Norwich University is a private university in Northfield, Vermont, United States. The university was founded in 1819 as the "American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy". It is the oldest of six senior military colleges and is recognized by the United States Department of Defense as the "Birthplace of ROTC".
Academics at Norwich University are organized through several academic colleges, including the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of National Services, the College of Professional Schools, and the College of Graduate and Continuing Studies. Students may enroll either as members of the Corps of Cadets or as civilian students, but both groups pursue the same academic programs and degrees. The College of Graduate and Continuing Studies primarily serves adult and online learners, offering flexible undergraduate and graduate programs. Norwich’s Reserve Officers' Training Corps programs—Army, Navy/Marine Corps, and Air Force/Space Force—provide pathways to commissioning, while students interested in the United States Coast Guard may participate in the Coast Guard Auxiliary University Program.
Norwich alumni have included over 138 flag officers in the U.S. Armed Forces, 26 generals in foreign armed forces (namely Thailand and the Republic of China), 6 state governors, 3 chief justices of a state supreme court, 1 U.S. Secretary of the Navy (Gideon Welles), and 9 Medal of Honor recipients.
The university was founded in 1819 in Norwich, Vermont, by Captain Alden Partridge, military educator and former superintendent of West Point. Partridge believed in the "American System of Education," a traditional liberal arts curriculum with instruction in civil engineering and military science. After leaving West Point because of congressional disapproval of his system, he returned to his native state of Vermont to create the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy. Partridge, in founding the academy, rebelled against the reforms of Sylvanus Thayer to prevent the rise of what he saw as the greatest threat to the security of the young republic: an aristocratic and careerist officer class.
He believed that a well-trained militia was an urgent necessity and developed the American system around that idea. His academy inspired several military colleges throughout the nation, including The Citadel. It also was a model for the land grant colleges created through the Morrill Act of 1862. Today, Norwich offers substantial online distance graduate programs. It is similar in many regards to The Citadel in mission, online offerings, student body composition, and size.
Partridge founded 16 other military institutions during his quest to reform the fledgling United States military, including the Virginia Literary, Scientific and Military Academy at Portsmouth, Virginia (1839–1846); Pennsylvania Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy at Bristol, Pennsylvania (1842–1845); Pennsylvania Military Institute at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (1845–1848); Wilmington Literary, Scientific and Military Academy at Wilmington, Delaware (1846–1848); the Scientific and Military Collegiate Institute at Reading, Pennsylvania (1850–1854); Gymnasium and Military Institute at Pembroke, New Hampshire (1850–1853); and the National Scientific and Military Academy at Brandywine Springs, Delaware (1853).
In 1825, the academy moved to Middletown, Connecticut, in an attempt by Captain Partridge to earn the forthcoming U.S. Naval Academy contract. Beginning in 1826, the academy offered the first program of courses in civil engineering in the US.
In 1829, the state of Connecticut declined to grant Captain Partridge a charter, and he moved the school back to Norwich, the Middletown campus becoming Wesleyan College. In 1834, Vermont granted a charter to Partridge and recognized his institution as Norwich University.
During the 1856 academic year, the first chapter of the Theta Chi fraternity was founded by cadets Frederick Norton Freeman and Arthur Chase. With the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, Norwich cadets served as instructors of state militias throughout the Northeast. Support for the Union cause was strong at Norwich; the entire class of 1862 enlisted in the United States Military upon its graduation.
Norwich turned out hundreds of officers and soldiers who served with the federal armies in the American Civil War, including four recipients of the Medal of Honor. One graduate led a corps, seven more headed divisions, 21 commanded brigades, 38 led regiments, and various alumni served in 131 different regimental organizations. In addition, these men were eyewitnesses to some of the war's most dramatic events, including the bloodiest day of the conflict at Antietam, the attack up Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg, and the repulse of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. Seven hundred and fifty Norwich men served in the Civil War, of whom an estimated fifty-six fought for the Confederacy. Because of the university's high rate of participation in the war, the number of students dwindled: only seven were in the Class of 1864.
The Confederate raid on St. Albans, Vermont, precipitated fear that Newport, Vermont, was an imminent target. The Corps of Cadets quickly boarded an express train for Newport the same day, October 19, 1864, and were greeted with great relief by residents when they arrived.
After a catastrophic fire in 1866, which devastated the Old South Barracks and the entire military academy, the town of Northfield welcomed the struggling school. The Civil War, the fire, and uncertainty whether the university would continue adversely affected continuing students and new admissions. The school opened in the fall of 1866 with only 19 students. During the 1870s and 1880s, the institution struggled financially, affected by national economic crises. It was renamed Lewis College in 1880. In 1881, the student body consisted of only a dozen men.
By 1884, the Vermont Legislature changed the name of the school back to Norwich. In the 1890s, the United States Army and Norwich expanded their collaboration. Career officer Jesse McI. Carter received a two-year appointment as an instructor and Commandant of Cadets. In 1898 the university was designated by the legislature as the Military College of the State of Vermont.
1916 was a momentous year for the school. The academic year was disrupted when the school's Corps of Cadets was mobilized as a squadron of cavalry in the Vermont National Guard's First Vermont Regiment to help with General John J. Pershing's Mexican Expedition on the southern border. As well, the War Department designated Norwich as the first site for a Senior ROTC cavalry unit. And the school's first African American student arrived: Harold "Doc" Martin.
Classes graduated early during both the First and Second World Wars. Many Norwich-made officers participated, serving in all theaters of both conflicts. Professional education offered at Norwich changed and adapted with the advance of technology. Military flight training began in 1939.
Graduates returning from European and Pacific fields of battle after World War II found a university very different from the one they had left. In 1947, the Army Department created a new program uniquely suited to Vermont's harsh climate: a mountain and cold weather warfare unit. An Air Force ROTC program was established in 1972; a Navy one in 1984. During the 1974 school year, the university first admitted women into the Corps of Cadets, two years before the federal service academies. The 1972 merger and 1993 integration with Vermont College added women and civilian students to "the Hill" .
In the nineteenth century, hazing of undergraduates by upperclassmen was common in all military schools and many non-military ones as well. Hazing diminished in the early 20th century. By the late 20th century, it was prohibited by university rules and illegal by state law. Despite these changes, there were several reported instances of hazing in 1990, 1995, and 2022.
In 2001, Norwich sold its Vermont College campus and non-traditional degree programs to the Union Institute and University. In 2008 Vermont College's arts programs were spun off to establish the independent Vermont College of Fine Arts.