Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest state-supported military college in the United States. The institute, also known as VMI, was founded in 1839 as a training ground for young men to become citizen-soldiers.
VMI students, called cadets, wear military-style uniforms. They are required to take officer training in the United States Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, or Navy. Many students receive officer’s commissions after graduation.
During the American Civil War (1861-1865), nearly all VMI students and teachers served with the Confederate Army. In May 1864, the entire student body, about 250 cadets, marched 83 miles (134 kilometers) from Lexington to New Market in northern Virginia. There, they fought as a unit in the Battle of New Market and defeated Union troops. Union forces burned the school in June 1864, but it reopened in 1865.
In 1996, the Supreme Court of the United States ordered VMI to admit women or lose its state funding. The first women cadets enrolled at VMI in 1997 and graduated in 1999. Well-known VMI graduates have included General George C. Marshall, chief of staff of the U.S. Army during World War II (1939-1945), and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Jr., who served in the Senate from 1965 to 1983. VMI’s athletic teams are called the Keydets. The VMI website at https://www.vmi.edu/ offers additional information about the institute.
