No one is aware of what is contained in a lead box that was found this spring inside a memorial to Revolutionary War hero Thaddeus Kosciuszko, but that is about to change.

During a livestream event on Monday 28th of August at the United States Military Academy, the box will be opened, revealing the solution to a history riddle that has been brewing for nearly 200 years. It is thought to be a time capsule from 1829, when a Virginia cadet named Robert E. Lee received his West Point diploma.

When workers were removing the crumbling base of the Kosciuszko monument in late May 2023, they came upon the box and realized it was a time capsule left there by cadets.

The box, which is one cubic foot in size, was taken into custody by the post's archaeologist as this is a military academy. He took notes and pictures of the object. A member of the academy's department of physics and nuclear engineering trained a powerful X-ray apparatus on the box within weeks, but because to the lead construction of the box, they were unable to obtain any conclusive information regarding its contents.

Due to this, it was decided to have the box's contents revealed in person at a ceremony at 10:30 a.m. in Robinson Auditorium of the academy's Thayer Hall, live on YouTube.

The occasion might be a stunning success or a bust similar to Geraldo Rivera's live television broadcast of him unlocking Al Capone's vault on April 21, 1986. Rivera realized it contained nothing but dust and trash in front of a live audience of 30 million viewers.

What might be in a time capsule buried barely 26 years after the academy was established has likewise sparked all kinds of speculation.

Conversion of unknowns to knowns

History is something Jennifer Voigtschild, the command historian at West Point, is used to finding, not history finding her. For hints, Voigtschild combed through the West Point archives.

A Kosciuszko memorial was to be built at West Point, and she discovered an advertisement from October 1824 in a national newspaper giving a gold medal worth $50 for the best design. Because Kosciuszko's Garden used to be his favorite getaway during leisure time, it was chosen as the "rude romantic location."

The winner of the design competition was John Latrobe, a former cadet who had finished first in his class until he was forced to leave West Point in 1821 due to his father's passing a year earlier. Because he created the U.S. Capitol, his father Benjamin Latrobe was an expert on monuments.

The 8 1/2-foot bronze statue of Kosciuszko would be installed in 1913, and the younger Latrobe's design consisted of a base with a 10-foot tall fluted column on top.

While the monument's base bears a carving stating that the corps of cadets built it in 1828 with plans to dedicate it on July 4 of that year, Voigtschild discovered there was a delay of about a year.

Whether the time capsule was buried in 1829 or the statue was erected in 1913 was a matter of debate. However, a few circumstances compelled the historian to choose the earlier date: the base's bricks were pre-1850, time capsules buried in the 1910s were more frequently constructed of copper than lead, and there was no record of a time capsule in 1913, when such a fact would not have gone unmentioned.

Benedict Arnold, Major Andre, and Kosciuszko

In order to construct West Point and prevent British ships from navigating the crucial Hudson River, Gen. George Washington named Col. Thaddeus Kosciuszko as his chief engineer in 1778.

He served as West Point's principal engineer for 28 months, from April 1778 to August 1780, according to Voigtschild. They later dubbed it the Gibraltar of the Hudson because he performed such an excellent job.

Benedict Arnold assumed command at West Point in August 1780, the same month Kosciuszko left.

Arnold's efforts to provide British spy Maj. John Andre with a map of Kosciuszko's defenses a month later could have given the British control of the crucial Hudson River and divided the rebel provinces. Andre was found hiding the West Point defense plans in his boot, which revealed the plot's demise. In Tappan, New York, where Washington held his headquarters, Andre was executed on October 2, 1780. Arnold fled to Canada and later, to Britain.

Kosciuszko, a Polish soldier who was essential to American independence, served as a colonel during the revolution but was elevated to the rank of brigadier general in 1783 after the war's conclusion, according to Voigtschild.

In addition, a bridge over Newtown Creek connecting Brooklyn and Queens is named after Kosciuszko.

What's in there? There are many different theories.

In a video titled "Tap, Tap, Tap," which was uploaded to the West Point Instagram page, a worker is seen using a chisel to gauge the effectiveness of the box's seal. What might be inside the time capsule, the post speculates?

One poster makes the following conjecture in reference to the Army's love of polished metal and the fact that Lee was a cadet at the time: 'My hunch' A cadet borrowed and never returned CDT Robert E. Lee's Brasso (metal polish) can.

Voigtschild paused before responding to a question about whether Lee may have had a say in the placement of the capsule and dedication of the memorial.

“Oh, I don't know”, she remarked. “We will observe more.”

"(West Point Chief of Staff Sylvanus) Thayer might have been the perpetrator. The cadet committee might have been responsible. The dedication speech that was not given may have been written by Charles Petigru. Cadet Thompson, who graduated in July 1828, might have been the candidate. He presided over the committee that selected the layout. We are unaware of so many fascinating things.

The historian observed the box and noted that the bottom has a seam that appears to have partially separated and has signs of aging. That could indicate that the contents were wetted.

However, she noted that the monument's foundation was rather dry.

Whatever the case, "a great story"

In his analysis of Monday's opening ceremony, Voigtschild adopts a historical perspective.

No matter what is contained in the box, she added, "we believe that it's a fantastic example of cadets or academy staff leaving something because they thought that Kosciuszko was so important to the history of the academy and to the country for what he did during the Revolutionary War."

Even if the box is empty, the fact that it existed and that someone thought to do this for future cadets and people of the country is still a great narrative.

Despite knowing of only one recent time capsule at West Point, Voigtschild claimed to be aware of no additional ones that have been discovered there.

She stated, "We do have one that we put into Davis Barracks in 2018, when we built that barracks, and maybe some uniform items," adding that it contained a curriculum book, notes on academy and cadet history.

The historian speculates that perhaps a copy of Petigru's speech is within the box to demonstrate how it was consecrated.

The endeavor to rebuild the statue's base and return it to its perch overlooking the Hudson is still ongoing. The original base will be replaced with a new one made of solid granite covered in marble, with one minor modification: "They're going to build a little vault for us to put a new time capsule back there," Voigtschild added.