I know there are some Keydets among my readers, so I thought they would appreciate this nice little article in the WaPo honoring Virginia Military Institute.  The piece starts with a short description of VMI’s most memorable collective fight, the Battle of New Market:

Set the scene: It is the spring of 1864, late in the carnage of the Civil War. The main Southern army, under Robert E. Lee, is hunkered down in Richmond. To the west, a Union force is probing down the lush Shenandoah Valley, attempting to cut a critical supply line.

The Confederate commander in the valley, Gen. John C. Breckinridge, desperate for reinforcements, sends for the corps of cadets at Virginia Military Institute at Lexington.

VMI is “the West Point of the Confederacy,” but almost all the older boys are long since off to war. The ones who are left average 16 years old. They march 84 miles up the valley to New Market to join Breckinridge, who faces a superior Union force.

Breckinridge plans to hold the cadets in reserve. As the battle swirls and eddies, he sees a chance to strike a decisive blow. But there is a ragged gap at a critical spot in his line. His only option is to call on the fresh-faced cadets, in their spotless uniforms with shiny brass buttons.

He tells an aide: “Put the boys in, and may God forgive me for the order.”

Go and read the rest of the article, which for Pravda on the Potomac, is surprisingly respectful.

We used to subject the Viamees (as we called them) to a certain amount of ribbing when I was at Dubyanell, but that was just the natural byproduct of two schools that literally stood right next to each other and, perhaps more importantly, competed for the attention of the various girls’ schools scattered about central Virginia.  I think it’s fair to say that under our brag, all of us really knew and admired what the Keydets were all about.

A glass of wine with Mark Krikorian over at The Corner.