in 1794, a militia numbering approximately 13,000 was raised and personally led by president george washington to quell the whiskey rebellion in pennsylvania. from this experience, a major weakness of a states-based citizen militia system was found to be the lack of systematic army organization, and a lack of training for engineers and officers. george washington repeatedly warned of these shortcomings up until his death in 1799. two days before his death, in a letter to general alexander hamilton, george washington wrote: "the establishment of a military academy upon a respectable and extensive basis has ever been considered by me as an object of primary importance to this country; and while i was in the chair of government, i omitted no proper opportunity of recommending it in my public speeches, and otherwise to the attention of the legislature."