A Proud History-A Bright Future
The Blue Jay ROTC Battalion has been proud to help
develop the leaders of tomorrow. Learn about our history here.
Army ROTC at the Johns Hopkins University
has a long and illustrious history. The conflict with
Spain that set Cuba free and made the United States
responsible for the future of the Philippine Islands
stirred the patriotism of JHU undergraduates. On
April 27, 1898, they assembled in old McCoy Hall and
after an address by President Gilman and Dr.
Gildersleeve, voted unanimously to form a company of volunteers
and begin military drill. Nearly 100 students
enrolled.
In the academic year 1913-1914, when the University
was planning to move from downtown Baltimore, it was
proposed by the director of physical education, Dr.
Ronald T. Abercrombie, to the acting president of the University, Dr. William H. Welch, to establish a
military unit. Assurances had been given that the
War Department would assist in a very positive way and
would supply instructors to handle the basic courses in
tactics and physical training. Members of the
faculty were willing to open their classes for
theoretical work even up through the advanced course.
With the overwhelming details of moving to the
Homewood campus, all the arrangements were not completed
until early 1916 when it became known that Congress was
likely to enact a law providing for military training in
the colleges. At that time the undergraduates
presented to University authorities a petition for the
establishment of first of the proposed military
departments. To be ready to act promptly whenever
the law should become effective, the students formed a
volunteer company of nearly a hundred and once again the
campus echoed with martial sounds. Much of the
credit for Hopkins receiving the first ROTC unit is due
to the persistence of Dr. Abercrombie, the "Father
of the Hopkins Army," and Dr. Murray P. Brush, Dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences.
With the passing of the National Defense Act on
October 16, 1916, a unit of the Reserve Officers
Training Corps was formally established at Hopkins with
Lieutenant C. Winslow Elliot assigned as Professor of
Military Science and Tactics. He soon had about
two hundred students enrolled in a program.
Several of the early Johns Hopkins University Professors
of Military Science and Tactics published the first
manuals for ROTC instruction through the JHU Press.
Nearly 3000 officers have been commissioned from the
JHU ROTC program, including over fifty-five generals and
admirals.
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