[1] It was founded in 1894 by Wesley Peacock, Sr., who envisioned "the most thorough military school west of the Mississippi, governed by the honor system, and conducted on the principles of a cultured home."

The Academy was chartered in 1904 and became one of the first JROTC schools recognized by the Department of War which detailed Colonel George Leroy Brown there as the first commandant of cadets and professor of military science and tactics.

During World War II, Adjutant General J. Watt Page asked the Academy to conduct a training school for Texas Defense Guard officers.

In 1956, Adjutant General Kearie Berry asked the Academy to assist in the establishment of a permanent professional military education institute for Texas Military Forces which resulted in the Texas National Guard Academy.

[citation needed] By its closing in 1973, the Peacock Military Academy was nationally recognized as the "West Point of Texas" and had graduated over 15,000 cadets, many of whom served and commanded in World War II and the Korean and Vietnamese campaigns of the Cold War.