During the tense months leading up to the American Civil War, the cadets
at the United States Military Academy at West Point continued their
education even as the nation threatened to dissolve around them.
Students from both the North and South struggled to understand events
such as John Brown's Raid, the secession of eleven states from the
Union, and the attack on Fort Sumter. By graduation day, half the class
of 1862 had resigned; only twenty-eight remained, and their class motto
-- "Joined