Last modified: 2016-12-27 by rick wyatt
Keywords: virginia military institute | university | virginia | united states |
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image by Randy Young, 10 September 2016
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Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a state-supported higher education
school based on a military curriculum located in the city of Lexington,
Virginia. Founded in 1839, VMI has provided higher education and an entry into
the US armed forces for cadets. Among the Institute's more notable alumni are US
Navy Rear Admiral Richard Byrd, who led expeditions to both the North and South
Poles; US Army Lieutenant General Edward Almond, commander of the US Army X
Corps during the Korean War; General of the Army George Marshall, Chief of Staff
of the US Army during the Second World War; Frank McCarthy, producer of the
Academy Award-winning movie "Patton;" and no less than four recipients of the
Medal of Honor. However, VMI's most famous personality was actually one of its
professors – Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson – who taught
artillery courses at VMI and served as General Winfield Scott's commander of
artillery during the Mexican War before becoming Robert E. Lee's right-hand man
in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War.
Today, VMI grants degrees in 14 disciplines to its 1,600 students, which have
included female cadets following a 1996 US Supreme Court ruling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Military_Institute and
http://www.vmi.edu/
The flag of the
Virginia Military Institute is based on the colors carried by the VMI Corps of
Cadets during their service as an independent unit in the Confederate Army. The
VMI Corps of Cadets was committed to combat in 14 separate engagements between
1862 and 1865, and they are authorized to bear a battle streamer for each of
those engagements; the Institute, however, has chosen to display only the
streamer for the 15 May 1864 Battle of New Market, Virginia, where a charge by
the Corps of Cadets was instrumental in forcing the larger Union army out of the
Shenandoah Valley. The streamer is dark blue over grey, bearing the words "NEW
MARKET 1864" in gold lettering.
The colors of the VMI Corps of Cadets are
two-sided. On the obverse, they feature a rather complicated circular seal on a
white field. The seal has at its center the stars and stripes of the coat of
arms from the Great Seal of the United States with a cannon to either side. The
shield and cannons sit upon a green field with mountains and sky in the
background. A bald eagle is perched atop the shield, wings spread and head
facing the fly, with a bust of George Washington above the eagle. Below the seal
is a blue ribbon bearing in gold capital letters the motto "E PLURIBUS UNUM."
The reverse side of the flag shows the Virginia state seal in the Civil War-era
manner on a white field with a similar blue ribbon beneath, bearing gold
lettering of the school's name "VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE." The flag typically
has a gold fringe on all sides but the hoist.
Photographs of the flag can
be seen online at
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Romney-VMI.jpg
(where it is the flag farthest to the right);
http://vminews.tumblr.com/post/118797723316/parade-practice-may-12-2015-patrick-eberhart
(where it is being used in practice for passing the colors to the incoming
commandant);
http://www.civilwar.org/hallowed-ground-magazine/summer-2010/and-may-god-forgive-me.html
(where it is being carried by VMI Cadets as part of a re-enactment of the Battle
of New Market); and
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/cadets-virginia-military-institute.html
(halfway down the page, as part of a color guard commemorating the Battle of New
Market, and then further down as part of the re-enactment of the battle).
Randy Young, 10 September 2016