Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/594

 570 WESTPHALIA WEST POINT the territory between the Rhine and the Weser, including the districts N. of the duchy of West- phalia lying on or near the North sea, and sev- eral territories W. of the Rhine. It included the bishoprics of Minister, Paderborn, Osna- bruck, and Li6ge ; the principalities of Minden, Mors, Verden, and East Friesland ; the duchies of Oleves, Julich, Berg, and Oldenburg; the counties of Mark, Schanmburg, Ravensberg, Hoya, Pyrmont, Delmenhorst, Lippe, Bent- heim, and Diepholz; the abbeys of Corvey, Stablo, and Malmedy ; and the free cities of Cologne, Aix-la-Chapelle, and Dortmund. The elector of Brandenburg as duke of Cleves, and the elector palatine as duke of Julich, were directors of the circle alternately with the bishop of Mfinster. This circle ceased to ex- ist at the dissolution of the German empire in 1806. The French kingdom of Westphalia, established by Napoleon I., Aug. 18, 1807, for his brother Jerome, was between the Elbe and the Rhine, having an area of about 15,000 sq. m., and a population of 2,000,000. It included Hesse-Cassel (excepting Hanau and Katzenel- lenbogen), Brunswick- Wolfenbuttel, the por- tions of the Prussian provinces of Altmark and Magdeburg lying W. of the Elbe, the Hano- verian provinces of Gottingen and OsnabrQck, besides Minden, Paderborn, Ravensberg, Hil- desheim, Goslar, and other towns and districts taken from Prussia, Hanover, and Saxony. In October, 1813, King Jerome was expelled from Cassel, his capital, and the kingdom was dis- solved. (See BONAPABTE, .II':I:<">M r, vol. iii., p. 26.) The Westphalian treaties, which termi- nated the thirty years' war, were finally signed on Oct. 24, 1648. (See THIRTY YEARS' WAR.) WEST POIM, a village in the town of Corn- wall, Orange co., New York, on the W. bank of the Hudson river, at its passage through the Highlands, 50 m. above New York city; pop. in 1870, 942. It is the seat of the United States military academy. The point itself, including a tract of mountain land adjoining it on the west and northwest, amounting alto- gether to 1,795 acres, was purchased by the United States from Stephen Moore in 1 790. An additional tract on the south was bought of Oliver Gridley .in 1824. The entire domain contains 2,105 acres. The state of New York ceded its jurisdiction over a small portion of .this area, embracing little more than the plain of West Point, in 1826. Upon this plain, which contains about 160 acres and is about one mile in circuit, are the principal buildings of the academy, so arranged along its western and southern margin as to leave a largo unoc- cupied area for tactical instruction and parades. Its surface is 160 to 180 ft. above the level of the river, with bold and rocky cliffs on the east and northeast, commanding river views of almost unparalleled beauty, and on the north a more gentle declivity. It is closely flanked on the west by abrupt hills and mountain spurs, with altitudes varying from 500 to 1,500 ft., the highest of which, rising precipitously from the river a little more than a mile to the north- ward, is Old Crow Nest. The ruins of Fort Putnam, a relic of revolutionary times, tower above the plain on Mount Independence, about West Point. three fourth^ of a mile S. W. of the extremity of the point. During the war of the revolu- tion the position of West Point possessed great strategic importance, commanding the only line of water communication by which the enemy on the Atlantic coast could receive co- operation from Canada. Some weak defen- sive works called Fort Constitution had been erected on the E. bank of the river, upon Mar- telaer's rock (now Constitution island), as early as November, 1775 ; and in 1776 two temporary works styled Fort Montgomery and Fort Clin-