Winfield Scott

Winfield Scott (June 13, 1786 – May 29, 1866) was an American military commander and a presidential candidate. He served as Commanding General of the United States Army from 1841 to 1861, and was a veteran of the War of 1812, American Indian Wars, Mexican–American War, and the early stages of the American Civil War. Scott was the Whig Party's presidential nominee in the 1852 election but was defeated by Democrat Franklin Pierce. He was known as Old Fuss and Feathers for his insistence on proper military etiquette and the Grand Old Man of the Army for his many years of service.

Scott was born near Petersburg, Virginia, in 1786. After training as a lawyer and brief militia service, he joined the army in 1808 as a captain of the light artillery. In the War of 1812, Scott served on the Canadian front, taking part in the Battle of Queenston Heights and the Battle of Fort George, and was promoted to brigadier general in early 1814. He served with distinction in the Battle of Chippawa but was badly wounded in the subsequent Battle of Lundy's Lane. After the conclusion of the war, Scott was assigned to command army forces in a district containing much of the Northeastern United States, and he and his family made their home near New York City. During the 1830s, Scott negotiated an end to the Black Hawk War, took part in the Second Seminole War and the Creek War of 1836, and presided over the forced removal of the Cherokee. Scott also helped to avert war with the United Kingdom, defusing tensions arising from the Patriot War and the Aroostook War.

In 1841, Scott became the Commanding General of the United States Army, beating out his rival Edmund P. Gaines for the position. After the outbreak of the Mexican–American War in 1846, Scott was relegated to an administrative role, but in 1847 he led a campaign against the Mexican capital of Mexico City. After capturing the port city of Veracruz, he defeated Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna's armies at the Battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, and Churubusco. He then captured Mexico City, after which he maintained order in the Mexican capital and indirectly helped envoy Nicholas Trist negotiate the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which brought an end to the war.

Scott unsuccessfully sought the Whig presidential nomination three times, in 1840, 1844, and 1848. He won it in 1852, when the party was in danger of dying off. The Whigs were severely divided over the Compromise of 1850, and Democrat Franklin Pierce won a decisive victory over his former commander. Nonetheless, Scott remained popular among the public. In 1855, he received a brevet promotion to lieutenant general, becoming the first U.S. Army officer to hold that rank since George Washington. In 1859, he peacefully solved the Pig War in Washington Territory, ending the last in a long series of British-American border conflicts. Despite being a Virginia native, Scott stayed loyal to the Union when the Civil War broke out and served as an essential adviser to President Abraham Lincoln during the opening stages of the war. He developed a strategy known as the Anaconda Plan but retired in late 1861 after Lincoln increasingly relied on General George B. McClellan for military advice and leadership. In retirement, he lived in West Point, New York, where he died on May 29, 1866.

Contemporaries highly regarded Scott's military talent, and historians generally consider him one of the most accomplished generals in U.S. history.

Early life Scott used this coat of arms for his bookplate. It has been incorporated into the heraldry of various units of the U.S. Army, including the 1st and 7th Engineer Battalions.

Scott was born on June 13, 1786, the fifth child of Ann (Mason) Scott and William Scott, a planter, veteran of the American Revolutionary War, and officer in the Dinwiddie County militia. At the time, the Scott family resided at Laurel Hill, a plantation near Petersburg, Virginia. Ann Mason Scott was the daughter of Daniel Mason and Elizabeth Winfield, and Scott's parents chose his maternal grandmother's surname for his first name. Scott's paternal grandfather, James Scott, had migrated from Scotland after the defeat of Charles Edward Stuart's forces in the Battle of Culloden. Scott's father died when Scott was six years old; his mother did not remarry. She raised Scott, his older brother James, and their sisters Mary, Rebecca, Elizabeth, and Martha until her death in 1803. Although Scott's family held considerable wealth, most of the family fortune went to James, who inherited the plantation. At six feet, five inches tall and 230 pounds, with a hardy constitution, in his prime Scott was a physically large and imposing figure.

Scott's education included attendance at schools run by James Hargrave and James Ogilvie. In 1805, Scott began attending the College of William & Mary, but he soon left to study law in the office of attorney David Robinson. His contemporaries in Robinson's office included Thomas Ruffin. While apprenticing under Robinson, Scott attended the trial of Aaron Burr, who had been accused of treason for his role in events now known as the Burr conspiracy. During the trial, Scott developed a negative opinion of the Senior Officer of the United States Army, General James Wilkinson, as the result of Wilkinson's efforts to minimize his complicity in Burr's actions by providing forged evidence and false, self-serving testimony.

Scott was admitted to the bar in 1806, and practiced in Dinwiddie. In 1807, Scott gained his initial military experience as a corporal of cavalry in the Virginia Militia, serving amid the Chesapeake–Leopard affair. Scott led a detachment that arrested eight British sailors who had attempted to land to purchase provisions. Virginia authorities did not approve of this action, fearing it might spark a wider conflict, and they soon ordered the release of the sailors. Later that year, Scott attempted to establish a legal practice in South Carolina but was unable to obtain a law license because he did not meet the state's one-year residency requirement.

Early career, 1807–1815 First years in the army

In early 1808, President Thomas Jefferson asked Congress to authorize an expansion of the United States Army after the British government issued the Orders in Council, which affected American trade with Europe. Scott convinced U.S. Senator William Branch Giles, a family friend, to help him obtain a commission in the newly expanded army. In May 1808, shortly before his twenty-second birthday, Scott was commissioned as a captain in the light artillery. Tasked with recruiting a company, he raised his troops from the Petersburg and Richmond areas, then traveled with his unit to New Orleans to join their regiment. Scott was deeply disturbed by what he viewed as the unprofessionalism of the army, which at the time consisted of just 2,700 officers and men. He later wrote that "the old officers had, very generally, sunk into either sloth, ignorance, or habits of intemperate drinking."

He soon clashed with his commander, General James Wilkinson, over Wilkinson's refusal to follow the orders of Secretary of War William Eustis to remove troops from an unhealthy bivouac site. Wilkinson owned the site, and while the poor location caused several illnesses and deaths among his soldiers, Wilkinson refused to relocate them because he personally profited. In addition, staying near New Orleans enabled Wilkinson to pursue his private business interests and continue the courtship of Celestine Trudeau, whom he later married.

Scott briefly resigned his commission over his dissatisfaction with Wilkinson, but before his resignation had been accepted, he withdrew it and returned to the army. In January 1810, Scott was convicted in a court-martial, partly for making disrespectful comments about Wilkinson's integrity, and partly because of a $50 shortage in the $400 account he had been provided to conduct recruiting duty in Virginia after being commissioned. Concerning the money, the court-martial members concluded that Scott had not been intentionally dishonest but had failed to keep accurate records. His commission was suspended for one year. After the trial, Scott fought a duel with William Upshaw, an army medical officer and Wilkinson friend Scott blamed for initiating the court-martial. Each fired at the other, and Upshaw's bullet grazed the top of Scott's head, but both emerged unharmed.

After the duel, Scott returned to Virginia, where he spent the year studying military tactics and strategy, and practicing law in partnership with Benjamin Watkins Leigh. Meanwhile, Wilkinson was removed from command for insubordination and was succeeded by General Wade Hampton. The rousing reception Scott received from his army peers as he began his suspension led him to believe that most officers approved of his anti-Wilkinson comments, at least tacitly; their high opinion of him, coupled with Leigh's counsel to remain in the army, convinced Scott to resume his military career once his suspension had been served. He rejoined the army in Baton Rouge, where one of his first duties was to serve as a judge advocate (prosecutor) in the court-martial of Colonel Thomas Humphrey Cushing.

War of 1812

In July 1812, the U.S. Congress declared war on Britain after years of deteriorating relations resulting from a variety of issues. After war was declared, Scott was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and assigned as second-in-command of the 2nd Artillery Regiment, serving under George Izard. While Izard continued to lead recruitment efforts, Scott led two companies north to join General Stephen Van Rensselaer's militia force, which was preparing for an invasion of the Canadas. President James Madison made the invasion the central part of his administration's war strategy in 1812, as he sought to capture Montreal and thereby take control of the St. Lawrence River and cut off Upper Canada from Lower Canada. The invasion would begin with an attack on the town of Queenston, which was just across the Niagara River from Lewiston, New York.

In October 1812, Van Rensselaer's force attacked a British force in the Battle of Queenston Heights. Scott led an artillery bombardment that supported an American crossing of the Niagara River, and he took overall command of U.S. forces at Queenston Heights after Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer was badly wounded. Shortly after Scott took command, a British column under Roger Hale Sheaffe arrived. Sheaffe's numerically superior force compelled an American retreat, ultimately forcing Scott to surrender to the British after reinforcements from the militia failed to materialize. As a prisoner of war, Scott was treated hospitably by the British, although two Mohawk chiefs nearly killed him while he was in British custody. As part of a prisoner exchange, Scott was released in late November; upon his return to the United States, he was promoted to colonel and appointed to command the 2nd Artillery Regiment. He also became the chief of staff to Henry Dearborn, who was the senior general of the army and personally led operations against Canada in the area around Lake Ontario.

Dearborn assigned Scott to lead an attack against Fort George, which commanded a strategic position on the Niagara River. With help from United States Navy elements commanded by Isaac Chauncey and Oliver Hazard Perry, he led U.S. troops to land behind the fort, forcing its surrender. Scott was widely praised for his conduct in the battle, although he was personally disappointed that the bulk of the British garrison escaped capture. As part of another campaign to capture Montreal, Scott forced the British to withdraw from Hoople Creek in November 1813. Despite this success, the campaign fell apart after the American defeat at the Battle of Crysler's Farm and after Wilkinson (who had taken command of the front in August) and Hampton failed to cooperate on a strategy to take Montreal. With the failure of the campaign, President Madison and Secretary of War John Armstrong Jr. relieved Wilkinson and some other senior officers of their battlefield commands. They were replaced with younger officers such as Scott, Izard, and Jacob Brown. In early 1814, Scott was promoted to brigadier general and was assigned to lead a regiment under Brown.

In mid-1814, Scott took part in another invasion of Canada, which began with a crossing of the Niagara River under Brown's command. Scott was instrumental in the American success at the Battle of Chippawa, which took place on July 5, 1814. Though the battle was regarded as inconclusive from the strategic point of view because the British force remained intact after the battle, it was seen as a significant moral victory for the Americans, being "the first real success attained by American troops against British regulars."

Later, in July 1814, a scouting expedition led by Scott was ambushed, beginning the Battle of Lundy's Lane. Scott's brigade was decimated after British troops led by General Gordon Drummond arrived as reinforcements, and he was placed in the reserve in the second phase of the battle. Scott was later severely wounded while seeking a place to commit his reserve forces. He believed that Brown's decision to refrain from fully committing his strength at the outset of this battle resulted in the destruction of Scott's brigade and many unnecessary deaths. The battle ended inconclusively after Brown ordered his army to withdraw, effectively bringing an end to the invasion. Scott spent the following months convalescing under the supervision of military doctors and physician Philip Syng Physick.

Scott's performance at the Battle of Chippawa had earned him national recognition. He was promoted to the brevet rank of major general and awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. (Scott was awarded a second Congressional Gold Medal for his service during the Mexican–American War.) Scott's Society of the Cincinnati insignia, made by silversmiths Thomas Fletcher and Sidney Gardiner of Philadelphia, was a one-of-a-kind, solid gold eagle measuring nearly three inches in height. It is one of the most unique military society insignias ever produced. There are no known portraits or photographs of Scott wearing the insignia, which is now in the collection of the United States Military Academy Museum. John Mayo Scott (1819–1820), died young The court cleared Scott of misconduct; still, it reprimanded him for his language criticizing Gaines in official communications. Santa Anna left to put down a minor insurrection, and recruited a new army.

Biographer John Eisenhower said the invasion of Mexico through Veracruz was "up to that time the most ambitious amphibious expedition in human history." The operation commenced on March 9, 1847, with the Siege of Veracruz, a joint army-navy operation led by Scott and Commodore David Conner. After safely landing his 12,000-man army, Scott encircled Veracruz and began bombarding it; the Mexican garrison surrendered on March 27. Seeking to avoid a rising by the divided Mexicans against the American invasion, Scott placed a priority on winning the cooperation of the Catholic Church. Among other initiatives designed to show respect for church property and officials, he ordered his men to salute Catholic priests on the streets of Veracruz. After securing supplies and wagons, Scott's army began the march toward Xalapa, a city on the way to Mexico City. Meanwhile, Polk dispatched Nicholas Trist, Secretary of State James Buchanan's chief clerk, to negotiate a peace treaty with Mexican leaders. Though they initially feuded, Scott and Trist eventually developed a strong working relationship.

In mid-April, Scott's force met Santa Anna's army at Cerro Gordo, near Xalapa. Santa Anna had established a solid defensive position, but he left his left flank undefended on the assumption that dense trees made the area impassable. Scott decided to attack Santa Anna's position on two fronts, sending a force led by David E. Twiggs against Santa Anna's left flank, while another force, led by Gideon Pillow, would attack Santa Anna's artillery. In the Battle of Cerro Gordo, Pillow's force was largely ineffective, but Twiggs and Colonel William S. Harney captured the key Mexican position of El Telegrafo in hand-to-hand fighting. Mexican resistance collapsed after the capture of El Telegrafo; Santa Anna escaped the battlefield and returned to Mexico City, but Scott's force captured about 3,000 Mexican soldiers. After the battle, Scott continued to press toward Mexico City, cutting him and his army off from his supply base at Veracruz.

Mexico City

Scott's force arrived in the Valley of Mexico in August 1847, by which time Santa Anna had formed an army of approximately 25,000 men. Because Mexico City lacked walls and was essentially indefensible, Santa Anna sought to defeat Scott in a pitched battle, choosing to mount a defense near the Churubusco River several miles south. The Battle of Contreras began on the afternoon of August 19, when the Mexican army under General Gabriel Valencia attacked and pushed back an American detachment charged with building a road. In the early morning of the following day, an American force led by General Persifor Frazer Smith surprised and decimated Valencia's army. News of the defeat at Contreras caused a panic among the rest of Santa Anna's army, and Scott immediately pressed the attack, beginning the Battle of Churubusco. Despite the strong defense by the Saint Patrick's Battalion and some other units, Scott's force quickly defeated the demoralized Mexican army. After the battle, Santa Anna negotiated a truce with Scott, and the Mexican foreign minister notified Trist that they were ready to begin negotiations to end the war.

Despite the presence of Scott's army just outside of Mexico City, the Mexican and American delegations remained far apart on terms; Mexico was only willing to yield portions of Alta California and refused to accept the Rio Grande as its northern border. While negotiations continued, Scott faced a difficult issue in the disposition of 72 members of Saint Patrick's Battalion who had deserted from the U.S. Army and were captured while fighting for Mexico. All 72 were court-martialed and sentenced to death. Under pressure from some Mexican leaders and personally feeling that the death penalty was an unjust punishment for some defendants, Scott spared 20, but the rest were executed. In early September, negotiations between Trist and the Mexican government broke down, and Scott exercised his right to end the truce. In the subsequent Battle for Mexico City, Scott launched an attack from the west of the city, capturing the critical fortress of Chapultepec on September 13. Santa Anna retreated from the city after the fall of Chapultepec, and Scott accepted the surrender of the remaining Mexican forces early on the 14th.

Unrest broke out in the days following the capture of Mexico City, but with the cooperation of civil leaders and the Catholic Church, Scott and the army restored order in the city by the end of the month. Peace negotiations between Trist and the Mexican government resumed, and Scott did all he could to support the talks, ceasing all further offensive operations. As military commander of Mexico City, Scott was held in high esteem by Mexican civil and American authorities alike, primarily owing to the fairness with which he treated Mexican citizens. In November 1847, Trist received orders to return to Washington. Scott received orders to continue the military campaign against Mexico; Polk had grown frustrated at the slow pace of negotiations. With the support of Scott and Mexican president Manuel de la Peña y Peña, Trist defied his orders and continued the negotiations. Trist and the Mexican negotiators concluded the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848; it was ratified by the U.S. Senate the following month. In late 1847, Scott arrested Pillow and two other officers after they wrote letters to American newspapers that were critical of Scott. In response, Polk ordered the release of the three officers and removed Scott from command.

Upon founding the Aztec Club of 1847, a military society of officers who served in Mexico during the war, Scott was elected as one of only two honorary members of the organization.

Taylor and Fillmore administrations

Scott (blue) received a significant amount of support on the first ballot of the 1848 Whig National Convention, but the convention nominated Zachary Taylor for president.

Scott was again a contender for the Whig presidential nomination in the 1848 election. Clay, Daniel Webster, and General Zachary Taylor were also candidates for the nomination. As in 1840, Whigs were looking for a non-ideological war hero to be their candidate. Scott's main appeal was to anti-slavery "conscience Whigs", who were dismayed by the fact that two of the leading contenders, Clay and Taylor, were enslavers. Ultimately, however, the delegates passed on Scott for a second time, nominating Taylor on the fourth ballot. Many anti-slavery Whigs then defected to support the nominee of the Free-Soil Party, former President Martin Van Buren. Taylor went on to win the general election. After McClellan's defeat in the Seven Days Battles, Lincoln accepted Scott's advice and appointed General Halleck as the army's senior general. In 1864, Scott sent a copy of his newly published memoirs to Ulysses S. Grant, who had succeeded Halleck as the lead Union general. The copy that Scott sent was inscribed "from the oldest to the greatest general." Following a strategy similar to Scott's Anaconda Plan, Grant led the Union to victory, and Lee's Army of Northern Virginia surrendered in April 1865. He is one of the few individuals who belonged to the three most senior military societies of the United States – the Society of the Cincinnati, the Aztec Club of 1847 and the Loyal Legion.

Scott died at West Point on the morning of May 29, 1866, at age 79. President Andrew Johnson ordered flags flown at half-staff to honor Scott. His funeral was attended by many of the leading Union generals, including Grant, George G. Meade, George H. Thomas, and John Schofield. He is buried at the West Point Cemetery.

Legacy Historical reputation

Statue of Winfield Scott on Scott Circle in Washington, D.C.

Scott holds the record for the greatest length of active service as a general in the U.S. Army, These included a Master of Arts from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1814, a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) from Columbia University in 1850, and an LL.D. from Harvard University in 1861. Other things named for Scott include Lake Winfield Scott in Georgia, Mount Scott in Oklahoma, and the Scott's oriole, a bird. Scott was honored by having his likeness depicted on a U.S. postage stamp. Confederate General Winfield Scott Featherston, and Admiral Winfield Scott Schley. The U.S. Army Civil Affairs Association views General Scott as the "Father of Civil Affairs" and the regimental award medallions bear his name.

The General Winfield Scott House, his home in New York City from 1853 to 1855, was named a National Historic Landmark in 1975. Scott's papers are held by the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Placed on the retired list with the rank of brevet lieutenant general (died May 29, 1866).