18391776 Club
Virginia Military Institute opens as its own school, and a cadet walks the first post in falling snow
At the old Lexington arsenal, 23 young Virginians muster into state service, and Francis H. Smith issues the school's first order.
Lexington's residents had long resented the behavior of the soldiers who guarded the state arsenal, and a school of cadets had been proposed as the cure. On November 11, 1839, the Virginia Military Institute separated from Washington College and began as an independent institution. In falling snow, Private John Strange of Scottsville relieved the enlisted guard at the former Lexington State Arsenal, the first cadet to march a sentinel post. Superintendent Francis H. Smith issued the school's first order that same day…
