 1778. In its early years, the entire academy was located on the Plain and it was used for varying activities ranging from drill and mounted cavalry maneuvers to an encampment site for summer training to a sports venue. Currently, the Plain refers to just the parade field where cadets perform ceremonial parades.

The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high ground overlooking the Hudson River with a scenic view, 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City. It is the oldest of the five American service academies and educates cadets for commissioning into the United States Army. The academy was founded in 1802, one year after President Thomas Jefferson directed that plans be set in motion to establish it. The entire central campus is a national landmark and home to scores of historic sites, buildings, and monuments. The majority of the campus's Norman-style buildings are constructed from gray and black granite. The campus is a popular tourist destination, with a visitor center and the oldest museum in the United States Army. Candidates for admission must apply directly to the academy and receive a nomination, usually from a member of Congress. Other nomination sources include the president and vice president. Students are officers-in-training and are referred to as "cadets" or collectively as the "United States Corps of Cadets" (USCC). The Army fully funds tuition for cadets in exchange for an active duty service obligation upon graduation. About 1,300 cadets enter the academy each July, with about 1,000 cadets graduating. The academic program grants a Bachelor of Science degree with a curriculum that grades cadets' performance upon a broad academic program, military leadership performance, and mandatory participation in competitive athletics. Cadets are required to adhere to the Cadet Honor Code, which states that "a cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do." The academy bases a cadet's leadership experience as a development of all four pillars of performance: academics, character, physical, and military. Most graduates are commissioned as second lieutenants in the Army. Foreign cadets are commissioned into the armies of their home countries. Since 1959, cadets have also been eligible for an interservice commission in one of the other armed services provided that they meet that service's eligibility standards. A small number of cadets do this. The academy's traditions have influenced other institutions because of its age and unique mission. It was the first American college to have an accredited civil engineering program and the first to have class rings, and its technical curriculum became a model for engineering schools. West Point's student body has a unique rank structure and lexicon. All cadets reside on campus and dine together en masse on weekdays for lunch. The academy fields 15 men's and nine women's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sports teams. Cadets compete in one sport every fall, winter, and spring season at the intramural, club, or intercollegiate level. Its football team was a national power in the early and mid-20th century, winning three national championships. Among the country's public institutions, the academy is the top producer of Marshall and Rhodes scholars. Its alumni and students are collectively referred to as "The Long Gray Line," the former include: U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ulysses S. Grant; Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy; Confederate general Robert E. Lee; American poet Edgar Allen Poe; U.S. general George Patton; presidents of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and the Philippines; and 76 Medal of Honor recipients.

The Washington Monument at West Point is an equestrian monument to George Washington at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. The bronze replica of a sculpture that was originally designed by Henry Kirke Brown and erected in Union Square, New York City, in 1856— the first equestrian sculpture cast in the United States— was obtained for West Point by Clarence P. Towne and dedicated in 1916. It formerly sat at the north end of the Plain. After expansion of Washington Hall in 1971, it was moved to its current location outside the hall's front entrance.

The United States Military Academy (West Point) and grounds were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960 due to the Revolutionary War history and the age and historic significance of the Academy itself. The majority of the buildings in the central cadet area are historic.

Sedgwick Monument is a memorial to Union General John Sedgwick at West Point. "Uncle John" Sedgwick was born in Cornwall, Connecticut, 67 miles (108 km) northeast of West Point, New York. Sculpted by Launt Thompson and dedicated in 1868, the monument was erected by officers and soldiers of the 6th Army Corps to commemorate Major General Sedgwick and his death at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in 1864. Originally, the monument was located on the northwest edge of the Plain, it was later relocated to its current location at Trophy Point across Washington Road from Battle Monument. Legend holds that if a cadet is deficient in academics, the cadet should go to the monument at midnight the night before the term-end examination, in full dress, under arms, and spin the rowels on the monument's spurs. With the resulting good luck, the cadet will pass the test.

The Eisenhower Monument at the United States Military Academy is a monument to former General of the Army and the 34th President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Battle Monument is a large Tuscan column monument located on Trophy Point at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, designed by Stanford White.

Trophy Point is a scenic overlook of the Hudson River Valley located at West Point, New York. It has been the subject of numerous works of art since the early 19th century. Trophy Point is the location of Battle Monument, one of the largest columns of granite in the world. Designed by architect Stanford White and dedicated in 1897, Trophy Point was formerly the site of West Point graduation ceremonies before the class sizes became larger in the mid-twentieth century. Trophy Point gets its name from the numerous displayed pieces of captured artillery spanning from the Revolutionary War to the Spanish–American War. From the 1840s to the 1930s it was the site of the Siege Battery where cadets learned artillery.

L'Ecole Polytechnique Monument is a statue and monument located at the United States Military Academy. It is a replica of a statue at École Polytechnique that commemorates the cadets of that French school who died in defense of France in 1814. In 1919, in the wake of Franco-American cooperation in the First World War, an association of alumni of the École Polytechnique presented a full-size casting of the statue to West Point as a symbol of brotherhood between the two nations and schools.First year cadets (plebes) are required to know the four "mistakes on the French Monument": the curved saber but straight scabbard; the flag blowing one direction, the coat tails the other; button unbuttoned, and the cannonballs too large for bore of the cannon. The monument was once located on the edge of the Plain, but has now been moved inside the cadet Central Area and is off limits to non-academy personnel.

Thayer Monument is a white granite monument and statue of Sylvanus Thayer at the United States Military Academy, designed by sculptor Carl Conrads and unveiled on June 11, 1883. Thayer is known as the "Father of the Military Academy" for the profound and lasting impact of his superintendency during the academy's early years. The monument's location has changed over the years. It first occupied the southwest corner of the Plain, but it currently sits at the intersection of Washington and Jefferson roads, adjacent to the Beat Navy tunnel on the northwest corner of the Plain. The memorial is the sight of multiple memorial ceremonies during the year as West Point reunions hold a parade and memorial service at the site. Tradition states that the oldest living graduate of the senior reunion class present will lay a wreath at the statue.

The Douglas MacArthur Monument at the United States Military Academy at West Point commemorates the Medal of Honor-winning former Superintendent and General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. Designed by Walker Hancock, it was dedicated by MacArthur's widow Jean MacArthur in 1969. Situated on the upper western corner of the Plain next to the north entrance to MacArthur Barracks, the monument consists of a statue of the general surrounded by angled granite walls that bear inscribed excerpts from his final public speech, the 1962 Duty, Honor, Country address he made to the Corps of Cadets upon receiving the Thayer Award.

General George S. Patton, Jr. (Patton Monument) is a bronze statue of George S. Patton, Jr., by James Earle Fraser. It is located at the United States Military Academy.Patton was a prominent cavalryman during the early 20th century and was a founding father of the US Army's Tank Corps, seeing action in World War I and commanding a tank brigade. He achieved his greatest fame as during World War II. He commanded armored forces in North Africa after Operation Torch, then commanded the Seventh Army for the invasion of Sicily. But his greatest fame came as commander of the United States Third Army. After a swift drive across France after the Normandy invasion, his forces made a famous relief of the trapped American forces in the siege of Bastogne during the German Ardennes counteroffensive. The statue was originally dedicated in 1950 by Patton's widow Beatrice and faced the old Cadet Library. It was briefly placed in storage for the construction of the new library, Jefferson Hall, in 2004. The monument was then rededicated in 2009 in a temporary location near Eisenhower Monument where it remained for the next three years while renovations were completed on the Cadet Library and Bartlett Hall.Other examples of the statue are at the Charles River Esplanade, Hatch Memorial Shell, Boston, Massachusetts, and at the General Patton Memorial Museum Ettelbruck, Luxembourg.In the monument's previous position, Patton faced the old Cadet Library. It was often joked that the statue was positioned facing the library with binoculars in the officer's hands so that he might find the building which he neglected to visit as a cadet.