The West Point Eggnog Riot
Public DomainCaptain Ethan Allen Hitchcock was threatened with death after he walked in on drunken cadets.
Following disorderly Independence Day activities in 1825, the superintendent of West Point, Colonel Sylvanus Thayer, banned all alcohol at the academy. Cadets were forced to spend Christmas 1825 without booze — and a select group was determined that the 1826 holiday season would not be a sober affair.
Days before Christmas, cadets smuggled in gallons of brandy, rum, and wine from local taverns, with a plan to mix it into their traditional eggnog. Three cadets had even rowed across the Hudson River to procure several gallons of whiskey, which were then hidden across campus in anticipation of the Christmas Day festivities.
The party began quietly in the North Barracks on Christmas Eve, but more attendees arrived throughout the night. Eventually, around 4 a.m., the raucousness awoke Captain Ethan Allen Hitchcock, who went to investigate the noise and discovered 13 drunk cadets — one of whom happened to be 18-year-old Jefferson Davis, the future president of the Confederacy.
Public DomainJefferson Davis was the only president of the Confederate States of America.
Davis had tried to warn his fellow cadets, but Hitchcock was already on his heels by the time he burst through the door shouting, “Put away the grog, boys! Captain Hitchcock is coming!” The captain then began reading the Riot Act to the cadets, declaring any gathering of 12 or more people unlawful.
Rather than dispersing, the intoxicated cadets, with the exception of Davis, exploded in rage. They armed themselves with bayonets, muskets, swords, sticks, and rocks — whatever they could find — and threatened Hitchcock with death.
As they tore through the academy while smashing windows, throwing furniture, and ripping down banisters, they left a trail of destruction behind them. When they finally found Hitchcock hiding behind a barricaded door, one cadet even fired his pistol through it.
By Christmas morning, nearly one-third of West Point’s cadets had become participants in the so-called Eggnog Riot, and though much of the chaos had been quelled, the incident still required investigation.
In the end, 11 cadets were expelled, and dozens more received lesser punishments.
