Virginia Military Institute was founded in 1839 as the nation's first state-sponsored military college. It initially occupied the state arsenal on this site, and in 1850 architect Alexander Jackson Davis introduced the Gothic Revival style that created the Institute's distinctive appearance. The school educates citizen-soldiers through a rigorous academic program within a military framework and an honor code, with all cadets participating in Reserve Officer Training Corps programs in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, or Air Force, and about half of each graduating class typically accepting commissions. Thomas J. Jackson, later known as Stonewall Jackson, arrived in 1851 to teach physics. During the Civil War, the Corps of Cadets was called to service more than 15 times, and the Institute was bombarded. After the war, the Institute rebuilt both its buildings and its faculty, adding the renowned oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury. Its notable alumni include George C. Marshall, Richard Byrd, and Jonathan M. Daniels, and its Corps of Cadets numbers about 1,700 men and women from across the country and several foreign nations.