# Question about the use of the term "on whom the stars fell on" for West Point graduates **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 29, 2024, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-use-of-the-term-on-whom-the-stars-fell-on-for-west-point-graduates/1000918 "2024-04-29T13:35:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-use-of-the-term-on-whom-the-stars-fell-on-for-west-point-graduates/1000918/1 "2024-04-29T13:35:42Z")
Wikipedia is the only website that have seen that refers to the class of 1886 as a class on whom the stars fell. Virtually every other website only refers to the class of 1915. Does the term itself though date to the antebellum? Civil War ? Reconstruction period and who else before the class of 1915 was given that epithet? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-use-of-the-term-on-whom-the-stars-fell-on-for-west-point-graduates/1000918/2 "2024-04-29T14:49:14Z")
This won’t be any help, but **Stars fell on Alabama** is a saying referring to an 1833 Leonid meteor shower that was pretty spectacular. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-use-of-the-term-on-whom-the-stars-fell-on-for-west-point-graduates/1000918/3 "2024-04-29T15:08:35Z")
The Wikipedia article itself provides two references to it in relation to the class of 1886, one dated to 1920, the other much _later_ than most of the ones for the 1915/WW2 cohort. It appears that the phrase if even used in that 1920 reference, only got traction with its WW2 usage. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-use-of-the-term-on-whom-the-stars-fell-on-for-west-point-graduates/1000918/4 "2024-04-29T15:30:21Z")
Thanks JRDelirious. That solves that. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-use-of-the-term-on-whom-the-stars-fell-on-for-west-point-graduates/1000918/5 "2024-04-29T15:41:01Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > It appears that the phrase if even used in that 1920 reference, only got traction with its WW2 usage. I don’t think it’s even used in the 1920 reference, as it appears to just be a register of graduates. It appears to support the sentence about how many graduates from 1886 became generals (the sentence immediately preceding the cite) but not the sentence before that (which is the one that claims the class of 1886 was known as the class the stars fell on, but offers no cite). ETA: For those who are wondering WTH we’re even talking about, I believe it’s this wiki article: > **[The class the stars fell on](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_class_the_stars_fell_on)** > > "The class the stars fell on" is an expression used to describe the class of 1915 at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. In the United States Army, the insignia reserved for generals is one or more stars. Of the 164 graduates that year, 59 (36%) attained the rank of general, more than any other class in the history of the academy, hence the expression. > Two graduates reached the rank of five-star General of the Army, two were four-star generals, seven three-star lieute... ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-use-of-the-term-on-whom-the-stars-fell-on-for-west-point-graduates/1000918/6 "2024-04-29T16:30:15Z")
In which case then the 1886 bit would be a recent “retroactive” applying of this phrase. > [@Octagon](#): > > Does the term itself though date to the antebellum? Civil War ? Reconstruction Another thing to think of, the amount of mutual West Point classmates leading 1861-65 forces on both sides is legendary, but the sheer volume of brevet and volunteer and state-based senior command appointments created by the Civil War meant it cut accross a wide swath of classes. Custer for instance was made a Brigadier General of Volunteers barely 2 years after graduating West Point. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-use-of-the-term-on-whom-the-stars-fell-on-for-west-point-graduates/1000918/7 "2024-04-30T11:27:25Z")
Thanks JRDelirious. Apropos the Black nurses, were they confined to France in 1919 or also serving in the occupied Rhineland ?