Legend of the Sentinel Box

Like The Cadet the sentinel box serving as "Post Number 1" in the Old Barracks courtyard has a long and sometime mythical history. Through the years it remains the focal point in barracks where some of the most significant and impactful events of cadet and alumni life occurs. It's the pinnacle for "Old Yells" for one's class as cadets or alumni. In the new "breakout" ceremony the new 4th class often used sandbags to form their class designation for the post-breakout class photo to build a ramp to the top of the sentinel box for the first Old Yell for their class. It's often decorated by Cadets on Halloween and other occasion and when the VMI Honor Code is violated the perpetrator is expelled from the Corps with "his or her name never to be mentioned at the institute again." The history of the sentinel box itself is a rich one. In one old tradition the posting of the first rat sentinel every year the Corps would crowd around or on occasion the first class would host the rat on their shoulders for his "first walk around the sentinel box". According to an article published in The Cadet September 27, 1974 "The mythical tradition decrees that the first rat to walk post number one each year will never graduate from VMI." It recounts how the sentinel was met by the members of the class of '75 who carried out the traditional cross-dyke cutting with "refreshing maturity" and "The crowd was orderly yet with purpose, and after their duty was done hoisted [the sentinel] on their shoulders carrying him around the first tour of his post." In looking back to October 24, 1946 the article notes the first member of the class of 1950 to walk post number one around the sentinel box similarly entered the courtyard. Eventually that first rat sentinel graduated VMI academically distinguished with a B.A. in History and entered the U.S. Army as a Second Lieutenant. He eventually rose to the rank of Colonel and became a legendary figure in his own right among commandants at VMI. His name was William J. "Buck" Buchanan. According to Colonel Keith Gibson '77, Director of the VMI Museum System, VMI Museum, Jackson House Museum, and Virginia Museum of the Civil War when Smith Hall was in the old courtyard back in the 1920s there were multiple sentinel boxes to include a couple outside the barracks known as Guard Post Number 2 and Guard Post Number 3. Eventually as barracks expanded the remaining sentinel boxes disappeared leaving only Post Number 1 as the focal point in what became known as "Old Barracks". Over the years the sentinel box transitioned from its original wood construction to a more durable cement version. As a symbol of the institute and specifically the school's administration it soon also became the target for one of VMI's most colorful, if not dangerous, traditions. The story of the "Molly McGuire Fourteen" is one of the first recorded histories recounting bombs in the courtyard and sentinel box. In 1917 Colonel Greene Class of 1890 had the story published in the September issue of Century Magazine. It was reprinted, by The Cadet in 1928. Molly Fourteen was formed in response to the organization of secret fraternities at VMI and with the purpose of frustrating the administration. As Henry A. Wise documents in his definitive book on VMI: Drawing Out the Man: The VMI Story" and in a lesson for today: "There was no need justification for secret fraternities at a college where all lived together on a basis of equality and fraternity, if not liberty." The group consisted of 13 cadets known only to themselves and their crowning achievement was blowing up the old arsenal on Woods Creek, after which the VMI Board of Visitors abolished secret societies in 1885. As Wise recounts, in the 1920 the Certified Thirteen thrived with the annual practice of rolling bombs into the barracks courtyard followed by the warning should of "Bomb in the Courtyard!" The practice continued and become more organized into the 1940s by which time rules among the groups include the size of bombs, detonation practices and more. For an article tracing the legends during his tenure with The Cadet, Tom Wilson '79 interviewed an alumnus from the 1940s to explore the legend of bombs in the courtyard and blowing up the sentinel box. The alumnus recounted that explosives were set in the box and the warning given "Bomb in the Courtyard". As with anything connected to the ingenuity of the Corps, over time explosions became bigger and the practice was eventually banned. Of course being VMI cadets, the ban was for placing a bomb in the sentinel box or courtyard. The innovative new idea and practice became attempting to deliver destruction of the sentinel box using a mortar outside of barracks and issuing the same warning. Bombs in the courtyard and sentinel box were, at the time, were organized activities with the designated bomb groups known as "the bomb squad" or "The Secret Eight". According to photos of these groups found in the VMI archives and the 1937 Bomb Members of the Class of 1940 who engaged in throwing a "bomb" in the barracks courtyard, a prank perpetuated each year by members of the Third Class, was immortalized in the Bomb: "Remnant of the days when cadets were bold, bad men - and authorities weren't so tough! This club is neither secret nor is it eight....When cadets reach their Third Class year it has become a custom for that group to throw a bomb. The instigators and executioners of this deed automatically become members of the Secret Eight." As James M. Morgan, Jr. documents in his essay: "Cadet Life at VMI During World War II" the tradition signified the Third Class's recognition of itself in barracks. As Morgan writes: The General Committee forbade the practice of throwing bombs into the courtyard during 1941 – 1942. This tradition had been followed by the Third Class for several years, the number of "bomb in the courtyard" cries to match the last digit in the class's year designation. For instance, the Class of 1942 was traditionally to throw two, the Class of 1943, 3 and so on. The prohibition followed the unfortunate incident involving Richard Niess '44, who lost an eye during one such incident; he was later to play an important role when the size of the Corps drastically shrank and when assigned enlisted army personnel numerically overshadowed those that wore the grey. Richard "Dick" Niess may have been the final graduate of 1944. He actually damaged his eye but did not lose it completely. This initially prevented him from serving during WWII although he was able to serve later and was one of the very few '44 men who actually graduated at VMI in February of 1944. Dick Niess graduated VMI with a BS on Civil Engineering and further distinguished himself serving as the Regimental Commander and Jackson Hope medal recipient. The present day VMI Guard Room was his First Class Barracks room where, undoubtedly, his spirit continues to look out over the sentinel box. Following the ban on bombs, the sentinel box became the focal point for a new tradition known to many though the 1970s as "the burning of the woolies". Each year when the Corps tradition from heavy grey winter wool pants to the lighter "whites" the First Class piled the wool pants into the sentinel box and burned them in what, in some cases, older alumni recount today as "a bonfire you could see from space". Whether spurred on by nostalgia or fueled by alcohol this practice ultimately resulted in the final destruction of the old cement sentinel box by the Class of 1979. According to one alumnus from '79 who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear his right to visit Moody Hall would be revoked: "As a rat I had smelled and seen the woolies get burned. I saw some cracking around the bricks before they were covered with stucco and repainted." Members of the class began pondering how to comply with the no explosives edict and still take down the sentinel box. Civil Engineering classes were judiciously applied for a strategy to heat the sentinel box as hot as possible numerous times then rapidly cool it off by the normal application of cold water by VMI facilities management personnel the next morning using the Old Barracks fire hydrant. To accomplish the preparation, each Class having a bonfire from 1976 – 1979 was advised to make it larger without telling them the specific reason. This proved an easy task as Cadet Classes have always been known to "go bigger" on everything from the classes before then. When the Class of 1978 burned their straight pants fire was so hot the normal onerous order of burning wool was virtually imperceptible. On the night the Class of 1979 burned their woolies, the celebration (and alcohol consumption) reached its peak with the only remaining challenge being how to actually topple the sentinel box. The cadets set on the idea of using a telephone exercise pole from the rifle range area and so a pick-u truck was dispatched to retrieve the pole. Thanks to hinges secretly installed on the screens for one of the first stoop rooms so they could be opened for "running the block" and other nocturnal activities, the pole was secretly sequestered in the room, much like a whale in a beer bottle, leaving the remaining challenge of how to manage such an unwieldy battering ram. Never at a loss for solutions, the group hit upon the idea of using bed straps that would not only facilitate transportation but provide unique momentum when assaulting the sentinel box. The first strike punched a very promising hole, but speed was of the essence before "The Tac" arrived and so as cadets tired on the straps they were replaced by fresh hands and hearts until the sentinel box was reduced to smoldering rubble. The aftermath was something to behold as the search for the guilty parties expanded across the Institute but in true VMI tradition the Corps stood firm and the identities of those involved remain known only to a few to this day. In response the VMI superintendent, Lt. Gen Richard Irby, issued every member of the Class of 1979 an official letter of reprimand and the Class of 1979 was required to pay for a new sentinel box. One ingenious cadet then had an exact replica made of the permit stamp from the commandant's office with which he stamped it "Disapproved" and sent it back. Years later, in 2010, renovation in barracks required removal of the sentinel box, but the one purchased by the Class of 1979 was so solid it could not be moved and had to be demolished by heavy equipment. The Class of 1979 donated the funds for the new sentinel box that stands in old courtyard today, bearing a plaque commemorating the events. The only addition to the plaque in the present sentinel box is an "info sheet" posted inside. Gibson recalls: "I remember when we were expected to memorize our special and general orders AND the OD came around and checked! (By Crackey!). As a Rat sentinel on Post #1 I was challenged by the OD to recite my general orders. I choked and was boned! If only there had been a cheat sheet in the box, I could have asked the OD to wait while I brushed up on the details and avoided whatever the penalty was!" Do you have a story about the sentinel box or other VMI landmark or tradition? If so, send it to us at Info@cadetnewspaper.com for a possible series or future story!