Mr. Lincoln’s Secret Visit To West Point

Unknown to many at the time, and remaining a little known historical fact even now, President Abraham Lincoln made a clandestine trip to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in June of 1862 – in the middle of the Civil War. It was Lincoln’s longest journey away from the White House and his only trip to New York State during his entire Presidency. The President boarded a train in Washington D.C. and got off right at the Garrison Depot in Putnam County, taking a ferry across the river to West Point. During his brief stay, he also toured the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring. Based upon original research, Anthony J. Czarnecki, reveals why Lincoln came to West Point, what he did during his three-day stay in the Hudson River Valley, and how history was changed as a result of this secret visit to the U.S. Military Academy.