Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General Sylvanus Thayer (June 9, 1785 – September 7, 1872) also known as the "Father of the Military Academy",[1] was an early superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point and an early advocate of engineering education in the United States.

However, he never gave the valedictory address at Dartmouth, having been granted an appointment to West Point by President Thomas Jefferson at the behest of General Pierce.

Thayer graduated from the United States Military Academy after a single year and received his commission as a second lieutenant in 1808.

[4] In 1817, President James Monroe ordered Thayer to West Point to become superintendent of the Military Academy following the resignation of Captain Alden Partridge.

These include the values of honor and responsibility, strict mental and physical discipline, the demerit system, summer encampment, high academic standards and the requirement that cadets maintain outstanding military bearing and appearance at all times.

Colonel Thayer's time at West Point ended with his resignation in 1833, after a disagreement with President Andrew Jackson.

An outcome of Anderson's 1869 meeting with Thayer was the establishment of the Military Academy's Association of Graduates (AoG).

Thayer personally located and recommended USMA graduate Lieutenant Robert Fletcher to Dartmouth president Asa Dodge Smith.

[11] To honor his achievements, in 1958, the Sylvanus Thayer Award was created by the United States Military Academy.

He has been honored by the United States Postal Service with a 9¢ Great Americans series postage stamp.

The Pale Blue Eye (2022) is a film adaptation of the 2003 novel by Louis Bayard featuring Timothy Spall as Thayer.