General Winfield Scott

“ THE AMAZING ADVENTURE OF BRIGADIER-GENERAL LAFAYETTE C. BAKER In the early part of April, 1861, a tall, well-built man, with the love of adventure in his heart, called upon the General commanding the Union forces and offered to penetrate the Confederate lines for the purpose of discovering the military secrets of the Southern army.
The volunteer was Lafayette C. Baker, who was to play a most conspicuous part in the Civil War, and the soldier to whom he made his proposal was General Winfield Scott, one of the most distinguished military men in the United States. ”

“ Scott Square, lying north of the White House, contains a bronze statue of General Winfield Scott, made of cannon captured by the General during his Mexican campaign, and donated by Congress in 1867. The work was executed by Brown, of New York; with the pedestal, it is twenty-nine feet high, and cost $20,000. The General is represented in full uniform, mounted on his war-horse, surveying the field of battle. ”

“ Around each narrator gathered a knot of eager listeners whose interest was heightened by the consciousness each possessed of the surrounding uncertainties. General Winfield Scott, whom we saw upon horseback, seemed both too old and too corpulent for responsibility in such a crisis. My grandfather and his brother were both concerned for the fortunes of General McDowell, for the personal reason that he had married a daughter of Burden of Troy, New York, of whom they were the business representatives in Philadelphia. ”

“ A furious contest followed, in which the Americans, though fighting with the bravery of despair, were driven to the extreme edge of the precipice, and in which Brock fell, mortally wounded.
Then General Winfield Scott crossed the river and assumed command of the American forces, expecting to be reinforced by the militia, but through stubbornness and cowardice they fell back on their prerogative, and refused to be taken out of the state. Twice was Scott attacked by the British and Indians, and twice repelled them with the bayonet, but at the third attack the Americans were obliged to retreat. ”

“ Upon the 7th July, 1838, he first entered the War Department as an assistant adjutant-general. During the Florida war he served as chief of staff to General Worth, and was in the action of Pila-Kil-Kaha on the 19th April, 1842. In 1848 he was brevetted colonel for meritorious conduct in the prosecution of his duties in connection with the Mexican war, and on the 15th July, 1852, was appointed the Adjutant-General of the United States army, General Winfield Scott being then its Commander-in-Chief. ”

“ Early in the day General Brown, the American commander, learned that a British force under General Drummond had crossed the Niagara at Queenston to attack Fort Schlosser. To divert the British from this purpose General Winfield Scott with 1,500 men was ordered to make a demonstration upon Queenston. About sunset Scott came upon a force under General Riall posted on an eminence near Lundy's Lane. A severe fight ensued, which continued until midnight. The British were driven from their strong position, and General Riall and his staff were taken prisoners. ”

“ Moreover, these campaigns entailed a political result discouraging to Polk and the Democrats.
379. Ambitions of Scott and Taylor.—The leading soldier in the United States was General Winfield Scott, the hero of Lundy’s Lane (§ 309) . Military success in a republic generally brings civil honors; and Scott was a Whig, with his eyes already on the Presidency. A Democratic administration could not bring itself to give Scott a chance to distinguish himself, and for some time he was detained at Washington ”

“ But six months before, Winfield Scott had landed on the Mexican coast; since then he had stormed the two strongest places in the country, won four battles in the field against armies double, treble, and quadruple his own, and marched without reverse from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico; losing fewer men, making fewer mistakes, and creating less devastation, in proportion to his victories, than any invading general of former times. ”

“ In the midst of this confusion the colonel commanding the Second Regiment of United States Cavalry arrived from Fort Mason. He was on Page 9 his way to Washington, where Winfield Scott, the veteran General-in-Chief, was anxiously waiting to see him; for this colonel was no ordinary man. He had been Scott's Chief of Staff in Mexico, where he had twice won promotion for service in the field. He had been a model Superintendent at West Point and an exceedingly good officer of engineers before he left them, on promotion, for the cavalry. ”

“ I have heretofore recorded how I again came into the military service of the United States as a colonel of the Thirteenth Regular Infantry, a regiment that had no existence at the time, and that, instead of being allowed to enlist the men and instruct them, as expected, I was assigned in Washington City, by an order of Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, to inspection duty near him on the 20th of June, 1861. ”

“ Ef I'm wanted jest send me word, and I'll make a forrard movement any time. I don't like this 'ere thing of running off in the night-time. But I reckon General Winfield Scott would a ordered a retreat ef he'd a been in my shoes. ”

“ Flanking Scott were Colonel Zachary Taylor and white-bearded Brigadier General Henry Atkinson, who had commanded the militia and troops right up to the battle at the Bad Axe.
Winfield Scott glanced at a paper before him and said, "Auguste de Marion, by some also called White Bear, you are named in Colonel Taylor's report as one of the ringleaders of Black Hawk's uprising. We have heard testimony that you are a renegade and murderer." ”

“ We desire peace, friendship, and union; it is for you to choose whether you prefer continued hostilities. In either case, be assured, I will keep my word.
Winfield Scott."
Worth's division, now preceded by Harney's cavalry, moved from San Augustin on the main road toward the City of Mexico. These were followed by the other divisions of the army. On this route was situated the pedregal, which is a field of volcanic rock of very uneven surface. It is between the roads leading to the capital from San Augustin and Padierna. ”

“ Scott, James, death of, 1, 2. Scott, Winfield, birth and parentage, 1; runs away from Sunday school, 2; defends his teacher; at William and Mary College, 4; enters on the practice of law; present at the trial of Aaron Burr, 5; attacks British camp at Lynn Haven Bay; goes to South Carolina to practice law; returns to Petersburg, Va., to practice law; joins Petersburg cavalry company, 6; receives commission as Captain in the U.S, army; recruits his company and embarks for New Orleans, 7; arrested and tried by court-martial for words spoken of General Wilkinson, 8 ”

“ SCOTT, WINFIELD (1786-1866) , American general, was born near Petersburg, Virginia, on the 13th of June 1786. In 1805 he entered the College of William and Mary, where he studied law, and he continued his studies in the law office of David Robertson in Petersburg. In 1807 he removed to Charleston, South Carolina, but as war with England seemed imminent he soon left for Washington and offered his services. In 1808 he was commissioned as a captain of artillery, recruited a company in Richmond and Petersburg, and was ordered to New Orleans. ”

“ Winfield Scott, who understood Brown's limitations, said there was nothing he could not do if he only got a fair opportunity. Armstrong commissioned him a major-general in place of Wilkinson, and assigned Scott to a brigade in his command. These ofi. 226ficers, full of zeal and vigor, infused new life into an army that had been beaten and battered for two years. In twelve weeks, during July, August, and September, the British met stubborn resistance at Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, Fort Erie, and Black Rock, and a repulse as disgraceful as it was complete at Plattsburg. ”

“ Winfield Scott came into life in 1786, and so crystallized about himself each of the three wars in which he was the principal magnet,—the maritime contest of 1812, the Mexican war in 1847, and the opening of the Rebellion in 1861,—that his calm front and majestic presence would readily single him out as the model figure for our American Mars. ”

“ The street resounds with the heavy tramp of infantry, the rattle of gun-carriages, and the clatter of horses' hoofs. "Los Yanquies!" is the cry, and every neck is stretched to obtain a glimpse of the six thousand bemired and begrimed soldiers who are marching proudly to the Grand Plaza. On him especially is every eye intently fixed, whose martial form is half concealed by a splendid staff and a squadron of dragoons, as he rides, with flashing eye and beating heart, to the National Palace of Mexico. But six months before, Winfield Scott had landed on the Mexican coast ”

“ Under the attack of superior forces, the Americans had managed to hold their ground and they now began to intrench. Meanwhile, the 1,200 New York militia on the other side of the river had become frightened by the sounds of battle, and when called upon to cross refused to do so, on the cowardly plea that they had enlisted to defend only their State. Lieutenant-Colonel Winfield Scott had taken command of the brigade and was engaged in intrenching, when the enemy, again reinforced, drove his troops, after two attacks, to the river, where they were hemmed in and compelled to surrender. ”

“ I detest volunteers; and it’s a great shame for the Government to have sent me so many of them. They’ve fought well, I admit; but they couldn’t help it. They were properly handled, sir; and they had my old regulars alongside of them. How could they hang back, when they saw who was at their head? My presence inspired them; and the consequence is, that they fought and conquered this great country in less than half the time it took Cortez to do it. Therefore I say, sir, that the conquest of Winfield Scott will shine upon the page of history far brighter than that of Fernando Cortez. ”

“ From 1847 till 1854 he served as aide-de-camp to Gen. Winfield Scott. At the beginning of the civil war he volunteered as a private in the 7th New York regiment, and was attached to the staff of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, and then acted as military secretary to Gen. Scott until the retirement of the latter. He next served as assistant chief of staff to Gen. ”

“ He remained in command of the army until the outbreak of the Civil War. Age and infirmities prevented his taking the field, and after the disastrous defeat at Bull Run, he resigned the command. General Scott was renowned for his striking physique, more majestic, perhaps, even than that of Washington. He has, indeed, been called the most imposing general in history.
With General Scott ends another era of our history, and we come to a consideration of the soldiers made famous by the greatest war of the nineteenth century—the civil conflict which threatened, for a time, to disrupt the Union. ”

“ The Heights are held by a greatly superior force of British regulars and militia and 500 Indians. The United States militia left on the American side of the Niagara River refused to cross and support, and the attack failed for lack of reinforcements. There were no boats for retreat; two flags of truce had been unheeded; with his own hand young [30] Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, tall and powerful and wearing a showy uniform (“I will die in my robes,” he said) , bears the third flag forward into the faces of the raging Indians to save his men. He is rescued with difficulty by British officers. ”

“ The subalterns of the army looked upon him with absolute awe. Many a brevetted cadet would readily have chosen to go against a Mexican intrenchment rather than into the commanding general’s presence. He brooked no familiarity from high or low. While he sometimes indulged in a sort of elephantine affability, he was naturally dictatorial towards all subordinates, though always within the limits of decency. Scott’s was not at all the overbearing insolence of the coward. He always rode in full uniform, with all the insignia of his rank visible to the naked eye. ”

“ In the army there was Gen. Scott, the brave and successful soldier. He had a few eccentricities in regard to language. He called a lieutenant a "leftenant;" a clerk, a "clark." If any one failed among us youngsters to not give "guard" the letter "u" long, he would be corrected; and as president of military boards he would assume to be recorder, and generally wrote the proceedings himself. The press ridiculed him for writing "sparcely settled" and "conquering a peace," and the Democratic party harped on his "hasty plate of soup" when he was nominated for the presidency ”

“ A very few climbed down the cliff and swam across. Not a single boat came over from the 'petrified' militia. Some more Americans, attempting flight, were killed by falling headlong or by drowning. Most of them clustered among the trees near the edge and surrendered at discretion when Winfield Scott, seeing all was lost, waved his handkerchief on the point of his sword.
The American loss was about a hundred killed, two hundred wounded, and nearly a thousand prisoners. The British loss was trifling by comparison, only a hundred and fifty altogether. But it included Brock ”

“ The right word for Scott was egotism. Now egotism—in others—is doubtless a shocking trait; yet merely to seem aware of what everybody knows, does not, as many think it does, convert merits into demerits. General Scott had a magnificent presence—fully six feet and four inches of height and a corresponding weight—the brightest fame as an intrepid soldier, the honor of a long and eminent career, the first place in our army, a high social position, superior talents and attainments, unusual knowledge of the world, charming personal graces, and a character of rare quality—powerful, gentle and true. ”