Sylvanus Thayer
| Sylvanus Thayer | |
|---|---|
Sylvanus Thayer, painting by Robert Weir
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| Nickname(s) | "Father of West Point" |
| Born |
June 9, 1785 Braintree, Massachusetts |
| Died | September 7, 1872 (aged 87) Braintree, Massachusetts |
| West Point Cemetery, Highland Falls, NY | West Point Cemetery |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch |
United States Army Union Army |
| Years of service | 1808 – 1863 |
| Rank |
 Colonel Brevet Brigadier General
|
| Commands held | Superintendent of the United States Military Academy |
| Battles/wars | War of 1812 |
Colonel and Brevet 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.
Sylvanus Thayer (9 June 1785-7 Sept. 1872) was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, the son of farmer Nathaniel Thayer and his wife Dorcas Faxon. 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 United States Military Academy after a single year, and received his commission as a second lieutenant in 1808. His first assignment was supervising the construction of Fort Warren (later renamed Fort Winthrop) in Boston Harbor, foreshadowing the bulk of his later career.
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.
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