Name | Class year | Notability | References |
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Horace Webster | 1818 | Lieutenant; mathematics professor at the Academy (1818–1825); professor of mathematics, professor of intellectual philosophy, and president at Geneva College (1828–1830, 1835–1836); president Free Academy of New York (1848–1869) | [1] |
Dennis Hart Mahan | 1824 | Lieutenant; military theorist, educator, author, and engineer; founding member of National Academy of Sciences; father of American naval historian and theorist Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan; of his other four children, son Frederick August Mahan graduated from the Academy in 1867 | [2] |
Alexander Dallas Bache | 1825 | Lieutenant; founding president of the National Academy of Sciences; member of the Scientific Lazzaroni and the Royal Society; professor of natural philosophy and chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania (1828–1843) | [3] |
Leonidas Polk | 1827 | Second lieutenant USA, lieutenant general in Confederate States Army; resigned his commission soon after graduating from the academy to enter Virginia Theological Seminary; founder of University of the South; killed in combat during the Battle of Marietta; Fort Polk named in his honor | [4] |
Andrew A. Humphreys | 1831 | Major General; American Civil War; topographical and hydrological surveyor of the Mississippi River Delta; Chief of Engineers (1866–1875); an incorporator of the United States National Academy of Sciences | [5] |
William Augustus Norton | 1831 | Lieutenant; Black Hawk War; professor of natural philosophy and civil engineering (1831–1883); member of the United States National Academy of Sciences | [6] |
Benjamin Stoddert Ewell | 1832 | Colonel in Confederate States Army; professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Hampden-Sydney College (1839–1846); president of The College of William & Mary (1854–1888); brother Richard S. Ewell, class of 1840, was a lieutenant general in Confederate States Army | [7] |
Francis Henney Smith | 1833 | Major General in Confederate States Army; first and longest-serving superintendent of Virginia Military Institute (1839–1889) | [8] |
Montgomery C. Meigs | 1836 | Major General; Quartermaster General during American Civil War; river and civil engineer; early member of National Academy of Sciences; General Montgomery Meigs, class of 1967, is his descendant | [9] |
William Gilham | 1840 | Colonel in Confederate States Army; Seminole War and Mexican–American War; professor at Virginia Military Institute; author of Manual of Instruction for the Volunteers and Militia of the United States, which was in use for over 145 years | [10] |
Bushrod Johnson | 1840 | Major General in Confederate States Army; Seminole War and Mexican–American War; served with distinction in many key battles such as the Battle of Chickamauga and Siege of Petersburg; professor of philosophy, chemistry, and engineering; co-chancellor of the University of Nashville (1870–1875) | [11] |
Josiah Gorgas | 1841 | Captain USA, brigadier general in Confederate States Army; Mexican–American War; chief of ordnance for the Confederacy; president of University of Alabama (1878-1883); son William C. Gorgas became Surgeon General of the United States Army | [b][12] |
Henry L. Eustis | 1842 | Brigadier General; American Civil War; founded the Lawrence Scientific School, later the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences | [13] |
Daniel Harvey Hill | 1842 | Lieutenant General in Confederate States Army; professor at Washington and Lee University and Davidson College; later the first president of the University of Arkansas (1877–1884) | [14] |
Edmund Kirby Smith | 1845 | Major USA, General CSA; Mexican–American War; Confederate commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department; president of University of Nashville (1870-1875); professor of mathematics at Sewanee: The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee (1875-1893) | [b][15][16] |
Stonewall Jackson | 1846 | Major in United States Army, lieutenant general in Confederate States Army; Mexican–American War; professor of natural and experimental philosophy and artillery at Virginia Military Institute (1851–1861); excelled in several battles during the American Civil War, including the First Battle of Bull Run where he received his nickname; accidentally shot by his own troops at the Battle of Chancellorsville and died of complications from pneumonia eight days later | [17] |
Oliver Otis Howard | 1854 | Major General; recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions leading an attack at the Battle of Seven Pines despite wound which resulted in the loss of his right arm; led the campaign against Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce tribe; founder of Howard University; Superintendent of the Academy (1881–1882) | [b][18][19] |
George Washington Custis Lee | 1854 | First Lieutenant US Army, Major General CSA; graduated first in his class at the Academy; father Robert E. Lee, class of 1829, graduated second in his class; President, Washington and Lee University (1871–1897) | [a][20] |
Stephen D. Lee | 1854 | First Lieutenant USA, Lieutenant General CSA; Seminole Wars, American Indian Wars; youngest Lieutenant General in the Confederate States Army; first president of Agricultural and Mechanical College of Mississippi (1880-1899) | [b][21][22] |
Alexander S. Webb | 1855 | Major General; recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Gettysburg for personal bravery and leadership repulsing Pickett's Charge; president of the City College of New York (1869–1902) | [23][24] |
Winfield Scott Chaplin | 1870 | Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis (1891-1907); Dean of the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard University; Faculty member at Maine State College, Imperial University in Tokyo, and Union College | [25] |
John Wilson Ruckman | 1883 | Major General; a founder of the Journal of the United States Artillery; invented several artillery devices used during World War I; instructor at School of Submarine Defense | [26] |
Dwight D. Eisenhower | 1915 | General of the Army; trained tank crews in Pennsylvania during World War I; World War II; commander of European Theater of Operations and Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (1942–1945); 1st Military Governor of American Occupation Zone in Germany (1945); President of Columbia University (1948–1950, 1952–1953); 1st Supreme Allied Commander Europe (1951–1952); 34th President of the United States (1953–1961) | [27] |
Robert F. McDermott | 1943 | Brigadier General; World War II fighter pilot; executive of United Services Automobile Association (USAA); first Dean of Faculty at the United States Air Force Academy | [28] |
Wesley Posvar | 1946 | Brigadier General in the Air Force; first US Air Force officer to be granted a Rhodes Scholarship; 15th chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh (1967–1991), where Posvar Hall is named in his honor | [29] |
James R. Allen | 1948 | General in the Air Force; fighter pilot in Korean War and Vietnam War; superintendent of United States Air Force Academy (1974–1977) | [30] |
Charles R. Hamm | 1956 | Lieutenant General in the Air Force; fighter pilot in Vietnam War; member of the Air Force air demonstration squadron, the Thunderbirds (1964–1966); superintendent of United States Air Force Academy (1987–1991) | [31] |
Robert Ivany | 1970 | Major General; Vietnam War and Gulf War veteran; former president of the U.S. Army War College (2001–2004); president of University of Saint Thomas (2004–present) | [32] |
John Mearsheimer | 1970 | Served five years as an Air Force officer; political science professor at University of Chicago (1982–present), where he is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and the co-director of the Program on International Security Policy; proponent of offensive realism | [33] |