On pleasant days when not on duty we often strolled on “Flirtation Walk,” that beautiful path winding through the trees and rocks between the camp site and the river to watch passing steamers or to see the objects of interest along this walk. There are some links of a huge chain on “Trophy Point” between Professor’s Row and the hotel that was floated on logs across the Hudson during the Revolutionary War from Gee’s Point at the big bend of the river to Constitution Island[43] near the village of Cold Springs on the east side of the Hudson. We used to examine the place near the lighthouse on Gee’s Point, where one end of this chain was fastened and wonder what effect such an obstruction would be to the gunboats of to-day. At other times we would linger about Kosciuszco’s Monument, a little south of Gee’s Point, and quench our thirst at the same spring that this noble Pole drank from more than a century ago when he built Fort Clinton—that is, nearby on the plain—while at the same time General Putnam constructed the numerous other fortifications on the neighboring hills. Then we would visit Battery Knox, near Kosciuszco’s garden, to see the beautiful view down the Hudson that this work commands, or go to see still another handsome view up the Hudson from Trophy Point or Siege Battery at the north, or rather the west end of Flirtation Walk. Battery Knox, and Seacoast, Siege and Mortar batteries are of comparative recent origin and were built by the cadets. There are many monuments, aside from those in the little cemetery, that have been erected at salient points about the grounds to heroes who freely sacrificed their lives in the cause of freedom. Some of those brave men shed their blood to give birth to our republic, others to wrest territory from the Indians or from Mexico, and still others that our Union might live. Then there are cannon and other relics of war on Trophy Point and in the “museum” that are silent teachers for all who see them. The very air about this historic spot teaches love of country, and the cadets absorb much valuable information that is not taught in the section room.
Cadets who were popular with the ladies often used to pin the “spooney buttons” on their coats, and when a cadet gave his spooney button to a young lady this act was equivalent to saying that she was the favored one.