Everything about Winfield Scott totally explained
Winfield Scott (
June 13,
1786 –
May 29,
1866) was a
United States Army general,
diplomat, and
presidential candidate. Known as "Old Fuss and Feathers" and the "
Grand Old Man of the Army", he served on active duty as a general longer than any other man in
American history and most
historians rate him the ablest American commander of his time. Over the course of his fifty-year career, he commanded forces in the
War of 1812, the
Mexican-American War, the
Black Hawk War, the
Second Seminole War, and, briefly, the
American Civil War, conceiving the
Union strategy known as the
Anaconda Plan that would be used to defeat the
Confederacy.
A national hero after the
Mexican-American War, he served as military governor of
Mexico City. Such was his stature that, in 1852, the
United States Whig Party passed over its own incumbent
President of the United States,
Millard Fillmore, to nominate Scott in the
United States presidential election. Scott lost to
Democrat Franklin Pierce in the general election, but remained a popular national figure, receiving a
brevet promotion in 1856 to the rank of
lieutenant general, becoming the first American since
George Washington to hold that rank.
Early life
Scott was born on his family's
farm in
Dinwiddie County, near
Petersburg, Virginia. He was educated at the
College of William & Mary and was a
lawyer and a
Virginia militia cavalry corporal before being directly commissioned as
captain in the
artillery in 1808. Scott's early years in the
U.S. Army were tumultuous. His commission as a
colonel was suspended for one year following a
court-martial for insubordination in criticizing his commanding
general, the pusillanimous and corrupt
James Wilkinson.
War of 1812
During the
War of 1812 Scott was captured during the
Battle of Queenston Heights in 1812, but was released in a
prisoner exchange. Upon release, he returned to Washington to pressure the Senate to take punitive action against British prisoners of war in retaliation for the British executing thirteen American POWs of Irish extraction captured at Queenston Heights (the British considered them British subjects and traitors). The Senate wrote the bill after Scott's urging but President
James Madison refused to enforce it, believing that the summary execution of prisoners of war to be unworthy of civilized nations. In March 1814, Scott was brevetted
brigadier general. In July 1814, Scott commanded the First Brigade of the American army in the
Niagara campaign, winning the battle of
Chippewa decisively. He was wounded during the bloody
Battle of Lundy's Lane, along with the American commander, Major General
Jacob Brown, and the British/Canadian commander, Lieutenant General
Gordon Drummond. Scott's wounds from Lundy's Lane were so severe that he didn't serve on active duty for the remainder of the war.
Scott earned the nickname of "Old Fuss and Feathers" for his insistence of military appearance and discipline in the
U.S. Army, which consisted mostly of volunteers. In his own campaigns, General Scott preferred to use a core of U.S. Army
regulars whenever possible. Scott perennially concerned himself with the welfare of his men, prompting an early quarrel with General Wilkinson over an unhealthy bivouac, which turned out to be on land Wilkinson owned. During an early outbreak of cholera at a post under his command, Scott himself was the only officer who stayed to nurse the stricken enlisted men.
Nullification and the Trail of Tears
In the administration of
President Andrew Jackson, Scott marshaled United States forces for use against the state of
South Carolina in the
Nullification Crisis. His tactful diplomacy and the use of his garrison in suppressing a major fire in Charleston did much to defuse the crisis.
In 1832 Scott replaced
John Wool as commander of Federal troops in the
Cherokee Nation. Andrew Jackson disagreed with the United States Supreme Court views on the Cherokee right to self-rule. In 1835 Jackson convinced a minority group of Cherokee to sign the Treaty of New Echota. In 1838, following the orders of Jackson, Scott assumed command of the "Army of the Cherokee Nation", headquartered at
Fort Cass and
Fort Butler. President
Martin Van Buren, who had been Jackson's Secretary of State, and then Vice President, thereafter directed Scott to forcibly move all those Cherokee who hadn't yet moved west in compliance with the treaty. This was done even though the treaty actually allowed those who wished to remain in the east to do so.
Scott arrived at
New Echota, Cherokee Nation on
April 6,
1838, and immediately divided the Nation into three military districts. Within two weeks he'd every Cherokee in North Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama who couldn't escape to be captured or killed. The Cherokee were rounded up and held in rat-infested stockades with little food. Private John G. Burnett later wrote, "Future generations will read and condemn the act and I do hope posterity will remember that private soldiers like myself, and like the four Cherokees who were forced by General Scott to shoot an Indian Chief and his children, had to execute the orders of our superiors. We had no choice in the matter."
Over 1,000 men, women, and children died in this confinement before ever beginning the trip west. As the first groups that were herded west huge numbers died in the heat, the Cherokees pleaded with Scott to postpone the removal until after summer, which he did. Scott left
Athens, Georgia, on
October 1,
1838, and traveled with the removed peoples as far as Nashville, where he was ordered to return to Washington. The Cherokee removal later became known as the
Trail of Tears.
He also helped defuse tensions between officials of the state of
Maine and the British Canada province of
New Brunswick in the undeclared and bloodless
Aroostook War in March 1839.
As a result of his success, Scott was appointed major general (then the highest rank in the United States Army) and general-in-chief in 1841, serving until 1861.
During his time in the military, Scott also fought in the
Black Hawk War, the
Second Seminole War, and, briefly, the
American Civil War.
Scott as tactician
After the War of 1812, Scott translated several
Napoleonic manuals into English. Upon direction of the War Department, Scott published
Abstract of Infantry Tactics, Including Exercises and Manueuvres of Light-Infantry and Riflemen, for the Use of the Militia of the United States
in 1830, for the use of the American militia.
In 1840, Scott wrote
Infantry Tactics, Or, Rules for the Exercise and Maneuvre of the United States Infantry. This three-volume work was the standard drill manual for the U.S. Army until
William J. Hardee's
Tactics were published in 1855.
General Scott was very interested in the professional development of the cadets of the U.S. Military Academy.
Mexican-American War
During the
Mexican-American War, Scott commanded the southern of the two United States armies (
Zachary Taylor commanded the northern army). Landing at
Veracruz, Scott, assisted by his
breveted colonel of engineers,
Robert E. Lee, and perhaps inspired by
William H. Prescott's
History of the Conquest of Mexico, followed the approximate route taken by
Hernán Cortés in 1519 and assaulted
Mexico City. Scott's opponent in this campaign was Mexican president and general
Antonio López de Santa Anna. Despite high heat, rains, and difficult terrain, Scott won the battles of
Cerro Gordo,
Contreras/Padierna,
Churubusco, and
Molino del Rey, then assaulted the fort of
Chapultepec on
September 13,
1847, after which the city surrendered. When a large number of men from the Mexican
Saint Patrick's Battalion were captured during Churubusco, Scott gave orders for them to be hanged en masse during the battle of Chapultepec, specifying that the moment of execution should occur just after the U.S. flag was raised atop the Mexican citadel. This was a smudge on Scott's record, as the incident broke numerous
Articles of War.
As military commander of Mexico City, he was held in high esteem by Mexican civil and American authorities alike. However, Scott's vanity, as well as his corpulence, led to a catch phrase that was to haunt him for the remainder of his political life. Complaining about the division of command between himself and General Taylor, in a letter written to
Secretary of War William Marcy, Scott stated he'd just risen from "at about 6 PM as I sat down to take a hasty plate of soup" . The Polk administration, wishing to sabotage Scott's reputation, promptly published the letter, and the phrase appeared in political cartoons and folk songs for the rest of his life. Another letter from Scott to Marcy noted Scott's desire of not wishing to "have a fire in his rear (from Washington) while he met a fire in front of the Mexicans."
Scott County in the state of
Iowa is named in Winfield Scott's honor, as he was the presiding officer at the signing of the peace treaty ending the
Black Hawk War;
Scott County, Minnesota, and
Scott County, Tennessee, and
Winfeld, Tennessee, were also named for him.
Fort Scott, Kansas, a former Army outpost, was also named for him, and the towns of Scott Depot and Winfield in West Virginia. Scott Township in
Mahaska County, Iowa, was formerly called Jackson before residents formally petitioned to change the township's name in light of their strong support of Scott in the 1852 presidential campaign. In addition,
Cerro Gordo County, Iowa,
Buena Vista County, Iowa, and the town of
Churubusco, Indiana, were named for battles where Scott led his troops to victory.
Lake Winfield Scott, near
Suches, is one of
Georgia's highest elevation lakes. In 1882, the fort now known as
Fort Point at the foot of the
Golden Gate Bridge in the Presidio was given the name “
Fort Winfield Scott” by US Army Headquarters. That fort officially retained the name until 1886, when the fort was downgraded to a sub-post of the
Presidio of San Francisco. The name was then used once again for the new coast artillery post established in 1912 in the Presidio. A
paddle steamer named the
Winfield Scott launched in 1850.
The
General Winfield Scott House, his home in New York City during 1853-1855, was named
National Historic Landmark in 1973. The saying "Great Scott!" may have originated from a soldier under Winfield Scott.
Further Information
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