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WEST POINT — The Fort Tyler Association’s annual dinner program, tentatively set for Friday evening, April 17 at West Point Depot, has been canceled.

“In the interest of health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 virus, we thought it best for us to cancel it,” FTA President Rea Clark said. “We hope to reschedule this event when circumstances permit.”

Past Fort Tyler dinners have brought together descendants of the men who fought in the April 16, 1865, Battle of West Point. A guest at one of these dinners several years ago presented FTA members with an extraordinary gift: a reproduction of a drawing her ancestor had made the day after the battle. It depicted what he’d seen during the battle, such as cannon fire exploding over Fort Tyler, dismounted cavalry approaching the fort on all sides and one landmark that still exists, the Griggs House.

Each dinner offers opportunities to bring to the forefront mementos of the Easter Sunday 1865 battle, such as letters from and photographs of soldiers who fought there.