Scandal Rocks West Point, 1839
Brigadier General John Pope, 1860s
John Pope… had come swaggering up in pantaloons that buttoned down the front – “flies,” the innovation would later be called – the first ever seen at the Academy… and the Academy was supposed to set fashion for the Army. When the officers’ women-folk heard of this style which so boldly recognized male anatomy there was horror and consternation, and Mrs. Delafield, learning that her husband was praising it on the grounds of economy and practical utility…was reported as saying that “cadets thus dressed should not come in person to the house.”
– From Captain Sam Grant, Lloyd Lewis, 1950