Like so many places in the South, the Civil War left its indelible mark on the Virginia Military Institute. The cadet barracks building still bears the scars of its 1864 destruction.
But on no day was VMI heard from so clearly as on May 15, 1864, at the Battle of New Market. That day remains as the defining moment for VMI, for it was then that the wartime corps of cadets – many of whom were deemed too young for active field service – went under fire for the first time and spearheaded a Confederate victory.
The mural of the cadet charge, which graces Jackson Memorial Hall at VMI, has its own intriguing story. Completed in 1914, the artist was Benjamin West Clinedinst, VMI class of 1880.
By the turn of the century, Clinedinst had established a reputation as a portrait artist and was living in New York City. Approached by a fellow alumnus and asked to create the mural, Clinedinst agreed to accept the commission at no fee.
The mural became a labor of love for the artist as he painstakingly researched every aspect of the charge of the cadets. Clinedinst came to Lexington and had members of the VMI corps don reproduction wartime uniforms and pose with broomsticks and shovels for guns. He and his son, Wendel, took VMI cadets to the scene of the charge at New Market and sketched and photographed them running across the field and up the hill, noting the attitudes of their figures as they slipped, tripped and fell.
After preliminary studies were completed, Clinedinst began painting on three-foot sections of Belgian canvas. The completed work measures 23 feet high and 18 feet wide, and is one of the country’s largest canvas paintings. Originally mounted in the old Jackson Hall, the painting was moved under the supervision of Clinedinst to its present location in 1917.
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