Virginia Military Institute was founded in 1839 as the nation's first state-sponsored military college. It began in 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. VMI educates citizen-soldiers through a rigorous academic program within a military framework and under an unparalleled honor code. All cadets take part in the Reserve Officer Training Corps and choose the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, or Air Force, with about half of each graduating class typically accepting a commission. Maj. 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 itself came under bombardment. After the war, as its buildings were rebuilt, its faculty was also rebuilt, including the addition of the renowned oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury, known as the "Pathfinder of the Seas." Among its noted alumni are General of the Army George C. Marshall, Class of 1901, World War II Army chief of staff, architect of the Marshall Plan, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient; Adm. Richard Byrd, Class of 1908, Medal of Honor recipient for his explorations of the North and South poles; and Jonathan M. Daniels, Class of 1961, a Civil Rights activist of the 1960s who was murdered and later declared a lesser saint of the Episcopal Church. The Corps of Cadets numbers approximately 1,700 men and women from around the country and several foreign nations.