Alden Partridge
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Alden Partridge, (February 12, 1785 - January 17, 1854) was a writer, surveyor, legislator, an early superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point and a pioneer in U.S. military education. A native of Norwich, Vermont, he attended nearby Dartmouth College and graduated from West Point in 1806. He spent his entire U.S. Army career at the Academy, serving until 1818 as an instructor first of mathematics and then engineering. From 1814-1817 Capt. Partridge served as superintendent, but was forced to step down due to controversy over his administration. He resigned his commission in 1818, and was replaced as superintendent by Major Sylvanus Thayer.
In 1819, he founded Norwich University in his hometown of Norwich. The school was originally named the "American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy." The university is now located in Northfield, Vermont, and is the nation's oldest private military college. Norwich University is nicknamed the "Birthplace of ROTC" because it was the first school to offer the Reserve Officers Training Program. Partridge later founded military schools in Virginia, New Hampshire, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
An avid solo wilderness hiker, Partridge had previously climbed Mount Monadnock and Mount Moosilauke in New Hampshire when in 1818 he walked 76 miles from Norwich to climb both Camel's Hump and Mount Mansfield in two days. It rained the entire journey, according to his journal, and while a friend joined him climbing Mansfield, he hiked the balance of the expedition alone.
One of America's first exercise enthusiasts, Partridge became a strong proponent of physical education as an essential part of school curriculum. As part of that program, he often led his classes on hiking expeditions in the many local mountains of New England. On one climb of Vermont's Green Mountains in 1822, Partridge led 27 pack-laden cadets on a 150-mile hike from Norwich to Manchester in just four days.
Partridge wrote widely about his travels, both in local newspapers and in books. As surveyor-general for his state, he took part in surveys of the national boundaries defined by the Treaty of Ghent ending the War of 1812. Elected four times to Vermont's state assembly, he was an unsuccessful candidate for national office.
In 1823 a sympathetic Partridge adopted a young Greek boy, George Colvocoresses, whom he raised and educated at Norwich University. Colvocoresses, NU Class of 1831, was appointed to the US Navy in 1832; from 1838-1842 he served in the United States Exploring Expedition, better known as the Wilkes Expedition of the Pacific Ocean. Three separate geographical features, two on the west coast of the U.S. and another in Antarctica, were named for Colvocoresses.[1]
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Wilson, James Grant ed., Appleton's Cyclopeadia of American Biography, 1887-89
- Stier, Maggie and McAdow, Ron, Into the Mountains: Stories of New England's Most Celebrated Peaks, 1995, ISBN 1-878239-30-9
| Preceded by: Joseph Gardner Swift |
Superintendents of the United States Military Academy 1814–1817 |
Succeeded by: Sylvanus Thayer |
