George Washington Cullum, (1809-1892), was an 1833 graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (3rd in Class), and was appointed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; He served as instructor of Practical Military Engineering at West Point, 1848-1851; In 1850, he published his forerunner of the "Biographical Register" of West Point graduates; During the Civil War, was Aide-de-Camp to Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott in 1861; Chief of Staff for Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck; Appointed Brigadier General in Nov., 1861; Chief Engineer at the Siege of Corinth; Brevet Major General in 1865; Superintendent of West Point, 1864-1866; In 1867, he published the first edition of his "Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the United States Military Academy". Retired from the Army in 1874, and married Gen. Halleck's wealthy widow, Elizabeth Hamilton - granddaughter of Alexander Hamilton. He left $250,000 to West Point on his death. Interred at the famed Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. 

Scarce autograph letter signed, (ALS), 2 pgs., approx. 7-3/4" x 9-3/4", dated at West Point, Jan. 16, 1850, to Col. Sylvanus Thayer, Corps of Engineers, at Boston, Mass.

The stampless folded letter has a red WEST POINT/N.Y. cds postmark and red "5" rate handstamp, with "On public service" written at top right. 

The letter is to SYLVANUS THAYER, (1785-1872), known as the "Father of the Military Academy", having graduated from West Point in 1808, and serving as Superintendent of the US Military Academy from 1817 until 1833; He then returned to duty with the Army Corps of Engineers and spent the great majority of the next 30 years as the Chief Engineer of the Boston area, overseeing the construction of both Fort Warren and Fort Independence in Boston Harbor. He retired from the Army in 1863. 

Great content in which Cullum, then working as an instructor of Engineering at West Point, writes of his work on the forerunner to the "Biographical Register of the Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy", which he published the year this letter was written, advising Thayer that he defers to Thayer's manuscript of the first ever register of Graduates, and points out specific discrepancies in the records as to whether a cadet had graduated or not. 

A scarce letter between two giants in the history of West Point, both having served as Superintendents, concerning the important Biographical Register for which George W. Cullum is best known today. 

The letter includes: 

"My dear Colonel, 

Your note, received upon the eve of my departure to New London, in reference to the Register of the Graduates of the Military Academy was exceedingly satisfactory. I was not before aware that you had yourself prepared the first register. That fact has relieved me of much perplexity and embarrassment with reference to the early graduates, and, consequently, I shall not add or omit one name for the insertion of which there is your own excellent authority, the early records of the Academy to the contrary notwithstanding. 

When the manuscript register, in preparation for the press, came into my hands, I found several names erased, that of George W. Hight being one of them. Upon an examination of Lieut. Reeve's authority for so doing, I found upon the 'Cadets Description Book' this entry - George W. Hight 'Resigned July 31, 1810'. This coupled with the testimony of Capt. Ezra Smith, his classmate, recently communicated, seemed to render it almost certain that Hight was not a graduate. Your testimony on the subject I consider paramount to all others and, accordingly, I shall re-insert his name. 

Col. Abert, in a letter to the Superintendent, states that he resigned his Cadet appointment in April 1811, while on duty in the War Dept., at Washington, - then went into civil life - and was afterwards, Nov. 22d 1814, promoted to Bvt. Major of Top. Engineers. Upon the 'Cadet Description Book', I find his name entered John J. Abert 'Resigned April 1, 1811', but as he had completed his course of studies before leaving the Academy, and was borne upon the rolls of the institution as a Cadet at the time of his resignation, I think him entitled to be placed upon the register as a graduate, though I think he should be transferred from No. 119 to No. 71, between Benjamin Fields who graduated in March 1811 and Francis B. Murdock who graduated June 3, 1812. 

Yours Respectfully & Truly, 
Geo. W. Cullum"

Very Fine.       

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