E4 
 G4L5 
 
 
 * Hall to the Chief who In triumph advances." 
 
 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 Scott s Birth and Education, 
 
 WINFIKLD SCOTT, the son of a farmer by the name 
 of William Scott, was born near Petersburg, Virginia, 
 on the 13th of June, 1786. He was the youngest of 
 two sons, and had three sisters. His grandfather was 
 Scotch, and took part in the rebellion of 1745, and 
 fought against the king. Another ancestor fell in the 
 celebrated battle of Culloden. His grandfather, forced 
 to fly his country, took refuge in Virginia, where he 
 became a lawyer. His son, our hero s father, became 
 H farmer, and married Ann Mason, a lady of great 
 virtue and excellent sense. Her husband died young, 
 
 leaving his wife the sole guardian of five children 
 with a small property, that only a rigid economy 
 could render adequate i for their support and educa 
 tion. Young Scott tljutj. ^ame Lite Ihe world th 
 hardy child of difficulty and fortitude, and no nursling 
 of ease and indui,geace. . Hi^ ojra ererLions seconding 
 his mother s efforts, a good edacation was obtained for 
 him. He chose the legal profession, attended a course 
 of law lectures at William and Mary s College, entered 
 a lawyer s office, and was admitted to the Bar in 1806 
 at the age of 20. 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 
 
 How be becomes a Soldier, 
 
 In tlio summer of 1807 occurred the Avanton attack 
 of tbe British frigate Leopard upon the Chesapeake, 
 and the seizure and imprisonment of several of her 
 crew, upon the allegation that they were British sub 
 jects. This outrage excited a violent resentment, 
 throughout the country. Young Scott shared ardent 
 ly in the indignation of his countrymen, and immedi 
 ately joined a volunteer corps raised in Petersburg, 
 and marched with them down to Lynnhaven Bay, 
 where they took up their station, in expectation of a 
 British descent upon the coast. But this little cloud 
 of war blew over, the volunteers were called home, 
 and Scotfc returned to ths practice of his profession. 
 He was soon to leave it forever, for Providence had 
 marked for him a wide and glorious career. Our dif 
 ficulties with England thickened. It became clear 
 that a war was inevitable. Congress passed a bill to 
 rabe an army. Scott applied for a commission, and in 
 May, 1803, received from President Jefferson a com 
 mission as captain of artillery. During the rest of the 
 vear he was employed on the recruiting service, and 
 in the study of his new profession of arms. In 1809 
 he was ordered to Louisiana, and placed under the 
 command of General Wilkinson. For this officer Scott 
 had no respect. Himself filled with patriotic ardor, 
 and a passionate devotion to his country s honor, he 
 believed Wilkinson to be implicated in Burr s con 
 spiracy. The young soldier, with more boldness than 
 prudence, did not hesitate to express his sentiments. 
 The result was, that Wilkinson preferred charges 
 against him that resulted in his suspension from the 
 service for a year. In this punishment he had the 
 sympathy of his brother officers, and was compliment 
 ed with a public dinner on the occasion of his sen 
 tence. The interval of suspension was passed bv 
 
 Scott in a systematic and thorough study of military 
 tactics, and the whole science of war. At the expira 
 tion of the time, he reappeared in service with in 
 creased knowledge, and superior fitness for the ardu 
 ous and important duties now about to devolve upon 
 him. 
 
 
 Jefferson presenting Scott his firet Commission. 
 
 War Declared, Hull s Inglorious Surrender. 
 
 At length, on the 18th of June, 1812, war was de 
 clared. The military preparations of the country had 
 been inadequate to the necessities of the crisis. An 
 expedition to seize upon Upper Canada was planned, 
 and the execution of it intrusted to General Hull 
 He crossed into Canada at Detroit, with his whole 
 force, on the 12th of July, 1812, and in one month 
 and two days thereafter ingloriously surrendered to 
 
 General Brock, the British commander, without strik 
 ing a blow. The country was stunned by the shock 
 it received in the accounts of this shameful pusillan 
 imity of conduct. The blood of our young hero boiled 
 to wipe out this stain of dishonor. He longed to 
 avenge our disasters upon the very spot where they 
 had been suffered ; a result he soon gloriously accom 
 plished. 
 
 $ Fforaoted, Sees his First Service. 
 
 ^T 8 -^^ v > uv .^ s .v/ 4 . oCCeu^Dn^&t-polencl from j then lying moored under the guns of the Brilisi 
 
 President Madison, Scott repaired *to * tlie Niagara | Fort Erie, nearly opposite. The attempt was gal 
 
 frontier, and took up his position at Black Rock. ! hint and successful : the vessels were captured. I Jut 
 
 In October he undertook, in conjunction with Lieu- in carrying them off, one of them, the " Adams." 
 
 tenant Elliott of the navy, the capture of two British : drifted on shore under the guns of the bat;.-ry 
 
 armed brigs, named the "Adams" and "Caledonia" i fit Fort Erie, and was deserted by tne captor^ 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 
 
 The enemy at once undertook her recovery. Scott 
 drove back their boats by a well-directed fire. The 
 K/ntest soon became sharp to see who could win the 
 prize. Our young hero s zeal and ardor mounted with 
 the occasion, and he finally prevailed. Our men bore 
 
 off the brig in triumph, and the American stars and 
 stripes proudly floated at her masthead, in token of 
 our first success on the frontier, and in promise of that 
 succession of victories tlrnt, soon after crowned ot- 
 arnis with glory on the Lakes and in Canada. 
 
 Battle of QneeRStown Heights. 
 
 Scott s Speech on the Log. 
 
 This successful exploit gave a new impulse to the 
 flagging spirits of our troops, mortified and dashed as 
 they had been by Hull s surrender. A body of these 
 troops, comprising 2,500 militia and about 450 regu 
 lars, lay below, at Lewiston, under the command of 
 General Stephen Van Rensselaer. This force was im 
 patient for action, and demanded to be led across into 
 Canada. The demand was so urgent as to induce 
 their leader to yield to their importunities, notwith 
 standing no sufficient preparations had been made for 
 such a step. Hearing of the intended invasion, Scott 
 became at once eager to join the expedition ; and by 
 a forced march, hastened through mud and rain to the 
 scene of action. The arrangements of the embarka 
 tion were such, however, as to preclude him from 
 joining the columns of the invading force. He accord 
 ingly took up a position, with his artillery, where he 
 could best cover the landing of our troops, and opened 
 an effective fire on the enemy. The two divisions of 
 attack moved off, the first headed by Colonel Solomon 
 Van Rensselaer, and the second by Colonel Chrystie. 
 The former succeeded in landing a part of his men. 
 The. boats of the latter were swept down by the cur 
 rent, and a portion of the men therein fell into the 
 
 enemy s hands, while the remainder were driven baci 
 to the American shore ; Colonel Chrystie himself be 
 ing among the number. Though wounded in his first 
 effort, Colonel Chrystie obtained fresh reinforcements, 
 and returned and made a successful landing. Mean 
 time, the column under Van Rensselaer formed and 
 advanced under a murderous cannonade from the 
 heights. Beneath it the Colonel and several of his 
 officers fell, killed or wounded. Another portion of 
 the detachment, under fresh officers, came to its suc 
 cor, and under Captains Wool, Ogilvie, Malcolm, and 
 Armstrong, swept forward upon the heights. They 
 stormed the two batteries which protected them, and 
 drove the enemy under the shelter of a strong stone 
 building near by. Here the flying British were ral 
 lied by General Brock, the governor of Upper Canada, 
 who had just arrived upon the ground with fresh re 
 inforcements. He headed a charge against our troops, 
 who gallantly repulsed and dispersed the assailants, 
 mortally wounding both General Brock and his secre 
 tary, McDonald. 
 
 At this point of time Scott arrived on the ground, 
 and the entire command of the corps, now about 600 
 strong, was at once committed to him. General 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 
 
 Wadswcrth acted second in command, and his attach 
 ment to his youthful leader often induced him to in 
 terpose his own person to shield Scott from the bul 
 lets of the Indian rifles which were aimed against his 
 commanding person. Scott immediately drew up his 
 forces upon a strong and commanding position, and 
 awaited succors from the opposite shore ; but, seized 
 by sudden fright, our men refused to move. Scott s 
 position now became eminently perilous. The news 
 of the conflict thus far had already been carried to 
 Fort George below, which immediately poured forth 
 its garrison, and with 500 Indians advanced upon our 
 defenceless position. The assailants were received 
 with firmness, and driven back in total route ; our 
 young hero heading his troops in person, and display 
 ing an intrepidity and gallantry never surpassed. 
 Several successive attacks followed. In one of them 
 the American advanced piquets were driven in by 
 superior numbers, and a general massacre seemed in 
 evitable. At this critical moment Scott appeared, 
 and by dint of vehement exertions and impetuous en 
 thusiasm rallied his line, which had recoiled, and was 
 upon the point of giving way. His brilliant example 
 inspired and electrified his men, and the whole line, 
 ringing with shouts, precipitated itself upon the ene 
 my, scattering them in all directions, and strewing the 
 ground with the dead and wounded. 
 
 Successive reinforcements continued to arrive, and 
 swell the British and Indian forces, until their nun- 
 bers reached not less than thirteen hundred men. 
 The Americans had become reduced to less than three 
 
 hundred. No succor was to be expected, for our 
 troops on the American shore had refused to come to 
 the aid of their comrades. Retreat was hopeless. At 
 this trying moment, the gallant and intrepid Scott 
 displayed a bearing and a spirit of the most lofty 
 heroism. In nowise daunted by the imminent peril of 
 his position, he mounted a fallen tree of the forest, and 
 calling around him his now diminished band, spoko 
 these thrilling words : " The enemy s balls have thinned 
 our ranks. His numbers are overwhelming. Directly 
 the shock must come, and there is no retreat. We are 
 in the beginning of a national war. Hull s ignominious 
 surrender must be retrieved. Let us die then, arms 
 in hand ! Our country demands the sacrifice. The 
 example will not be lost. The blood of the slain will 
 make heroes of the living! Who is ready for the 
 sacrifice ?" An enthusiastic cry answered this eloquent 
 appeal. " We are ALL ready !" was the reply. 
 
 The enemy, now under the command of Major 
 General Sheaffe, seeing the determined resistance of 
 the American leader, manoeuvred with great caution. 
 They finally moved to the attack from all points. 
 Though sorely pressed, the Americans maintained 
 their ground, until finding themselves utterly sur 
 rounded and overwhelmed by superior numbers, and 
 exposed to destruction, finally gave way and surren 
 dered to the inevitable necessity of the occasion. 
 Their heroic resistance, however, redeemed the honor 
 of our arms, and proved by defeat itself that victory 
 was close at hand. 
 
 Scott in the Hands of the Enemy, 
 
 The fortune of war thus threw our hero into the 
 ^ands of the enemy, after a series of engagements 
 that established his fame and character as a man of 
 great personal daring, highly animating presence, and 
 an accomplished and skilful leader. Throughout these 
 late trying scenes he had manifested the most in 
 trepid spirit, and unquestioned gallantry of behavior. 
 He was always in battle in full dress uniform, and his 
 
 tall stature (full six feet five inches) made him a 
 conspicuous mark. He was singled out, especially bv 
 the Indians, as a target for their rifles, but remained 
 untouched. He was urged on one occasion of great 
 personal peril to change his dress. " No," said he, " I 
 will die in my robes." At the moment of his ex 
 clamation, Captain Lawrence fell at his side by a shot 
 from the enemy. 
 
 Scott Attacked by two Indian Chiefs. 
 
 After the surrender, Scott, with the rest of the 
 pi isoners, was taken to the village of Niagara, Scott 
 himself was lodged at an inn, under guard. Shortly 
 after his arrival, a message came to him that some 
 one wished to speak with the " tall American." Scott 
 advanced into the entry to receive his visitor. What 
 was his surprise to find two armed Indians, hideously 
 painted, as in battle. He recognized them as two 
 wairiors who attempted to slay him at the surrender 
 at Queenstown. One was a distinguished chief known 
 <* CAPTAIN JACOBS, and the other a son of the cele 
 brated BRANDT. TJiey had come to tomahawk the 
 
 heroic leader, who had proved invincible to their bul 
 lets. They communicated to him as well as they 
 were able how often they had unsuccessfully dis 
 charged their rifles at him. Jacobs, heated by bis 
 disappointments, rudely seized Scott by the arm, un 
 der pretence of seeing if he could find no ball marks 
 on his person. Scott resented the indignity, and thrust 
 the savage from him. " We kill you now !" was the 
 immediate exclamation of both Indians. Scott tore 
 himself from them, and instantaneously sprang to a 
 pile of arms, and seized upon a heavy swcrd that lay 
 opportunely with others in the entry, and 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 Scott attacked by two Indian Chiefs. 
 
 npon his assailants. They cowered before his uplifted 
 blade and determined front, and feared to strike. He 
 would have cloven them to the earth, but for the 
 prompt interference of a British officer, who, attracted 
 
 by the noise, at that critical moment, came upon the 
 parties, and arrested the affray at the instant our hero 
 was about to inflict summary punishment upon his 
 frightful and ferocious antagonists. 
 
 Scott and the Irish Prisoners. 
 
 Among the prisoners taken by the British at Queens- 
 town with Scott, were about sixty naturalized citi 
 zens, a large portion of whom were Irishmen. The 
 British authorities claimed the right, and expressed 
 the determination, to hang them as traitors. These 
 men were at Quebec on board a vessel with Scott and 
 the rest of the prisoners, all bound to Boston to be 
 exchanged. The British officers came on board and 
 began to select the Irishmen, whom they intended to 
 send home to grace the gallows. The officers had no 
 sure means of detecting the Irish but by their brogue, 
 or their confessions. Scott, who was below, hearing 
 what was going on, immediately rushed on deck, and 
 told his afflicted men to hold their peace. Then, turn 
 ing to the British officers, he boldly denounced their 
 proceedings, and threatened a like retaliation upon 
 British prisoners if they dared to execute a single man 
 among his comrades. 
 
 The officers haughtily reminded him that he was 
 himself a prisoner, and ordered him into the cabin. 
 He was not a man to be intimidated, and refused to 
 go, and again called upon his Irish soldiers to answer 
 no more questions. A high quarrel ensued ; but the 
 result vas that no more of the prisoners could be iden- 
 Uiied as Irishmen, for they would not open their lips. 
 
 The officers, however, had already selected twenty- 
 three before Scott made his appearance. These were 
 separated from their fellow-prisoners and put on board 
 a frigate, and dispatched to England to be hung. But 
 they did not go until Scott had solemnly warned the 
 British authorities that he would surely avenge the 
 death of every man they dared to lay violent hands 
 upon, by a terrible retribution upon the first English 
 prisoners that should fall into his hands after he should 
 be liberated. 
 
 Scott was soon exchanged. How faithfully he kept 
 his promise we shall see. He proceeded at once to 
 Washington and obtained the passage, by Congress, of 
 a law to retaliate upon British prisoners any such out 
 rage as was threatened at Quebec. He again fought 
 and conquered. He had prisoners in plenty. He 
 forthwith selected twenty-three of genuine English 
 descent (for he declared he would not offset Irish by 
 Irish), and held them as hostages for the doomed 
 twenty- three Irishmen taken home to be executed. 
 He then communicated to the British authorities what 
 he had done, and informed them that if they dared to 
 execute their threat on the twenty-three Irishmen, 
 the twenty-three Englishmen should pay the pen 
 alty by promptly sharing the same fate. The con- 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 I f r |R-|||if ; [!!:;|( !!;!;i[|i 
 
 Scott addressing tlie Irisb Prisoners^ 
 
 sequence wa?, that the lives of the Irishmen were 
 spared, and at the close of the war thny *vorc em 
 barked from England, and short I v .tfler arrived in 
 New York. 
 
 Singularly enough, it so happened, that on the very 
 day of the landing of these old comrades of General 
 Scott on the wharf, their commander and friend, then 
 till suffering from his wounds, passed along the quay 
 
 on foot. He was instantly recognized by the now 
 liberated prisoners, and knowing of all he had accom 
 plished in their behalf, they rushed upon him with 
 cheers, expressing a fervor of affection, gratitude, and 
 delight, that it is impossible to describe 
 
 Their joy was unbounded as the recognition became 
 mutual. He was seized and shaken till the mingled 
 pain of his wounds, and the emotions produced bv 
 
 Scott meeting 1 the Irish I risonurs. 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 ench a heartfelt exhibition, caused even the tear of 
 stalwart manhood to course unbidden down lu s cheek. 
 It was with difficulty he escaped from the grasp of 
 these warm-hearted Hibernians, who rightfully re 
 
 garded him as their fast friend and benefactor, who 
 had saved their lives, and restored them in safety to 
 the land of their adoption. If the Irish have a truo 
 friend it is General Scott. 
 
 Scott rejoins the Army at Niagara. 
 
 Scott rejoined the army at Fort Niagara in the early 
 part of 1813, just after the capture of York, in the 
 capacity of adjutant-general to Dearborn, who was 
 now invested with the chief command. In addition 
 
 to the important and laborious duties of his post, Scott 
 insisted upon commanding his own regiment on all 
 occasions of peril and hardship, a request that his 
 commander*m-chief did not fail to grant 
 
 Battle and Capture of Fort George, 
 
 Battle of Fort George. 
 
 On the British side opposite to the position occupied 
 by the American troops, lay Fort George, the key of 
 the peninsula lying between Lakes Erie and Ontario. 
 This position Dearborn determined to carry. The 
 columns detailed for this purpose embarked in six 
 divisions. Scott led the advance. Captain (afterward 
 Commodore) Perry superintended the debarkation of 
 the troops, which was covered by the little fleet of 
 Commodore Chauncey. Colonel Scott effected his 
 landing on the British shore at 9 o clock in the morn 
 ing in good order. The enemy was fifteen hundred 
 strong, and posted on a bank above, that was from 
 seven to twelve feet in height. Scott formed his line 
 on the beach preparatory to scaling the height. In 
 1.U3 first attempt to ascend, the severe fire of the 
 enemy repulsed our troops. Scott himself was forced 
 backward on to the beach. Dearborn, who was in the 
 Commodore s vessel, anxiously watching the move 
 
 ments of the troops, seeing with his glass his favorite 
 leader fall, burst into tears, exclaiming " He is lost ! 
 He is killed !" But our hero was neither killed nor 
 vanquished. He recovered himself, and rallying hid 
 men, again eagerly pushed forward, sword in hand, 
 upon the enemy. A furious fight ensued, but at the 
 end of twenty minutes the foe gave ground, and fled 
 in dismay before the resistless valor of our young 
 leader. He pursued the flying columns as far as the 
 village, where he was joined by Miller s regiment. In 
 ihe midst of his pursuit, lie assaulted the Fort, forced 
 the gates, and was himself the first to enter. Pressing 
 impetuously forward at the head of his triumphant 
 followers, with his own hand he seized and tore down 
 the British flag that was waving above its walls. The 
 garriscn. seeing that resistance was vain, beat a re 
 treat, lut not till they had fired their magazines. 
 One of l hem exploded, scattering its fragments in 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 
 
 iljl 
 
 < 
 
 Scott tearing down the British Flag. 
 
 every direction. A piece of burning timber struck 
 Scott and threw him upon the ground much hurt. 
 The matches were snatched away from the two re 
 maining magazines, and the capture was complete. 
 The British were now in full retreat. Scott imme 
 diately remounted and made hot pursuit of the enemy 
 at the head of his detachment. The pursuit was con 
 
 tinued for five miles, and the action would have ended 
 in the capture of the entire British force, but for the 
 peremptory orders of the commanding general to 
 Scott to return, just as he had got the enemy in his 
 power. In this brilliant exploit the American loss 
 was 17 killed and 45 wounded; that of the British 
 was 90 killed, 160 wounded, and 100 prisoners. 
 
 Anecdote of Scott and the British Colonel. 
 
 After the capture of Scott the year before, he was 
 supping with General Sheaffe and a number of British 
 officers, when one of them, a colonel, asked Scott if he 
 had ever seen the neighboring Falls. Scott replied, 
 " Yes, from the American side." To this the other 
 sarcastically replied, " You must have the glory of a 
 successful fight before you can view the cataract in all 
 its grandeur ;" meaning from the Canada shore. Scott 
 rejoined, " If it be your intention to insult me, sir, hon 
 or should have first prompted you to return me my 
 
 sword !" General Sheafe promptly rebuked the Brit 
 ish colonel, and the matter was dropped. This same 
 colonel was taken prisoner by Scott at Fort George, 
 and treated with great kindness and consideration. 
 This treatment extorted the following remark from 
 the prisoner to his captor, " I have long owed you an 
 apology, sir. You have overwhelmed me with kind 
 nesses. You can now view the Falls in all their gran 
 deur at your leisure." 
 
 Scott leads an Expedition to Burlington Heights and York, 
 
 For some time after the capture of Fort George, 
 our army lay there intrenched and inactive. The 
 command alternately devolved upon Dearborn, Lewis, 
 Boyd, and Wilkinson. The only active duty dis 
 charged was that of foraging, and this was invariably 
 intrusted to Colonel Scott. In the prosecution of this 
 duty, he was constantly engaged in skirmishes with 
 the enemy, but his efforts were always crowned with 
 success. His vigilance, activity, and intrepidity, made 
 
 him the hero of many a miniature battle in this parti 
 san warfare, whose details did not rise to historic im 
 portance, and which live therefore but in the memory 
 of this gallant commander and those of his heroic com 
 rades, who, like him, have survived the vicissitudes of 
 forty years. In July of this year, Colonel Scott was 
 appointed to the command of a double regiment, and 
 withdrew from his post of adjutant-general. In Sep 
 tember, an expedition against Burlington Heights wna 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 
 
 9 
 
 planned, and its execution intrusted to Scott. It had 
 been reported that here was a large deposit of mili 
 tary stores. But it turned out there was none, and 
 the force employed on this service, after inspecting 
 the now deserted post, moved upon the enemy at 
 York. Here were found large depots of clothing, pro 
 
 visions, and other military stores, together with sev 
 eral pieces of cannon, and eleven armed boats. All 
 these were captured, and the barracks and public 
 storehouses destroyed ; after which the expedition 
 returned to Niagara. 
 
 Wilkinson s Descent towards Montreal. 
 
 A movement of great importance had now been de 
 vised, and its execution intrusted to General Wilkin 
 son. This was to cut off the communication between 
 Upper and Lower Canada, and thus pave the way to 
 effect their conquest. The first object was to take 
 Kingston, and the next to reduce Montreal. The in 
 vading forces were to proceed down the River St. 
 Lawrence from Sackett s Harbor. The British troops 
 having evacuated the whole peninsula about Fort 
 George, Scott became impatient of his position as 
 commander at that post, and longed for more active 
 service. He accordingly obtained permission to go 
 with Wilkinson s expedition, which he joined on the 
 6th of November (1813), near Ogdensburg. Here two 
 battalions were placed under his charge, and the com 
 mand of the advance-guard again given to him. Pro 
 ceeding on his way down the river he landed and 
 captured the British Fort Matilda, after a sharp en 
 counter, taking a number of prisoners. On the follow 
 ing day, at the head of a column of 700 men, he came 
 upon an equal force of the enemy, under Colonel Den 
 nis, stationed at Hooppole Creek, to resist his passage. 
 He at once pressed forward under a heavy fire, and 
 attacked the enemy. After a spirited engagement, 
 he routed and drove them before him, following their 
 retreat, and taking many prisoners. Night coming on, 
 
 his progress was arrested. While Scott was thus tri 
 umphantly prosecuting his way towards Montreal, and 
 rapidly overcoming all obstacles, the imbecility of 
 Wilkinson frustrated the entire expedition. On the 
 day following Scott s successes, orders were given for 
 its abandonment. The little army of Scott, already 
 beginning to reap laurels from its achievements under 
 its active and indomitable leader, was suddenly check 
 ed in its incipient career of conquest, and made to turn 
 its back on the enemy. But for that pusillanimous 
 step, Scott would doubtless have gone on triumphant 
 ly to Montreal, captured that city, and gloriously ef 
 fected the conquest of all Upper Canada. Checked 
 as he was by this inglorious termination of the enter 
 prise he was so signally leading on, it did not operate 
 to discourage his efforts or dishearten his spirit. His 
 zeal remained unquenched and his fervor unabated. 
 
 With the close of the campaign, a new and import 
 ant sphere of duty opened upon Colonel Scott. He 
 had thus far been fighting battles ; he was now to be 
 called upon to awake a new army into being, whose 
 deeds should efface the remembrance of the spiritless 
 close of the campaign of 1813, and whose prowess 
 should extort the plaudits of admiring millions, and 
 reflect back a new and brilliant radiance upon the 
 head of its accomplished disciplinarian and commander. 
 
 Scott organizes a New Army, 
 
 The government had now had such a foretaste of 
 Scott s quality, that it became inspired with the high 
 est expectations for the future of the young soldier. 
 The President ordered him to repair to Albany to 
 concert certain important arrangements with Governor 
 Tompkins, and to provide the supplies for the ap 
 proaching campaign. Having discharged this service, 
 he was next ordered to Buffalo, upon a no less import 
 ant duty than to organize, discipline, and instruct an 
 army of new recruits, there being mustered into ser 
 vice. On the 9th of March, 1814, he was appointed 
 brigadier-general, by President Madison, at the early 
 age of twenty -seven, and immediately entered upon 
 tliis important duty. We had heretofore used the 
 Prussian system of tactics ; Scott introduced at once 
 
 the far more perfect modern French system, and the 
 one we still employ. The new recruits were immedi 
 ately put under efficient drill. The army was con 
 verted into avast military school, and kept incessantly 
 employed until it was thoroughly trained, and com 
 pletely fitted for all the exigencies of hard service 
 and a rigorous campaign. Scott labored for moutha 
 with untiring industry, until he felt assured we had at 
 least one army fitted to cope with the best troops of 
 Great Britain. He had taken in hand a body of raw 
 militia, without drill and without experience, and at 
 the end of three mouths had converted them into a 
 well disciplined and invincible corps, which soon show 
 ed itself able to conquer the renowned veterans of 
 Wellington himself. 
 
 Scott crosses the Niagara Frontier, Fort Erie Taken, 
 
 General Brown, the commander-in-chief of the army, I rations were immediately made to invade Canada, 
 returned to Buffalo the latter part of June. Prepa- | Early in the morning of the 3d of July, Scott s brigade, 
 
10 
 
 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 with the artillery corps of Major Hindman, crossed 
 die river and landed below Fort Erie, while Ripley s 
 brigade crossed over and landed above. Scott led 
 
 the van. Fort Erie surrendered 
 170 prisoners fell into our hands. 
 
 at discretion, and 
 
 Battle of Cfaippcwa, 
 
 
 Charge at Chippewa. 
 
 The residue of the American force was immediately 
 transported across to the English side. The British 
 army, 2,100 strong, under General Riall, was encamp 
 ed on the Chippewa below, and preparations were 
 immediately made to attack it without delay. Early 
 on the 4th of July Scott set his columns in motion, 
 and rapidly advanced upon the British position. He 
 came upon the advanced posts of the enemy, under 
 the Marquis of Tweeddale, who attacked, but was 
 unable to retard the progress of our troops. Scott } 
 assailed and drove back Tweecldale s detachment upon | 
 the main body of the enemy. The whole of the 4th 
 of July was thus passed by Scott in a march of sixteen 
 miles, and in driving in the British outposts. At 
 night Scott took up his quarters at Street s Creek, 
 about two miles from the enemy s encampment. Be 
 tween the two armies lay the long level plain of 
 Chippewa, the battle-field of the succeeding day. 
 Face to face the two armies encamped for the night. 
 The morningr of the 5th broke clear and glorious. The 
 sun mounted high in the heavens, pouring his fierce 
 beams upon the plain below. On one side of it ran 
 the river, and on the other stood a dense forest. The 
 force of the Americans under Scott was 1,900 strong. 
 The enemy, commanded by General Riall, numbered 
 2,100 men. Of Riall s force, at least 1,600 were the 
 
 veteran troops of the Peninsular war, the flower ol 
 the British army. The remaining 500 were dragoons 
 and well-trained militia. Scott s men had never seen 
 service. The British were a well-tried and hitherto 
 conquering soldiery, possessing the advantage of a de 
 cided superiority of numbers, and the prestige of in 
 vincibility. But the daring and zealous young Ameri 
 can general courted the unequal strife. Filled with 
 martial ardor, and an uncalculating intrepidity, that 
 only sought the opportunity to wipe out the memorj 
 of previous disaster and imbecility, and to exalt tl y 
 glory of his country, he mailed himself for the conflict 
 His hopes beat high in the confidence of a spirit that 
 felt determined to wrest reluctant victory from its 
 favorite standard. In this hardy temper of soul h<> 
 led forth his troops upon the plain. The British com 
 mander, in full reliance upon the invincibility of his 
 men, anticipated his antagonist s determination, and 
 came forth to meet him. The day had passed in 
 skirmishes. At five o clock in the afternoon the com 
 batants drew up in battle array. The Americans 
 coolly and steadily advanced in line, stretching across 
 the plain from the river to the wood. The British 
 force, iu similar order, supported by a battery of niiii? 
 cannon, confronted our ranks. The attack was simul 
 taneous and vehement on both sides, along the whole 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 11 
 
 line. The hostile armies, under a destructive fire, 
 continued to approach until they were within eighty 
 yards of one another, each manifesting the utmost 
 coolness and the most determined courage. Shoulder 
 to shoulder the American troops advanced, bravely 
 meeting and falling before the iron tempest hurled in 
 their faces by the steady masses of the practiced foe. 
 The young and gallant leader was everywhere along 
 the line encouraging and animating his troops, and 
 displaying an activity, an enthusiasm, and a fearless 
 disregard of danger, that inspired and electrified his 
 little army. While the battle raged in yet uncertain 
 fury, the British line was observed to become in a 
 measure broken, in consequence of its right wing hav 
 ing been retarded in its advance by the wood, where 
 it had come into conflict with Jessup s battalion. 
 Scott seized upon the favorable moment with the eye 
 of a veteran general, and by a skilful military ma- 
 noauvre directed the whole force of his attack upon 
 the now weakened centre of the enemy. The swift 
 
 ness and fierceness of this movement, backed by a 
 murderous fire of our artillery, caused the enemy s 
 line to waver. At this critical moment he gave the 
 order to " charge bayonet !" The onset was terrible. 
 The British columns were borne down and crushed by 
 the irresistible vigor of this desperate assault. They 
 broke and fled in confusion, amid terrible slaughtei 
 Scott followed up b*s advantage with masterly activi 
 ty, and pursued his routed adversary over the plain 
 into his intrenchments. The numbers who fell in this 
 hard-fought engagement show it to be one of extra 
 ordinary severity. The loss of the British in killed 
 and wounded was 503, or almost one-fourth of their 
 entire force. That of the Americans was 327. 
 
 Scott s reputation rose high with this conflict. H* 
 had now fought a regular pitched battle on an open 
 field, with inferior numbers, against the best troops of 
 the enemy, and won it by hard fighting and superior 
 strategy. 
 
 Pursuit of the Enemy, 
 
 On the 7th of July, only two days after the battle 
 of Chippewa, the American army again advanced, in 
 order to get possession of Fort George and Burlington 
 Heights. Scott forced the passage of the Chippewa, 
 compelling Riall to retreat upon the latter position. 
 
 But the works were found to be impregnable to our 
 means of attack. But Scott Avas not to be idle. He- 
 was destined to be soon victor in another even more 
 desperate and bloody encounter. 
 
 Battle of Lundy s Lane. 
 
 
12 
 
 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 On the 25th of July Major-general Brown received 
 the false intelligence that Riall had so far recovered 
 from his late defeat as to throw across to the Ameri 
 can shore, from Lewiston (nine miles below Chippewa), 
 a corps of 1,000 men. He immediately determined 
 upon making a demonstration against the fort below, 
 in order to compel Riall to return. Scott, at the head 
 of his brigade, now reduced by his losses to about 
 1,300 men, immediately set forth on this errand. But 
 he soon found himself with hotter work on hand. He 
 had proceeded but about two miles when he fell 
 upon a reconnoitering party of the enemy, and then for 
 the first time ascertained that a large body of their 
 troops were posted in the immediate neighborhood. 
 Pressing on, he came into the presence of a well- 
 
 stationed force under General Riall, about 1,800 strong* 
 who at once opened upon Scott a destructive fire of 
 musketry and of nine pieces of artillery. The entire 
 body of the enemy were drawn up on a rklge in order 
 of battle. His right rested on a wood, and his left on 
 j a road running parallel with the river. Directly in 
 front, and between the combatants, lay Lundy s Lane. 
 Scott discovered soon after his arrival, that General 
 Riall was being reinforced by three battalions under 
 General Drummond, and that his numbers had been 
 swelled to about 3,000 men. 
 
 Finding himself thus surprised into a battle against 
 such immense odds, he might well have determined 
 to retire and await the arrival of reinforcements under 
 General Brown before going into action. But wit! 
 
 Scott piloting Miller to Lundy s Lane. 
 
 undaunted purpose he resolved to stand his ground. 
 He however immediately dispatched an aid to General 
 Brown requesting him to hasten to his assistance. It 
 was now six o clock in the afternoon. The quick eye 
 of Scott discovering the opportunity, lie immediately 
 ordered General Jessup s battalion to turn the ene 
 my s left flank. Under cover of about 200 yards of 
 under-growth, which concealed the operation, Jessup 
 accomplished his object in a brilliant manner, and not 
 only cut off the left wing of the enemy, but trium 
 phantly broke through their ranks and returned into 
 line, bearing off Major-General Riall and some other 
 British officers prisoners. The enemy, outflanking our 
 troops on the right, made a powerful attempt, backed 
 by murderous discharges of cannon, and favored by 
 superior numbers, to turn our position. General Scott 
 perceiving the attempt, and intent upon foiling so 
 
 threatening a movement, dispatched McNeil s battanon 
 to repulse the enemy. A most obstinate conflict, con 
 ducted upon both sides with great vehemence, fol 
 lowed. The assailants recoiled, and were punished 
 with dreadful severity. Meantime the main battle of 
 the two centres had joined and was fought with great 
 fierceness. The American line sustained with un 
 shaken valor the whole weight of the enemy s superior 
 numbers, now precipitated upon them with a fiery 
 impetuosity. Our gallant band, though suffering pro 
 digiously, displayed unconquerable resolution. The 
 commanding presence and heroic example of their in 
 trepid commander, who, regardless of all peril, with 
 unwearied vigor, was foremost in every post of danger 
 nerved them to unparalleled efforts. The battalions 
 of Scott on this occasion, before he was succored by 
 General Brown, were dreadfully cut up. Night came 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 
 
 13 
 
 on, and beneath the uncertain light of the moon, 
 wading deep through the broken clouds, the des 
 perate strife was continued. General Scott had had 
 two horses killed under him, and been wounded in the 
 side by a bullet. But in nowise subdued, he rushed 
 into the contest on foot, and continued to the end in 
 the thickest of the fight. 
 
 The British infantry continued to pour their deadly 
 fire upon our weakened ranks, and their artillery, 
 posted in a commanding position, on the crest of a 
 neighboring height, which commanded the whole field 
 of battle, at every discharge, thundered death upon 
 our devoted columns. At length, at nine o clock at 
 night, after three hours of this deadly struggle on the 
 part of General Scott, General Brown arrived upon 
 the ground with his reinforcement. The enemy which, 
 with vastly superior numbers, had barely withstood 
 the determined bravery of General Scott s little army, 
 and only maintained itself in the centre under the 
 guns of the artillery, was now obliged to yield. The 
 regiment of the heroic Miller was deputed to the 
 perilous service of silencing the British battery on the 
 
 heights. General Scott volunteered to lead the way 
 and did so, through the darkness, up to the point oi 
 attack. He then returned to favor Miller s movement, 
 and made another onset upM the British line, in which 
 his battalion suffered even more than before. After a 
 series of desperate hand-to-hand encounters, Miller was 
 successful, and the batteries were silenced. 
 
 Under the renewed furious charges of our troops 
 the enemy were now forced to retire, and abandon 
 the field to the Americans. In one of the last of these 
 charges, just at the close of the action, amid terrible 
 fighting, Scott was severly wounded, and had to be 
 borne from the field. This engagement incontestably 
 established the bravery of our troops, and the reputa 
 tion of General Scott as an officer. The battle was 
 fought with desperate energy on both sides, and the 
 losses, considering the numbers engaged, were pro 
 digious. General Scott s brigade, upon which fell the 
 brunt of the battle, lost 463 of its 1,300 men ; a far 
 greater proportion of our troops than fell at Buena 
 Vista. The total loss of the Americans in killed and 
 wounded was 743. That of the British, 726. 
 
 Scott badly Wounded, 
 
 Scott Wounded. 
 
 The victory of Lundy a Lane was dearly won. In j try, but no one ever perilled his life, or shed his blooa 
 addition to our other great losses, Scott himself was I more freely in its cause, than General Scott. In his 
 dangerously wounded. His shoulder was shattered, country s greatest need he has proved himself ready for 
 and a bullet was in his side ; and for a month he lay I the greatest sacrifices a patriot can be called to make, 
 in a most critical state, enduring intense suffering. 
 From the wounds he received in this battle he has 
 never fully recovered. British lead is in his body, 
 
 wliich he will carry with him to his grave. Others 
 have won deserved renown in the service of their coun- 
 
 After the action, Scott was borne on a litter to 
 Buffalo, thence to Williamstown, and afterwards to 
 Geneva. After recovering sufficiently, he slowly jour 
 neyed towards Philadelphia, whither he repaired foi 
 further surgical aid. 
 
14 
 
 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 
 
 His Triumphal Receptions and Promotion. 
 
 Scott at Princeton. 
 
 Everywhere as he passed, the victorious hero was 
 greeted by all the public honors and private attentions 
 he could bear. Princeton, in particular, met the suf 
 fering soldier with the honors of an academic recep 
 tion, which was rendered all the more dear to him by 
 the glorious recollections of the revolution that cluster 
 around that spot. At Philadelphia, Governor Snyder 
 and the citizens welcomed him with military and civic 
 parades. After a short stay at that city, he recovered 
 sufficiently to be able to proceed to Baltimore, whither 
 he went at the request of the government, and the 
 particular solicitations of the members of Congress 
 from Maryland and Pennsylvania, to direct measures 
 for the defence of that city and Philadelphia. Finish 
 
 ing this duty, he at length proceeded to Washington, 
 where he arrived in October, and was invested w r*" 
 the command of that military district, and charged 
 with the responsible duty of planning the next year s 
 campaigns. Happily a treaty of peace was concluded 
 at Ghent on the 2-ith of December following, and rati 
 fied by our government on the 15th of February, 1815. 
 After this event, there being no further need of Scott s 
 services in the field, President Madison offered him, at 
 the early age of 28, the post of Secretary of War 
 This he declined. He had been previously raised to 
 the rauk of major-general by brevet, as a testimonial 
 of his great services and brilliant military career. 
 
 Anecdote of Mr, Madison on Scott s Promotion, 
 
 President Madison, though early persuaded of 
 Scott s great qualities, nevertheless, out of the abun 
 dant caution of his nature, always hesitated at every 
 step of our hero s promotion (till it came to the last), 
 on the ground of his extreme youth. Thus he thought 
 Scott was too young when it was proposed to make 
 him lieutenant-colonel, too young when he was again 
 advanced to the post of adjutant-general, too young 
 
 Scott goes to Europe 
 
 The enfeebled state of his health, and the desire of 
 still further professional improvement, suggesting a 
 trip to Europe, the government now gave General 
 Scott a double commission abroad. First, to examine 
 the improvements of military science ; and second, to 
 conduct certain secret negotiations in regard to the 
 independence of South America, and the supposed de 
 signs of England upon Cuba. He acquitted himself 
 
 when he was made colonel of a double regiment, and 
 finally too young when he was promoted to the place 
 of brigadier-general. But at the last, when, after his 
 recent extraordinary services, and brilliant successes, 
 it was proposed in Cabinet to make him a major-gen 
 eral, Mr. Madison promptly remarked, " Put him down 
 a major-general I am done with objecting to his 
 youth." 
 
 on a Public Mission, 
 
 of these latter delicate duties much to the satisfaction 
 of his government. He examined the chief military 
 establishments of Western Europe, held intercourse 
 with its most distinguished military men, and attended 
 the scientific lectures of the schools of tactics. Arriv 
 ing just after the battle of Waterloo, his opportunities 
 to master the views and learn the experience of l ; ic 
 most distinguished European professors of military 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 15 
 
 science, most of whom had now congregated upon the 
 soil of France and England, in their gigantic efforts to 
 overwhelm Napoleon, were unsurpassed. Fresh from 
 the fields of his own triumphs, and with the war spirit 
 still at its full height, w may suppose our young hero 
 acquired a stock of intelligence, bearing upon his pro 
 fession, that vears of ordinary experience could not 
 havo given him. He brought over with him whatever 
 :-ulJt tend to improve our system of tactics, or be 
 
 made useful to the military arm of our government. 
 To his efforts then and afterward, we owe, in a great 
 measure, that system of discipline and instruction to 
 which we are mainly indebted, in conjunction with hi.s 
 own unrivalled military knowledge and skill, for our 
 recent Mexican victories. On hi.s return, he was placed 
 in command of the ( astern division of the army, with 
 New York for his head-quartera. In 1817 he married 
 Miss Mavo of Richmond. 
 
 Vote of Thanks l>y Congress, New York, and Virginia, 
 
 Meantime Congress had passed a vote of thanks for 
 the eminent services of this illustrious commander, 
 and voted him a large gold medal, inscribed with the 
 names of " Chippewa" and "Niagara," and bearing his 
 likeness. The States of New York and Virginia like 
 wise bestowed a similar high compliment, by votes of 
 thanks, and by making him valuable gifts. Each of 
 
 these states presented him with a sword of the richest 
 workmanship. Governor Tompkins, of New York, 
 made a public presentation of the sword given by 
 New York, and, in his address on the occasion, ob 
 served that it was presented to him by the state, in 
 token of its admiration of "a military career replete 
 with splendid events." 
 
 Anecdote of tiie Gold ftlcdal and the Robber. 
 
 A singular incident is connected with the gold med 
 al presented to General Scott by Congress. It was 
 at one time deposited for safe-keeping in the vault of 
 the City Bank of New York. A noted robber, break 
 ing into the safe, carried off from thence every thing 
 that was valuable, but spared this token of public 
 honor, in evident respect for the brave soldier s only 
 wealth. The case of the medal was found open, but 
 retaining its precious contents untouched. Not even 
 a whole life of crime had been able to extinguish in 
 that felon s breast, a feeling of patriotic admiration for 
 his country s best soldier. Alas ! if ever the general 
 admiration and gratitude of his countrymen shall seek to 
 reward General Scott s great services by the bestowal 
 of the highest office in their gift, will there be found 
 those so lost to all sense of national pride, of justice 
 and honor, as to try to rob him of his well-earned fame, 
 by the calumnious tongue of partisan warfare ? We 
 trust not ! For the sake of our national reputation, 
 the claims of patriotism, and the demands of justice, 
 we trust not ! Let the eager spirit of detraction hes 
 itate, as it reflects upon that pure renown which even 
 the robber respected ! 
 
 Eobber and Medal. 
 
 Anecdote of Scott and the Pickpockets, 
 
 Long after the foregoing occurrence, General Scott, 
 m travelling by steamboat from Albany to New York, 
 had his pocket picked of a purse containing eight hun 
 dred dollars in gold. On arriving at New York, the 
 general advertised his loss. His money was sent back 
 to him by the head thief of the city, with a respectful 
 assurance that none of his people would have touched 
 
 the general s purse if they had known his person. 
 Thus does the human heart, though steeled to crime, 
 recognize the claims of a generous, gallant, and chi- 
 vnlric nature. Such occurrences are significant inti 
 mations of the strong hold which this truly noble man 
 has upon the hearts of his countrymen. 
 
 We owe to General Scott, in a great degree, our 
 existing military system. It was first introduced by 
 him, in preparing our army at Buffalo for the heroic 
 deeds soon after achieved at Chippewa and Lundy s 
 Lane. Subsequently it was introduced into the whole 
 service. In 1821 he published a work embodying his 
 ystcui and plans of discipline and instruction, under 
 
 Establishes our Military System, 
 
 the title of " General Regulations for the Army." In 
 1825, following up his design of still further improve 
 ments, he published his "Infantry Tactics." And 
 again, in 1826, he drew up for the War Department, 
 " A Plan for the Organization and Instruction of the 
 
 whole body of the Militia of the Union;" and also, "-A 
 System of Infantry and Rifle Tactics." In 1885, he 
 
16 
 
 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 
 
 published, by order of Congress, a new edition of the 
 latter. How well the military system introduced by 
 Scott, serves the purposes for which it was designed, 
 is shown by the general character of the service, and 
 especially by the triumphant success of our arms in 
 Mexico. We owe much to "West Point, but West 
 Point owes more to Scott. It is he, in reality, who 
 has given the army its leading characteristics of high 
 spirit, lofty tone, gentlemanly bearing, extreme effi 
 
 ciency, and love of duty. Possessing himself person 
 ally, every noble characteristic of a soldier, he has 
 stamped them all upon the service. And for his gen 
 uine zeal in its behalf, his pride in its proficiency, his 
 constant and unwearied labors for its perfection, and 
 though last not least, his deep desire to see it al 
 ways prompted and guided by a spirit of humanity, 
 he may well be styled the Father of the American 
 Army. 
 
 Scott as a Temperance Man, 
 
 General Scott may be placed among the very ear 
 liest pioneers of the temperance reform. As long ago 
 as 1821 he published a pamphlet (first appearing in 
 the National Gazette of Philadelphia), proposing a 
 plan to discourage the use of intoxicating liquors in 
 the United States. This paper was written with great 
 ability, and furnished the matter for thousands of tem 
 perance speeches and addresses since delivered. He 
 was first led to this effort to lessen the great mischiefs 
 of intemperance, in consequence of the difficulties that 
 beset him in improving the discipline of the army. 
 Though never a teetotaller in the strictest sense of the 
 term, General Scott has, nevertheless, always been a 
 
 strictly temperate and abstemious man. Indeed, In 
 all his private and social relations he is a man whom 
 the youth of the country would do well to follow as a 
 model. His moral character gives lustre to his his 
 toric celebrity. He has never been corrupted by the 
 temptations of office, debauched by contact with laxi 
 ty of principle in public men, or stimulated by avarice 
 or habits of extravagance into any forays, direct or in 
 direct, upon the public treasury. Personally, he is 
 without reproach and above suspicion. His example 
 has lifted others up. No example has ever dragged 
 him down. 
 
 General Scott took a lively interest in the struggles 
 of the South American republics to secure their inde 
 pendence. He was not in the public councils, and 
 could therefore take no part in the eloquent discus 
 sions of Congress upon the subject. But so far as his 
 position permitted, he encouraged and sympathized 
 with the noble efforts of the South American leaders 
 of the revolution. Among the acts that illustrated 
 his interest in their behalf, was his successful en 
 deavors to give a military education to three sons of 
 
 Scott and South American Independence, 
 
 General Paez, of Colombia. 
 
 These were by his exer 
 tions placed at the Military Academy at West Point, 
 in 1823, under the auspices of the President of the 
 United States, where they were educated, and after 
 wards sent back to fight for the liberties of their na 
 tive land. 
 
 The military duties of General Scott now engrossed 
 the chief part of his attention for several years. In 
 1829 he again visited Europe on a professional tour of 
 observation. 
 
 The Black Hawk War, 
 
 General Scott returned from Europe after an ab 
 sence of several months. A war with the Indians on 
 the Upper Mississippi, under the celebrated " Black 
 Hawk," having assumed a formidable aspect, Scott 
 was ordered by the War Department in June, 1832, 
 to the scene of conflict, to take command of the forces 
 to subdue the savages. 
 
 In the beginning of July he accordingly embarked 
 at Buffalo, with a body of about 1,000 troops, on board 
 four steamers, bound for the theatre of war. He was 
 arrested in his progress by the breaking out of the 
 ckolera in its most malignant form among the troops. 
 Meantime the Indians were subdued by the Illinois 
 militia and the troops under General Atkinson, and 
 Black Hawk was captured. Scott subsequently pro 
 ceeded to his place of destination, negotiated important 
 
 treaties with the Sacs and Foxes, and the Winneba- 
 goes, composed the difficulties on that frontier, and 
 discharged all the duties of his mission in a manner 
 that extorted from GENERAL CASS, then Secretary of 
 War, the following tribute : 
 
 " Allow me to congratulate you, sir, upon this for 
 tunate consummation of your arduous duties, and to 
 express my entire approbation of the whole course of 
 your proceedings, during a scries of difficulties re 
 quiring higher moral courage than the operations of 
 an active campaign, under ordinary circumstances." 
 
 General Cass here referred, in part, to General 
 Scott s brave, humane, and self-denying conduct to 
 ward the troops under his command while smitten by 
 the terrible scourge of the cholera, the story of which 
 we will briefly relate. 
 
 The Cholera, Scott s Noble Conduct, 
 
 On the passage from Buffalo to Chicago, the Asiatic 
 cholera, which then for the first time visited this 
 country, broke out on board the steamers conveying 
 the troops, in the most frightful form. On board Gen 
 eral Scott s own boat, out of 220 persons, no less than 
 52 died, and 80 others were committed to the hospital 
 within the short term of six days. On board the 
 other boats the mortality was scarcely less alarming. 
 
 -mi _ . _ ^_i_l!i _/ ii , i / , * i 
 
 among the population whither they were carried. 
 Such was the effect produced, that in the course of a 
 very few days, sickness, death, and desertion, had re 
 duced the numbers of our troops from 950 to 400. 
 
 On the passage to Chicago, the deck and cabin ol 
 General Scott s own boat were covered with the dead 
 and dying. Every hour of the clock struck the knell 
 of some new victim. Gloom was pictured in every 
 
 The amazing fatality of the attacks of this disease countenance. Despair seized upon the b~avest. Death 
 (spread indescribable terror among the troops, and : ii battle they could meet without fear but here the 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL S C T T 
 
 17 
 
 . 
 
 - . . . -. 
 
 - . 
 
 , 
 
 Scott at thi Cholera Hospital. 
 
 \.ewless destroyer totally palsied their energies. 
 Without warning, the trembling victim was seized, 
 helplessly collapsed, and died in an hour. It was a 
 repetition of the worst horrors of the plague. Amidst 
 this terrible scene, instead of contenting himself with 
 merely ordering the medical men to take all necessary 
 measures for the relief of the sick, Scott set an exam 
 ple of fortitude and courage that shone resplendent 
 through the surrounding desolation. lie attended 
 the sick in person, and performed for his humblest 
 comrade every disagreeable and dangerous office with 
 a brother s care. He consoled the sick, comforted the 
 dying, and cheered the flagging and broken spirits of 
 those yet unattacked, but whose apprehensions pro 
 voked danger, and insured death when the attack came. 
 
 Subsequently, after leaving Chicago, Scott found 
 Atkinson s force at Rock Island, attacked with the 
 same appalling disease. Here he renewed his vigi 
 lant and fearless attentions upon the sick and dying. 
 Though himself ill, his devotion to his fellow-soldiers 
 was constant, and became the theme of general ad 
 miration. He spared himself no labor, no exposure 
 to danger, to relieve his comrades who were the vic 
 tims of this fatal pestilence. He visited the hospitals, 
 made it his duty to serve, watch, and encourage all 
 by his cheering presence and his personal services. 
 Never has he at any time shown a more genuine 
 heroism than upon this occasion. Never did any 
 philanthropist exhibit a more pure, noble, and aft ect- 
 ing self-devotion. 
 
 Scott sent to quiet the NulliOers, 
 
 General Scott had hardly got home from these try 
 ing and fatiguing scenes, when a fresh order from the 
 government sent him to another quarter. At the 
 close of November, 1832, nullification was coming to 
 a head in South Carolina. A state convention had 
 passed its ordinance declaring that the United States 
 revenue laws should not be enforced in South Caro 
 lina, and its legislature and executive were making 
 preparations for an armed resistance. Such was the 
 condition of things when General Scott was ordered 
 thither. His first aim was to ascertain what measures 
 were needed to secure obedience to the laws, and 
 suppress the rebellion if it should break out. But he 
 was also charged with the higher office of conciliating 
 the Carolinians. To avoid adding to the public ex 
 citement by open steps of military precaution, he vis 
 ited Charleston by the way of the interior, as if on 
 his annual visit of inspection. When he had finished 
 his examination he returned to Washington, made hip 
 report to President Jackson, and concerted the ar 
 rangements necessnry for the crisis. The revenue 
 
 cutters and troops that were needed were sent down 
 to Charleston, and General Scott then repaired thither 
 with confidential instructions. A large discretion was 
 left to him in the execution of his orders. Every 
 thing, in fact, depended on his own good judgment. 
 But in the exhibition of this quality, as well as those 
 of a more brilliant character, General Scott has never 
 failed to distinguish himself. The extraordinary ex 
 citement of the time, the phrensied condition of the 
 public mind in South Carolina, now wrought up to 
 the pitch of open war, rendered General Scott s task 
 delicate and difficult in the highest degree. Ilia 
 head-quarters was at Fort Moultrie, opposite Charles 
 ton, which had been strengthened by large supplies of 
 provisions, arms, ammunition, and troops; and its 
 force farther augmented by the presence of revenue 
 cutters and ships of war. The attitude of the gov 
 ernment was unequivocal, and so was that of the nul- 
 lifiers. One was determined to resist, the other was 
 determined to quell that resistance. That General 
 Scott should have been able, under such an aspect of 
 
18 
 
 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 impending hostilities, to associate and even hold 
 friendly relations with the leading nullifiers, seems 
 almost to forbid belief; yet so it was. By a happy 
 union of firm and conciliatory conduct he was able to 
 keep on the narrow line of his duty, deficient in no 
 wise to the demands of the federal government which 
 had placed him there, and yet so to conduct himself 
 as to win the confidence and regard of those whom it 
 
 became his especial duty to watch, and if necessary to 
 subdue by force of arms. We can hardly conceive of 
 a more difficult undertaking than was General Scott a 
 in this mission, yet he succeeded in it to the entire 
 satisfaction of all parties. At length he withdrew 
 from the scene, with the consoling reflection that his 
 course had been a chief means of saving his country 
 from the horrors of civil strife. 
 
 Scott ordered to Florida, 
 
 A.n Indian war raged in Florida in 1835. The Sem- 
 moles, under their skilful and daring leader, Osceola, 
 had taken up arms against the whites, and fought 
 with a valor that awoke the government to the ne 
 cessity of taking decided measures to subdue them. 
 General Scott was accordingly ordered to the theatre 
 of hostilities, where he arrived in February, 1836. He 
 got his troops in readiness, and soon after the middle 
 f March moved the three divisions, into which he 
 had divided them, upon that portion of the country 
 where it was supposed the Indians had taken shelter. 
 But the wily enemy eluded his grasp. Having failed 
 in his first attempt to discover the hiding-place of the 
 Indians, General Scott next broke up his force into 
 five detachments, placing himself at the head of one 
 of them, and scoured the country. None of the de 
 tachments, however, met with any success in discover 
 ing the main body of the savages. They had seques 
 tered themselves in the impenetrable fastnesses of 
 that pestilential country, and thus escaped the most 
 vigilant activity of our troops. Sickness ensued, and 
 
 four hundred of our men were in the hospitals. The 
 supplies for the troops proved inadequate, and the 
 campaign ended without any important fruits. General 
 Scott having now experienced the extreme difficulties 
 of the country, apprised the War Department that a 
 larger force and different conduct of the next cam 
 paign would be essential to success. Meantime, diffi 
 culties broke out among the Creeks in Georgia, and 
 General Scott proceeded thither in May, and at once 
 organized a volunteer corps to subdue them. This 
 was accomplished with great promptness. By the 1st 
 of July the Indians had surrendered or been entirely 
 dispersed. On the 9th of July General Scott was 
 ordered to Washington. Complaints were made be 
 cause he did not find and capture the hidden Semi- 
 noles. But an inquiry that was instituted into the 
 conduct of that campaign, proved the utter ground 
 lessness of the charge, and resulted in the unanimous 
 approval of the conduct of the bravo commander by 
 the court. 
 
 Congratulations 
 
 After Scott s return from his Florida campaigns, an 
 invitation was extended to him from his friends in the 
 city of New York to meet them at a public dinner. 
 He received similar invitations from Richmond, Vir 
 ginia, and Elizabethtown, New Jersey. But he de 
 clined them all, from personal considerations growing 
 
 of his Friends, 
 
 out of the overwhelming commercial calamities i-iuit 
 in that year (1837) had fallen upon so many of hb 
 friends. We find in this circumstance a new evidence 
 of his genuine sympathy of nature, and generous self- 
 forgetfulness, where the feelings and interests of others 
 are concerned. 
 
 Rebellion in Canada, Scott sent to the Frontier. 
 
 In the same year (1837), a rebellion broke out in 
 Canada. The flame of insurrection spread along the 
 frontier, and threatened to involve the country in hos 
 tilities with England. Our border population deeply 
 sympathized with the struggling patriots of Canada. 
 An outrage upon our territory had been committed 
 by a British armed force, which had crossed to Schlosser, 
 in the State of New York, fired the steamer Caroline, 
 and sent her blazing over the cataract of Niagara. 
 This act took place on the 29th of December. On the 
 4th of January following (1838), General Scott hast 
 ened from Washington to the scene of the outrage. 
 He found the whole population in a state of tumultu 
 ous excitement. He addressed himself at once to the 
 task of subduing the impassioned fervors of our patri 
 otic population, a work which he accomplished with 
 the most admirable tact and skill. He moved with 
 the greatest celerity along the line, everywhere re 
 pressing the extraordinary zeal of our people, and 
 everywhere bringing down enthusiastic plaudits upon 
 
 his skilful conduct and his eloquent harangues. He 
 became at once orator, soldier, and diplomatist. He 
 alternately threatened, exhorted, and appealed to the 
 people. His exertions were unremitted by night and 
 by day, and covering a line of country extending from 
 Detroit to Vermont. The details of his mission here 
 would fill a volume. But we have no room for the 
 recital. Suffice it to say that beneath the spell of his 
 manly eloquence, his energy, his activity, the recollec 
 tion of his former deeds of glory in that quarter, the 
 people threw down their arms and returned to their 
 homes, and war was averted. His grateful and ad 
 miring fellow-citizens thronged about him on his re 
 turn ; and at Albany, where the Legislature was in 
 session, a succession of entertainments were given to 
 this illustrious man ; now as deeply endeared to the 
 people for preventing war, as on a former occasion he 
 was admired for his exploits of valor and heroism on 
 the very soil of the enemy he had now saved from 
 invasion. 
 
 Scott among the Cherokees, 
 
 By a treaty made in 1835, the Cherokees, occupying | Carolina, and Tennessee, had stipulated to emigrate to 
 
 portions of the States of Georgia, Alabama, 
 
 knds allotted to them west of the Mississippi. 
 
I. T F K F (; E N E II A L 3 C O T T. 
 
 19 
 
 ..V 
 
 Scott addressing the Cherokces. 
 
 There were but a small portion of them, however, 
 who had gone to their new home west of the Missis 
 sippi. The numbers remaining amounted to 15,000, 
 :iiiii they had refused to leave. General Scott re 
 ceived orders on the 10th of April, 1838, to take com 
 mand of the United States troops ordered to the 
 Cherokee country, to enforce the fulfilment of this 
 treaty obligation. Deeply impressed with the painful 
 circumstances under which this more than half civil 
 ized people were now to expatriate themselves from 
 the homes they had so long enjoyed, General Scott 
 desired to accomplish his mission with the utmost for 
 bearance and regard towards this highlv interesting 
 race. He accordingly issued an address to the army, 
 invoking their kindness and care for the emigrants, 
 and deprecating in the strongest manner all violence 
 or harshness in the discharge of the duties that might 
 devolve upon them, in case of the refusal of any to 
 join the general emigration. He issued another ad 
 dress to the Indians, setting forth the labors he had 
 come to perform. Kindness and humanity are stamped 
 in uneft aceable characters upon these papers; and, 
 taken in connection with his subsequent conduct in the 
 
 discharge of his mission, will forever add lustre tu the 
 fame of General Scott. 
 
 The tribes were at length put in motion, and the 
 vast, tawny multitude slowly wended its way to 
 wards the distant waters of the Mississippi. It v. ;i. a 
 another Exodus of i whole people. The great atxi 
 manifold difficulties and perils of conducting so large a 
 body of men, women, and children, may be readily 
 conceived. But General Scott mastered them all, and 
 for five months superintended and guided an emigra 
 tion, almost unparalleled, and requiring more wisdom, 
 patience, and perseverance, than is often called into 
 exercise during the entire life of an ordinary man. 
 The work was accomplished successfully. In what 
 manner it was done, let Dr. Channing, the eloquent 
 Boston divine, answer. He says, " In the whole his 
 tory of the intercourse of civilized with barbarous or 
 half-civilized communities, we doubt whether a brighter 
 page can be found than that which records General 
 Scott a agency in the removal of the Cherokees. As 
 far as the wrongs done to this race can be atoned for, 
 General Scott has made the expiation. It would not be 
 easy to find among us a man who has won a purer fame,." 
 
 Scott settles the Northeastern Boundary Difficulties, 
 
 Serious difficulties arose in the winter of 1838-9 
 between the authorities of Maine and New Brunswick, 
 growing out of our then unsettled northeastern bound 
 ary. The action of Governor Fairfield of Maine in 
 calling out the militia, and throwing a heavy force for 
 ward upon the frontier, with apparently hostile intent, 
 and a corresponding movement of the British forces in 
 the Province of New Brunswick, gave a threatening 
 aspect to affairs in that quarter. General Scott was 
 ordered at once to the spot, with instructions to en 
 deavor to compose the existing difficulties, and to ar- 
 rest the hostile movement of our troops. He arrived 
 
 at Augusta, the capital of the state, on the 6th 01 
 March, 1839. 
 
 The Legislature was in session, and he was received 
 by a public meeting of legislators, soldiers, and citi 
 zens, on the following day, in the Legislative Hall. 
 His reception was of the most flattering description, 
 and marked by every demonstration of respect and 
 admiration. He devoted himself at once to the work 
 of allaying the excitement that existed, and establish 
 ing a basis for the accommodation oi the existing dis 
 putes. The Governor of New Brunswick, Sir John 
 Harvey, was an old acquaintance and friend of Gen- 
 
20 
 
 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 Scott saving the life of Harvey. 
 
 eral Scott, they having mot and established an inti 
 macy during the war of 1812.* 
 
 With him General Scott opened a semi-official cor 
 respondence in relation to the pressing exigencies of 
 the occasion, which led to the most happy results. 
 Official negotiations followed. General Scott remain 
 ed in Maine for several weeks, and occupied himself 
 incessantly in bringing about a good understanding 
 between the authorities on both sides. His labors 
 were arduous and perplexing in the extreme. Con 
 
 flicting judgments were to be reconciled, and exaa 
 pemted feelings were to be subdued. But his untir 
 ing efforts were at length crowned with signal success. 
 The troops on both sides were in a few weeks with 
 drawn, and a good understanding established between 
 the belligerents. General Scott reaped new laurels 
 for his skilful management of this delicate negotiation, 
 and earned a new claim to the title of the GREAT 
 PACIFICATOR, so properly his due for his previous suc 
 cess in South Carolina, and on the Canada frontier. 
 
 The 
 
 Scott becomes Commander-in-chief, 
 
 leath of Major-general Macomb took place June 1 prominent candidate for the Presidency. But we 
 
 25th, 1841, and Scott was called to the command of 
 the entire army. He remained in the regular dis 
 charge of its arduous duties, almost uninterruptedly, 
 
 compelled to omit all notice of this part of his his 
 tory, for we have but narrow limits in which to re 
 count those stirring and eventful scenes belonging to 
 
 for several years. He took part, however, in the dis- j lu s career in Mexico, which have crowned his life and 
 
 cussion of various public topics that arose during this 
 period, and became in 1844, as he had been in 1839, a 
 
 his fame with a wreath of unfading glory. 
 
 The peace of the country, after having been long j 
 menaced by the state of our relations with Mexico, | 
 was at length broken by an unexpected collision, and i 
 we found ourselves plunged into open war with that 
 country. In May, 1846, the Mexican forces were sud 
 denly precipitated in large numbers upon the little : 
 army of General Taylor, who had command of our forces j 
 
 War with Mexico, 
 
 on the Rio Grande. That distinguished veteran aston 
 ished and electrified the country by the indomitable 
 valor he displayed in repulsing the enemy, and in win 
 ning, in swift succession, the two battles of Palo Alto 
 and Resaca de la Palm a. On the 24th of November 
 following, General Scott left Washington for the thea 
 tre of hostilities, charged with the command and direo- 
 
 * Colonel Scott and Lieutenant-colonel Harvey were, 
 in the campaign of 1813, the adjutant-generals of the 
 opposing armies in Upper Canada. They were often 
 brought into contact, and both being men of chivalric 
 nature, their acquaintance finally ripened into warm 
 mutual friendship, Once, when reconnoiteriug and skir 
 mishing, Scott contrived, as he thought, to cut off his 
 daring "opponent from the possibility "of retreat. In au 
 
 instant an American rifle was levelled at him. Scott 
 struck u.p the deadly weapon with his sword, crvinsr out, 
 " Hold ! he is our prisoner." But Harvey, putting spurs 
 to his horse, by a dexterous and intrepid leap, escaped 
 under a shower of balls to reappear in the following 
 campaign a formidable opponent of his magnanimous 
 antagonist on the bloody fields of Chippewa and Lun- 
 cly s Lane. 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 21 
 
 tion uf our arms in that quarter. He readied the Rio 
 Gratnie on the 1st of January, 1847. Santa Anna, the 
 commander of the Mexican army, lay at San Lui.s Po- 
 tosi, mkhvny between the Rio Grande and the city of 
 Mexico, at the head of 22,000 men. General Taylor 
 had now crossed the river and advanced to Saltillo, 
 about 150 miles towards San Luis Potosi. He had 
 under his command a force of 18,000 troops, that oc 
 cupied the line connecting his advanced position at 
 Saltjllo, with the Rio Grande at Camargo. On his ar 
 rival, General Scott divided this force, leaving 10,000 
 men under General Taylor, and taking the remainder 
 with him to Vera Cruz by sea. Other troops had 
 meantime been concentrated in the vicinity of Vera 
 Cruz, to the number of 4000. 
 
 The whole force was combined at the Island of Lo- 
 bos, and from that point the squadron, having on 
 
 board 12,000 men, set sail; General Scott, in the 
 sttvunship Massachusetts, leading the van. As his 
 steamer passed through the fleet, his tall form, con 
 spicuous above every other, attracted the eyes of 
 soldiers and sailors. Warmed by feelings of patriotic 
 admiration of the hero in command, and fired by the 
 enthusiasm which the occasion and the scene were so 
 well calculated to inspire, they gave vent to then- 
 emotions in one spontaneous cheer, that burst simul 
 taneously from every vessel, and echoed and ranj 
 along the whole line. Brilliantly decked with flagt 
 and covered with an animated host whose arms flashed 
 in the sun, the ships seemed to move in exulting con 
 sciousness of their burden ; and flinging the spray 
 from their prows, gallantly dashed forward to the 
 point of debarkation. 
 
 Lauding at Vera Cruz, 
 
 The fleet having arrived before Vera Cruz, and all 
 preparations being completed, on the 9th of March, a 
 little before sunset, the landing of this armament, des 
 tined for the reduction of one of the most formidable 
 defences in the world, commenced. With such ad 
 mirable judgment had the enterprise been planned, 
 and with such consummate skill was it executed, un 
 
 der the immediate superintendence of the commander- 
 in-chief, that before ten o clock at night the troops 
 had all been landed in perfect safety, with all their 
 arms and accoutrements, without the slightest acci 
 dent or the loss of a single life ; an achievement almost 
 unparalleled in a military operation of such magni 
 tude. 
 
 Siege and Capture of Vera Cruz and the Castle of San Juan de Flloa. 
 
 Bombardment of Ver Craz. 
 
 In three days the army and the fleet had taken up I castle, preparatory to their bombardment and siege, 
 their positions, and invested both the city and the | Our lines of circumvallation were five miles in length. 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 and surrounded the city. On the night of the 18th of 
 March the trenches were opened, and the army 
 gradually closed around the city, in a nearer and 
 more fatal embrace. On the 22d, General Scott, 
 having now completed his preparations for his at 
 tack, and having offered a free conduct out of the 
 city of all non-combatants, sent his summons to the 
 governor of Vera Cruz to surrender. The governor 
 refused, and the batteries opened their destructive 
 tire upon the devoted city ; while the ships com 
 menced their fearful broadsides upon the castle. The 
 scene was magnificent and terrible. During three 
 days and nights an incessant discharge from the brazen 
 mouths of mortars and cannon, was kept up with un 
 flagging zeal and irresistible power. Our heavy Paix- 
 han guns sped their crushing masses of metal upon 
 the enemy with overwhelming energy. The mortars 
 and howitzers vomited forth their deadly missiles 
 with desolating fury. An iron tempest covered sea 
 and land. Its ravages were pitiless, its fierce grasp 
 unrelenting. Night heightened the scene. The dark 
 ness was illuminated by blazing shells filling the air. 
 
 The eea gleamed with the broadsides of the ship*. 
 Fired with extraordinary skill, the bombs converged 
 upon the besieged town with a horrid accuracy. The 
 heavy fall of the descending shot and shells was 
 heard along our lines. The domes of the churches 
 reverberated beneath explosions that shook the ground, 
 and lighted up the heavens with a fierce glare. The 
 full power of modern military skill, and the destoruc 
 tive arts of war, were here exhibited in a!! their po 
 tency, without intermission, during three d:i</s MI i 
 nights. On the 25th, an application for a truce w.-is 
 made by the enemy, which was refused, and a surren 
 der demanded. Accordingly, on the following morn 
 ing overtures for a surrender were made, and the city 
 and fortress fell into our hands. The stars and stripes 
 floated in triumph, for the first time, on the battle 
 ments of the castle of Sari Juan de Ulloa, and waved 
 their victorious folds over the walls of Vera Cruz. 
 Among the fruits of this victory were 5,000 prison -,. rs, 
 and 500 pieces of artillery. Our loss was but >ix 
 killed, and sixty wounded. 
 
 Scott s Departure for the City of Mexico, 
 
 Scott now prepared to advance upon the city of I the table-land upon which the city of Mexico stand:?, 
 Mexico. With only 8,000 men, he at once pressed | at an elevation of 7,600 feet above the level of the 
 forward upon the road to the capitol. 
 
 Passing over 
 
 sixty miles of level country he came upon the first of 
 the ascending slopes, over which extends the road to 
 
 waters of the Gulf. The road at this point passes 
 over a stream, and winds among the gorges of prccip 
 itous hills. 
 
 Storming of ( 1 erro Gordo.* 
 
 Santa Anna, who had just returned from the field 
 of Buena Vista, had here collected all the forces he 
 could muster, and was posted upon these heights. 
 Cannon were placed in battery on all the commanding 
 eminences on both sides of the road. Highest above 
 them all rose the bristling hill of Cerro Gordo, strongly 
 fortified, and protected at its base by heavy stone de 
 fences. On these heights, thus defended by thirty- 
 nine pieces of artillery, the Mexican general had in 
 trenched himself at the head of 15,000 troops. The 
 attack upon this apparently impregnable position was 
 planned by General Scott with masterly skill. He 
 determined upon assaulting it in flank and rear as well 
 as in front; and to accomplish this object he opened a 
 road, over a country almost impassable from rocks 
 and chapparal, for a distance of several miles. A 
 heavy force under General Twiggs had penetrated by 
 this road, the day before the main attack, and cap 
 tured, after a severe struggle, a commanding height 
 in the neighborhood of Cerro Gordo. The position 
 was, however, maintained by our troops with great 
 difficulty. The Mexicans made three desperate at 
 tempts to dislodge our force, but each time they were 
 repulsed with heavy loss. On the next morning, the 
 17th of April, the attack on the whole of the enemy s 
 position was ordered. The defence was determined 
 and bloody. But our troops, animated by the pres 
 ence of, and feeling the fullest confidence in their dis- 
 
 ! tinguished leader, advanced under a terrific nrc 
 i against the enemy. They rapidly flocked up thy 
 i heights, and intrepidly surmounted every obstacle 
 | that the ingenuity of Santa Anna had added to the 
 j natural defences of his position, displaying the most 
 j sturdy resolution and invincible impetuosity. The 
 j Mexicans were forced from their guns at the point of 
 the bayonet, and driven with resistless energy from 
 their securest defences. The hill of Cerro Gordo was 
 j assaulted in front by Colonel Harney, who, with Ins 
 men, performed prodigies of valor. Santa Anna was 
 here in person, and barely escaped by flying on one 
 of the mules attached to his carriage. General Scott, 
 who was close at hand in all the conflicts of the day, 
 and often exposed to imminent, danger, met Colonel 
 Harney on the height of Cerro Gordo, just at the time 
 of bis gallant achievement, and publicly expressed his 
 admiration of the spirit and courage displayed by him 
 in leading the assault. The officers spoke with enthu 
 siasm of the calm and soldierly bearing of their gallant 
 commander, during all the dangers of the furious and 
 unintermitting discharges of the artillery from tho 
 heights while the battle raged. By twelve o clock 
 the enemy was driven from his position, totally rout- 
 | ed, and was in full flight along the road to Jalapa. 
 whither our troops followed in close pursuit. In this 
 action, one of the most remarkable of the war, Scott 
 I captured 3,000 prisoners, 4,000 stand of arms, 43 
 
 * General Scott s order of battle on this occasion, 
 which we regret we have not room to publish, is a mon 
 ument of his military skill and prescience. He detailed 
 ia advance every movement of the troops during the at 
 
 tack, and even prescribed the exact movements of the 
 various detachments after the battle should have, been ivott 
 and the whole order was executed to the letter. 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 
 
 Battle of Cerro Gordo. 
 
 pieces of artillery, and a large quantity of ammuni 
 tion. Santa Anna s carriage, containing his wooden 
 leg and a large sura of specie, also fell into the hands 
 
 of the victors. The loss of the Americans in killed 
 and wounded was 431. That of the Mexicans was 
 computed at 1,000 to 1,200. 
 
 Capture of Jalapa and Surrender of Perote, 
 
 General Scott continued his rapid march with his | Perote, 40 miles distant, whose celebrated fortress, 
 small, but conquering army, and on the 19th the with its powerful armament, surrendered at discretion. 
 
 advanced corps, under General Patterson, entered 
 the city of Jakpa, SO miles from Cerro Gordo. On 
 
 This surrender covered 66 pieces of cannon, 16,000 
 cannon-balls, 14,000 bombs and hand-grenades, and 
 
 the 2d of April, Worth s division advanced upon | 500 muskets. 
 
 City of Puebla Taken, 
 
 Santa Anna escaped to Puebla with the remnant of I rounds from our batteries. The discomfited foe fled 
 his army, now scattered in all directions by the force | to Puebla, but could make no stand, and evacuated it 
 of the blow struck at Cerro Gordo. Worth s division j on the following day. On the morning of the 15th of 
 was again pushed on until it came within 15 miles of j May the American troops entered Puebla, a city of 
 Puebla. Here it was menaced by Santa Anna, who 60,000 inhabitants, without resistance, where they 
 reappeared at the head of 3,000 cavalry. This troop halted, and proceeded to fortify the neighboring 
 was soon dispersed, however, by a few well-directed I heights. 
 
 American Army at Puebla, 
 
 On the arrival of the advance corps of the army at ! can population, and in the midst of all, the city of 
 Puebla, General Scott was overtaken by Mr. N. P. Mexico, with its 200,000 inhabitants, and protected by 
 
 Trist, who had arrived from Washington with power 
 to negotiate with the enemy for peace. Mr. Trist 
 arrived at Jalapa on the 14th of May. The army 
 accordingly lav in their quarters, while the dispatch 
 brought by the envoy was forwarded to the city of 
 Mexico. General Scott s available force had now been 
 reduced to 6,000 men. He was in the heart of an 
 enemy s countrv, numbering 8,000,000 of souls, and 
 occupying a city of 60,000 inhabitants. In his rear 
 lay the road to the Gulf, whose waters were 200 miles 
 distant, and the way infested by robbers and guerrilla 
 parties in untold numbers. In front lay the Mexican 
 army, under Santa Anna, the great body of the Mexi- 
 
 natural and artificial defences of the strongest kind. 
 
 There was a sublimity of daring in this position of 
 the American army seldom paralleled. Yet its com 
 mander occupied it with unconquerable self-reliance ; 
 steadily contemplating, all the while, the still more 
 hazardous experiment of an advance upon the city of 
 Mexico. 
 
 General Scott availed himself of the delays of the 
 negotiation to collect information in regard to the 
 routes to the capital, the character of its defences, and 
 otherwise to prepare for the perilous enterprise he 
 had undertaken. Meantime, reinforcements were 
 pushed up from Vera Cruz under great difficulties, 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 The succors were annoyed by the incessant attacks of 
 the strong guerrilla parties that hovered on the road, 
 lu addition to these, the Mexican General Valencia, 
 had come up from San Louis Potosi with 4,000 troops, 
 and 10 pieces of artillery, to assail our rear, and inter 
 cept our supplies. The roads were blockaded, the 
 bridges blown up, and parties of the enemy lay in 
 
 From PucWa. Advance 
 
 The negotiations of Mr. Trist having failed, General | 
 Scott determined to break up his camp at Puebla. and 
 advance at once on the city of Mexico, 90 miles dis 
 tant. He issued his orders accordingly, and on the 
 7th of August the columns of General Twiggs, headed 
 by Scott in person, were put in motion. The divisions 
 of Quitman, Worth, and Pillow, followed at intervals 
 of a day each. The whole army of General Scott, 
 thus moving upon the great road to the capital, num 
 bered 10,700 men. With tlu s small force did he 
 attempt, and accomplish, the conquest of Mexico. 
 Colonel* Childs was left at Puebla, as governor, with 
 3,000 men, almost two-thirds of whom were in the 
 hospitals. All military connection with the coast was 
 now broken ; all chance of retreat cut off, and Scott ad 
 vanced on the Mexican capital, relying solely on his 
 
 ambush under every cover, encountering our forces, 
 and attacking our trains, at every point that afforded 
 an opportunity for assault. But the fearless intrepid 
 ity, and dashing gallantry of our men, overcame all 
 the difficulties of the long and dangerous march, and 
 by the 1st of August the army at Puebla had been 
 reinforced by the arrival of 5,500 men. 
 
 on the City of Mexico, 
 
 own skill and the invincibility of his troop?. In 
 reference to this daring and heroic movement, GENERAL 
 CASS shortly afterward pronounced the folloAving elo 
 quent eulogium in the Senate of the United States: 
 "The movement of our army from Puebla was one of 
 the most romantic and remarkable events which has 
 ever occurred in the military annals of our country. 
 Our troops voluntarily cut off all communication with 
 their own country, advanced with stout hearts, but 
 feeble numbers, into the midst of a hostile people. 
 The eyes of twenty millions of our countrymen were 
 fixed upon this devoted band. They were lost to us 
 for fifty days. But the cloud that hid them from our 
 view at length broke, and disclosed to us our glorious 
 flag waving in the breezes that drifted over the valley 
 of the cit of Mexico." 
 
 Scott arrives in Sight of the City of Mexico, 
 
 Within a week after leaving Puebla, our army lay 
 upon the crest of the hills that surround and overlook i 
 the city of Mexico, which lies within this circular 
 barrier as in the bottom of a basin. The picturesque | 
 appearance of the city, the novelty and beauty of the ! 
 circumjacent country, the extraordinary circumstances 
 and hazards of our position, created in every breast an | 
 
 indescribable conflict of emotions, as the scene burst 
 upon the view. The bracing atmosphere came in aid 
 of the natural excitement of the occasion and the spec 
 tacle, and filled all with an exhilaration of spirit that 
 vastlv enhanced the interest with which th .-v looked 
 down upon the city they had come to conquer. 
 
 Position of Scott s Army before the City of Mexico, 
 
 On the 18th of August Scott had, by a difficult and 
 skilful movement, abandoned the road by which he 
 came from Puebla, and on which Santa Anna had 
 planted some of his strongest defences, and had 
 thrown his army around the shores of the lake, upon 
 the great western road leading from the Pacific to 
 the capital. Here, at San Augustine, nine miles from 
 Mexico, General Scott established his head-quarters. 
 The city was surrounded by two exterior lines of 
 fortifications of great strength, and defended by Santa 
 Anna, at the head of a well-appointed army, 80,000 
 strong. 
 
 Immediately in front of our army, lay the forti 
 fied village of San Antonio. To the left, was the hill 
 of Contreras, fortified by batteries. Nearer to the city, 
 on the road by which our troops were approaching, 
 lay the village of Churubusco. These points were 
 all strongly garrisoned, and defended by sixty-one 
 pieces of artillery. The 17th, 18th, and 19th of Au 
 gust had been passed in laborious efforts to acquire 
 
 Battle of 
 
 The attack on Contreras had been admirably plan 
 ned by the commander-in-chief, and on the morning of 
 the 20th, at three o clock, it was assailed in front and 
 rear. The position was defended by General Valen 
 cia, commanding 7,000 of the veteran troops of Mexico. 
 But eo effectively had our forces beeu disposed, and so 
 sudden and vehement was the attack, that the enemy 
 was driven headlong from his intrenchments in an in- 
 
 a full knowledge of the enemy s position, and lay the 
 foundations for an effective ( att.ack. The 19th espe 
 cially had been passed in severe exertions of the offi 
 cers and men. Several skirmishes had taken place, 
 and an action of three hours with the force on the lull 
 of Contreras had been terminated without any marked 
 result. The troops had worked and suffered prodi 
 giously. To add to the discouragement of the day, the 
 rain began to fall, and the night closed chill, wet, and 
 dreary. It was passed in suffering and deep anxiety. 
 The troops got no rest, but stood crowded together, 
 drenched and benumbed, waiting for daylight. The 
 officers met at the quarters of General Scott. 
 
 There was despondency and apprehension. " But," 
 says an eye-witness, " the confidence of all was re 
 stored by the great coolness and steadiness of the 
 commander-in-chief. As the officers came in from the 
 field, wet, fatigued, and weary, he made them all par 
 take of a cheerful repast. His bearing was most no 
 ble. It exalted the spirits of all present." 
 
 Contreras. 
 
 j credibly short space of time. In this engagement, 
 4,500 of American troops drove 7,000 Mexicans out of 
 their strongholds, and pursued them with immense 
 slaughter. The results of the battle were gigantic. 
 Seven hundred of the enemy were killed, and eight 
 hundred taken prisoners. Twenty-two pieces of ar 
 tillery were captured, besides seven hundred mules, 
 and an immense quantity of small arms, shot, sheila 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 
 
 25 
 
 Battle of Contreras. 
 
 and ammunition. But the chief brilliancy of the 
 achievement consisted in the superior skill and strat 
 egy displayed by General Scott in planning and exe 
 
 cuting it. The loss of the Americans was bul sixty 
 killed and wounded. 
 
 Fall of San Antonio, 
 
 The storming of Contreras enabled our troops to 
 turn the enemy s rear at San Antonio, and opened the 
 way to the village of Churubusco, five miles distant. 
 The. garrison of San Antonio, instead of awaiting an 
 
 attack, immediately evacuated their position, after 
 witnessing the capture of Contreras, and hastened to 
 fall back upon Churubusco. 
 
 Great Battle of Churubusco. 
 
 The scattered forces of the enemy, driven from 
 Contreras and San Antonio, had concentrated them 
 selves upon Churubusco, in aid of that strong and im 
 portant position. Other troops had also flocked to it, 
 and Santa Anna s entire disposable force was intrench 
 ed in and near that village. At least twenty-rive 
 thousand Mexicans, strongly posted, here awaited the 
 onset of oar army. As the American troops moved 
 to the attack, a most terrific fire was opened upon 
 them both by infantry and artillery, along the whole 
 extended line of the enemy. Several of the advanced 
 companies of artillery, being precipitated upon a prin 
 cipal point of the defence (San Pablo), were almost 
 entirely swept away by the tremendous cannonade 
 they had to encounter. Torrents of flame rolled down 
 from the enemy s fortifications, ravaging our ranks 
 with a deluge of slaughter. For more than three 
 hours was the great tide of battle successfully resist 
 ed by the enemy. Their murderous fire was, how 
 ever, returned by our troops with unflagging energy 
 and desperate resolution. The attack was at length 
 pressed with such impetuosity that the Mexican left 
 began to waver. Lieutenant-colonel Scott, heading 
 two regiments of infantry, here made a furious assault 
 upon the strongest of the enemy s works (the tdte-du- 
 poiit), and carried it at the point of the bayonet, after 
 
 a most obstinate conflict. The main body of the Mex 
 ican infantry soon after gave way before the assailants. 
 Still one portion of the field was contested with 
 fierce determination. But all resistance finally suc 
 cumbed before the irresistible valor of our troops. As 
 the last stronghold of the enemy yielded, General 
 Scott, who had been wounded in the action by a 
 grape-shot, made his appearance in that quarter, and 
 was greeted with deafening cheers by his brave troops, 
 now triumphant at all points. This memorable battle 
 began soon after noon, and did not end till sunset. 
 The loss of the Americans in killed, wounded, and 
 missing, was 1,056. That of the Mexicans was 4,000 
 in killed and wounded, and 2,637 prisoners. It is con 
 ceded by the best military authorities, that this deci 
 sive victory was chiefly owing to the prompt and mas 
 terly arrangements of the commander-in-chief, both 
 before arid during the engagement, and that to him, 
 therefore, belongs the principal credit of this most glo 
 rious achievement of the American arms. But besides 
 the military skill exhibited on the whole of this bloody 
 day, ending with this terrible battle, General Scott 
 displayed all the fire and heroic temper of his youth. 
 The brilliant genius and courage that impelled hie 
 great efforts at Chippewa and Lundy s Lane, here 
 blazed out afresh, with renewed lustre. The conta 
 
26 
 
 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 
 
 - : 
 
 
 Battle of Churubusco. 
 
 ffion of his example of lofty courage and impetuous 
 enthusiasm, spread through and fired the whole army. 
 Never did General Scott s noble appearance and con 
 duct produce a greater influence upon his men than 
 on this memorable day. Mounted on a fiery charger, 
 in the midst of his conquering troops, directing in per 
 son all the brilliant evolutions of the various divisions 
 of the army, dashing from column to column amid 
 the pitiless peltings of the iron hail, and the ringing 
 
 Scott grants 
 
 General Scott, by his brilliant initial and strategic 
 movements before the city of Mexico, and by his sub 
 sequent decisive victories at Contreras and Churubus 
 co, had displayed all the qualities of a gallant officer 
 and a great military commander. He had opened the 
 way to the city, and could have entered it sword in 
 hand on the evening of the victory on the bloody 
 field of Churubusco. But he now exhibited all the 
 noble qualities of a generous and magnanimous mind. 
 He refrained from pursuing the manifest advantages 
 be had gained, and granted an armistice to the enemy. 
 
 shouts of the victors, and dispatching his orders in al 
 directions with unparalleled celerity ; the illustrious 
 commander-in-chief, covered with the smoke and dust 
 of battle, and wounded in the desperate strife, was 
 regarded by nil as the guardian genius of the hour, 
 the protecting rcgis of the army, the unconquerable 
 hero who was never vanquished, Avhose banners never 
 trailed in defeat, but the sword of whose mighty arm 
 always led the way to triumphant victory. 
 
 an Armistice. 
 
 ! He desired to save the further effusion of blood, and 
 the city from the horrors of assault. 
 
 Santa Anna, however, with characteristic perfidy, 
 only made use of General Scott s forbearance to 
 strengthen the defences of the city, and to arouse the 
 people to arms. 
 
 On the 6th of September, General Scott, having 
 failed in his humane efforts to prevent the further 
 waste of life, gave notice that the armistice would 
 terminate on the following day, and made preparations 
 to attack the city. 
 
 Battle of Molino del Rey, 
 
 Santa Anna had now stationed himself with his re 
 maining forces on the outskirts of the city, at or near 
 the hill of Chapultepec. This hill was very strongly 
 fortified, and commanded the city, as well as several 
 of its principal approaches. Its sides were craggy 
 and precipitous, excepting the ascent from the city. 
 On its summit stood a stone fortress of immense size 
 and strength, called the castle. At its foot were strong 
 defences. Among them was the " King s Mill" (Molino 
 del Rey), a large stone building with thick and high 
 walls, and towers at the ends. About 400 yards 
 distant stood another thick-walled stone building, 
 
 called the Casa de Mata. Strongly posted at and about 
 these two points, and between them, lay the army of 
 Santa Anna, 14,000 strong. General Scott discerning 
 that the " King s Mill" was employed as a foundry for 
 the purpose of casting cannon, to be used in the de 
 fence of the city, determined to attack and destroy it, 
 and break up the enemy s position preparatory to the 
 storming of Chapultepec. The assault was intrusted 
 to General Worth, who accomplished it in the most 
 gallant manner on the 8th of September, but not with 
 out frightful loss. The positions at the King s Mill 
 and Casa de Mata were defended with obstinate 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 
 
 27 
 
 Battl of Molino del Key. 
 
 bravery, and only yielded at length to the desperate 
 valor of our troops, who poured in under a hideous 
 tempest of bullets and sulphur, and carried the 
 works. 
 
 The victory, glorious as it \vas, "was purchased at a 
 ruinous sacrifice. It was, next to Lundy s Lane, one 
 of the bloodiest battles recorded in American history. 
 Nearly one-fourth of Worth s whole corps were either 
 
 killed or wounded. The American force engaged was 
 3,4-17, to 1 4,000 of the enemy. The Americans lost 
 of their devoted band, in killed and wounded, 787. 
 
 Having accomplished his purpose, General Scott 
 withdrew his troops to their quarters, and prepared 
 to finish the reduction of the city by the capture of 
 Chapultepec, the site of the ancient palaces of the 
 Mexican monarchs. 
 
 Bombardment and Storming of Chapultepec. 
 
 Storming of ChapuHepcc. 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 
 
 On the morning of the 12th of September, General 
 Scott, having placed his heavy batteries, opened them 
 upon the castle that crowned the summit of the hill 
 or Chapultepec. whither the enemy had retreated, 
 find where he was now posted in full force. With the 
 capture of this strong and commanding position, the 
 city was destined to fall. The entire day was occu 
 pied in a tremendous cannonade on both sides. The 
 {spectacle was fearful. Our heavy ordnance thundered 
 their point-blank shot through the walls of the castle 
 with amazing force and precision. The mortars and 
 howitzers belched their destructive missiles upon all 
 parts of the fortress. Bombs burst in fury within the 
 works. Every shell tore up the ramparts. The fire 
 of the enemy was scarcely less furious. Night closed 
 the scene. Early in the day of the 13th the signal 
 for an assault by two detachments already detailed 
 for the service, was given, and our brave troops moved 
 forward to the attack. The stony and precipitous 
 acclivities were but slowly mounted, yet the advance 
 of the columns was unwavering, though made under 
 
 Entrance into the 
 
 The shouts that rent the air carried consternation to 
 the enemy, and announced the impending fall of the 
 city below. General Scott had arrived on the walls 
 of the castle just as it had been carried, and after a 
 glance at the position of things, determined at once to 
 advance by two routes into the city. The columns of 
 Quitman and Worth were ordered to move forward 
 in separate detachments. Worth s division became 
 engaged in a street fight in the suburbs, but forced 
 its way and took up its quarters close upon the city. 
 
 the hottest discharge of cannon and musketry. The 
 first redoubt was carried amid loud acclamations. 
 Pressing steadily on, our troops overcame the most 
 determined resistance, dislodged the enemy at every 
 point, and swept up the hill with prodigious energy, 
 in the face of a desolating fire. Surrounding the 
 castle on its crest, was a deep ditch, and stone Avails 
 12 to 15 feet in height. Scaling-ladders were planted, 
 and over these formidable ramparts, under a sheet of 
 flame, our men poured with fierce intrepidity, tilling 
 the castle and overwhelming its defenders, who stead 
 ily and fiercely resisted to the last. The stars and 
 stripes were flung out from its huge walls, while long- 
 continued shouts and cheers announced its fall, and 
 the entrance of the American army into the regal 
 Halls of the Montezumas. In the language of General 
 Scott, " No scene could have been more animating and 
 glorious." Yet was the victory dearly purchased, by 
 a further loss from our gallant corps of 800 killed and 
 wounded. 
 
 City of Mexico, 
 
 Quitman advanced still further on another road, and 
 after some hard fighting, encamped within the gates. 
 On the whole of this eventful and glorious day Scott 
 had displayed wonderful activity, and had been at all 
 points where he could best give directions, animate 
 the troops, or share in the conflicts of his brave com 
 rades. In every place he exhibited the coolest self- 
 command, united with the greatest vigilance and ar 
 dor. And now, as heretofore, in all the movements 
 by which Mexico had at length fallen into his grasp, 
 
 Entrance Into the Grand Plaza of Mexico. 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT 
 
 29 
 
 he manifested a prudential care, a sagacious foresight, 
 an unconquerable heroism, as well as the highest mil 
 itary genius. 
 
 During the night, Santa Anna, finding all further re 
 sistance vain, withdrew the remnant of his army from 
 the city, and on the morning of the 14th our troops 
 entered the Grand Plaza. The American flag was 
 
 hoisted from the top of the National Palace, and at 
 the same moment, General Scott, dressed in full uni 
 form, at the head of his staff, rode through the victo 
 rious columns, amidst the vociferous acclamations of 
 the conquerors, while the band of the Second Kegi- 
 nient of Dragoons struck up the inspiring air of Yan 
 kee Doodle. 
 
 Pacification of the City, Scott s Arduous Duties, 
 
 In a few days, such was General Scott s judicious 
 conduct, quiet was restored in the city, and all classes 
 resumed their wonted avocation^ reposing the fullest 
 confidence in the security afforded by our troops un 
 der their humane and Christian commander. To the 
 institutions of religion, General Scott always paid in 
 Mexico a profound respect. Though himself a Prot- 
 estant, he nevertheless enjoined upon all under his 
 command, a decent and respectable demeanor towards 
 all the ministers and ceremonies of the Catholic Church, 
 himself setting the example upon all proper occasions. 
 He acted upon the rule of perfect toleration towards 
 all who desire to engage in the worship of their Maker. 
 
 The losses sustained by the various engagements of 
 the army, after leaving Puebla, had now amounted to 
 2,7 UO men, leaving but 8,000 of rank and file under 
 arms. Of these, 2,000 were sick and in garrison at the 
 fortress of Chapultepec, so that 6,000 troops were all 
 that were quartered within and held possession of the 
 city. Yet with only this handful of men did General 
 Scott remain in conscious security in the midst of a 
 
 hostile city of 200,000 inhabitants, and in the heart ru 
 an enemy s country containing a population of eight 
 millions of souls. 
 
 Scott was now virtually the governor of Mexico. 
 The country was conquered, and he became sole di 
 rector of public affairs. The manner in which he per 
 formed the responsible duties that devolved upon him 
 for five months after his entrance into the city, exhib 
 its him as a man amply qualified for the discharge of 
 the highest duties of statesmanship. His position was 
 novel and difficult in the extreme. Yet he rose fcu- 
 perior to the demands of his station, and treated the 
 complicated concerns that now engrossed his atten 
 tion with consummate skill and discretion. Alone lie 
 performed the duties of Commander-in-chief, President 
 of the country, and Secretary of the Treasury. In no 
 respect did he fail, and in no respect did he come short 
 of the highest expectations of his government. It 
 would be difficult to award any man higher praise than 
 is due to Gen. Scott for his management of Mexican 
 affairs after the termination of his military campaign. 
 
 Peace Restored, Scott Recalled, 
 
 On the 2d of February, 1848, a treaty of peace was 
 signed at Guadalupe-Hidalgo by the Mexican and 
 American commissioners. A few days afterwards, 
 General Scott received notice that he had been sus 
 pended in his command of the army, by the authorities 
 at Washington. This piece of gross injustice to General 
 Scott had been done by the administration of Mr. Polk 
 on the most frivolous grounds. A court of inquiry 
 was called arid sat in Mexico to investigate the con 
 duct of certain officers of the war, and also to consider 
 the complaints against General Scott, on account of 
 which he had been suspended. This court afterwards 
 adjourned to Washington, arid there, after a brief sit 
 ting, finished its inglorious labors. General Scott pa 
 tiently underwent the examination of this body, and 
 illustrated by his whole conduct before it, his strict 
 obedience to, and deference for, the laws and the con 
 
 stitutional authorities of the country. Nothing wa 8 
 developed by the inquiry to sustain in the least the 
 premature and inexcusable action of the cabinet in 
 suspending General Scott, and the court adjourned 
 without doing any thing, except to order the publica 
 tion of the proceedings. The whole transaction wore 
 such an odious aspect, and exhibited such an ungrate 
 ful return towards a true-hearted and gallant officer, 
 who had shed unexampled lustre upon our arms, that 
 the members of the cabinet soon became anxious to let 
 the whole proceeding drop into oblivion. It was an 
 exhibition of petty malice against a brave officer, which 
 offended the spirit of justice and shocked every gen 
 erous heart. It was a wrong done to General Scott 
 which the public voice universally condemned, and will 
 ere long emphatically redress. 
 
 Scott s Triumphant Return, 
 
 On the 2-2d of May, 1848, General Scott arrived at 
 his home in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Here he 
 was met by a committee from the civil authorities of 
 the city of New York, and invited to a public dinner 
 m that metropolis. He accepted the invitation, and, 
 escorted by a vast and imposing cavalcade, amid the 
 roar of ca mon and the waving of flags, and surround 
 ed by deuae and enthusiastic masses of his fellow-cit 
 
 izens, entered the city and partook of its highest hon 
 ors. For a while he remained at his head-quarters in 
 New York. In 1850 he was transferred to Washing 
 ton, and took his place at the head of the army bureau, 
 where he has since remained, and where he may now 
 be daily seen in the industrious discharge of its multi 
 farious duties; as constant in his attendance at busi 
 ness hours as any clerk of the department. 
 
 Personal Characteristics, 
 
 Here, at his place of business, visitors from all parts 
 of the country throng to see the war-worn veteran 
 without ceremony. He receives all in the most frank, 
 engaging, and affable manner, and with an unfeigned 
 %nd delightful cordiality ; while at his own dwelling, 
 
 no man dispenses the hospitalities of life with a mori* 
 genial and refreshing heartiness and liberality. Ho 
 manifests on all occasions an unfailing flow of animal 
 spirits, unsurpassed urbanity, and a generous and lofty 
 tone of thought. He is opulent of story and anecdoto, 
 
30 
 
 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 affluent In language, singularly accurate of statement, 
 possessing a marvellously retentive memory, and ex 
 hibiting an endless fertility of resource and suggestion 
 on all colloquial topics. "With one of the finest physical 
 organizations ever given to man, he bids fair to attain 
 great longevity. He has always lived a strictly tem 
 perate life, and so far a regular one as could consist 
 with his arduous and exposed public services. He suf 
 fers somewhat from the severe wound in his shoulder 
 received at Lundy s Lane, the lurking British lead in 
 his body being seemingly uneasy at not having yet 
 
 performed its intended work. Yet he is remarkably 
 hale, vigorous, and active, and mav be seen anv morn 
 ing at sunrise making his daily pedestrian tour of the 
 city of Washington, and providing at the market for 
 the daily necessities of his household. May he long 
 live ; an ornament to his country, an example of tin- 
 highest and most genial qualities of manhood, embel 
 lished by the blandishments of a gentlemanly de 
 meanor, and dignified by a lofty tone of morals and ai> 
 uprightness of personal character and habits, that not 
 even the tongue of calumny has ever dared to assail. 
 
 General Scott among his Soldiers, 
 
 General Scott was always a great favorite with the 
 soldiers of the army in Mexico. They had unbounded 
 confidence in his military knowledge and skill, and 
 fully believed, what was the real truth, that he re 
 strained himself with great difficulty from more often 
 mingling in the dangers of the strife of arms, pure 
 ly from considerations of duty to the army and his 
 country ; a duty which rigorously demanded of him 
 to preserve his person from all unnecessary exposure. 
 Yet did every man feel the firmest and most undoubt- 
 ing assurance, that if ever the time should come when 
 it was necessary for the commanding general to lead 
 his troops in person, in some dreadful emergency, that | 
 he would embrace the occasion with joyful alacrity, I 
 and cheerfully " lead a forlorn hope through a breach | 
 spouting with fire." It was this universal conviction I 
 that gave perfect confidence to our troops, and formed 1 
 
 the corner-stone of our unbroken successes in Mexico, 
 by inspiring the courage and maintaining the spirit 
 of the army up to the highest pitch. United to this 
 feeling of confidence in the commander-in-chief, was 
 that of love and affection for his person. The most 
 touching evidence of the attachment of his comrades 
 in arms was given on numerous occasions. General 
 Scott was always, indeed, a great favorite with his 
 soldiers ; and he has those kindly feelings for all, 
 which never fail to touch the chord of the human 
 heart, and deeply endear him to all with whom he 
 comes in contact. Many a tear has fallen at his meet 
 ings with his old comrades ; and many a firm grasp of 
 the hand given, both on the field of battle and after 
 the perils of war have been followed by the blessings 
 of peace. 
 
 Anecdote of the Battle of Chippewa, 
 
 The following authentic anecdote is told of the 
 charge at Chippewa. When the British line had ap 
 proached within about 100 yards of ours, an order 
 was given by the British commander to " charge bay- 
 " accomnaniftd bv the n.a-oTn.vn.t.in.w remark, "th* 
 
 onet," accompanied by the aggravating remark, " the 
 Yankees cannot stand cold iron !" General Scott heard 
 the remark, and rushing at once to the front centre of 
 
 his brigade, exclaimed, " Soldiers ! do you hear that? 
 Show them that you are TRUK YANKEES. Shoulder 
 arms wait for the word !" And when the enemy had 
 approached within thirty paces, he gave the order in 
 a loud and distinct voice, " Ready fire ! Charge bay 
 onet forward 1" 
 
 Our Adopted Citizens, Letters from General Scott. 
 
 WASHINGTON, May 29, 1S4S. admiration their zeal, fidelity, and valor in maintaining 
 our flag in the face of every danger. Vying with each 
 other, and our native-born soldiers in the same ranks, 
 in patriotism, constancy, and heroic daring, I was hap 
 py to call them brothers in the field, as I shall alwavs 
 be to salute them as countrymen at home. 
 
 I remain, dear sir, with great esteem, yours truly, 
 
 WlNFlELD SCOTT. 
 Win. E. Eobinson, Esq. 
 
 DEAR SIR : In reply to your kind letter of the 8th 
 instant, I take pleasure in saying that, grateful for 
 the too partial estimate you place on my public ser 
 vices, you do me no more than justice in assuming 
 that I entertain "kind and liberal views toward our 
 naturalized citizens." Certainly, it would be impos 
 sible for me to recommend or support any measure 
 intended to exclude them from a just and full partici 
 pation in all civil and political rights now secured to 
 them by our republican laws and institutions. 
 
 It is true, that in a season of unusual excitement, 
 some years ago, when both parties complained of 
 fraudulent practices in the naturalization of foreign 
 ers, and when there seemed to be danger that native 
 and adopted citizens would be permanently arrayod i 
 against each other in hostile factions, I was inclined j 
 to concur in the opinion, then avowed by many lead- j 
 ing statesmen, that some modification of the naturali- 
 zation laws might be necessary in order to prevent 
 abuses, allay strife, and restore harmony between the 
 different classes of our people. But later experience 
 and reflection have entirely removed this impression, 
 and dissipated my apprehensions. 
 
 IB my recent campaign in Mexico, a very large pro 
 portion of the men under my command were your 
 countrymen (Irish), Gormana, (fee. I witnessed with 
 
 WASHINGTON, March 11, 1852. 
 
 GENTLEMEN : I have received your note inviting 
 me to join you, at Philadelphia, in the celebration of 
 the approaching St. Patrick s day an honor which, I 
 regret, the press of business obliges me to decline. 
 
 You do me but justice in supposing me to feel a 
 lively interest in Ireland and her sons. Perhaps no 
 man, certainly no American, owes so much to tho 
 valor and blood of Irishmen as myself. Many of them 
 marched and fought under my command in the war 
 of 1812-15, and many more thousands in the recent 
 war with Mexico, not one of whom was ever known 
 to turn his back upon the enemy or a friend. 
 
 I salute you, gentlemen, with my cordial respects, 
 
 (Signed) WINTIELD SCOTT. 
 
 R. Tyler, 0. MeCanllay, W. Dickson, P. W. Conroy, and J 
 MeCann, Esqrs., Committee, *c., &c. 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 31 
 
 Honorable Testimonials, 
 
 That eminent divine and philanthropist Dr. Chan- j 
 ning, speaks as follows in the preface to his Lecture on 
 War, delivered in 1838 : 
 
 " Much, also, is due to the beneficent influence of 
 General Scott. To this distinguished man belongs the 
 rare honor of uniting with military energy and daring, 
 the spirit of a philanthropist. His exploits in the field, 
 which placed him in the first rank of soldiers, have 
 been obscured by the purer and more lasting glory of 
 a pacificator, and a friend of mankind. In the whole 
 history of the intercourse of civilized communities, we 
 doubt whether a brighter page can be found than that 
 which records his agency in the removal of the Chero- 
 kees. As far as the wrongs done to this race can be 
 atoned for, General Scott has made the expiation. In 
 his recent mission to the disturbed borders of our 
 country he has succeeded, not so much by policy as i 
 by the nobleness and generosity of his character, by 
 moral influence, by the earnest conviction with which 
 he has enforced, on all with whom he had to do, the 
 obligations of patriotism, justice, humanity, and re 
 ligion. It would not be easy to find among us a man 
 
 who has won a purer fame." 
 
 
 
 In 1851 General Scott visited the valley of the Ohio 
 and Mississippi to select the sites of several military 
 asylums, of which he was the originator and founder, 
 and for the endowment of which he applied a portion i 
 of the levy made by him upon the city of Mexico at 
 the time of its capture. On this journey he was 
 everywhere received by crowds of his fellow-citizens, 
 who assembled to do him honor, and gratify their i 
 own desires to behold the man who had accomplished 
 so much for his country, and was so endeared to its 
 people. His visit throughout was a triumphal tour, 
 made so by the unbought and spontaneous homage of 
 his grateful and admiring countrymen ; a tribute more 
 valuable by far than the enforced plaudits of millions 
 given to the occupants of official station. 
 
 Since the close of the Mexican campaign General 
 Scott has received complimentary resolutions from the 
 Congress of the United States, and from the States of 
 Virginia, New Jersey, Kentucky, and Louisiana, for 
 his valor and conduct in that memorable campaign. 
 He has likewise received a gold medal of great beauty 
 and value from Congress, silver medals from the State 
 of Virginia and the city of New York, and a sword 
 from the State of Louisiana, all in token of his distin 
 guished services in Mexico. 
 
 Henry Clay, in the Senate of the United States, in 
 1850, spoke thus of General Scott and the Mexican 
 war : " I must take this opportunity to say, that for 
 skill for science for strategy for bold and daring 
 fighting for chivalry of individuals and masses, that 
 portion of the Mexican war which was conducted by 
 the gallant Scott as chief commander, stands unrival 
 ed either by the deeds of Cortez himself, or by those 
 f any other commander in ancient or modern times." 
 
 The Duke of Wellington, in an autograph letter 
 addressed to the Governor of Virginia, under date of 
 December 12, 1851. thus wrote : 
 
 LONDOIT, December 12, 1851. 
 
 Sin : I have had the honor of receiving your Ex 
 cellency s letter of the 12th November, and the bronze 
 copy of the beautiful gold medal roted by the State 
 
 of Virginia to Major-general Winfield Scott, in testi 
 mony of the sense entertained by the State of his 
 great and distinguished services in command of the 
 army in the war in Mexico. 
 
 I am very sensible of the distinction conferred upon 
 me by your Excellency s notice of me upon this occa 
 sion. 
 
 In common with the world at large, I read with 
 admiration the reports of the operations of General 
 Scott, and I sincerely rejoice that the State of Vir 
 ginia has noticed them by this token of its admiration. 
 
 I beg to express my thanks for the honor conferred 
 upon me by sending me this beautiful copy in bronze 
 of the gold medal struck by command of the State in 
 honor of General Winfield Scott, as well as for the 
 kind expressions towards myself personally by which 
 your Excellency has accompanied the gift. 
 
 I have the honor to be, your most obedient and 
 humble servant. 
 
 (Signed) WELLINGTON. 
 
 His Excellency John B. Floyd, Gov. of the State of Virginia. 
 
 Hon. JOHN M. CLAYTON, former Secretary of State, 
 addressed a public meeting at Delaware city, on 
 April 17, when he said, that General Scott possessed 
 a clear judgment and enlightened mind respecting the 
 political affairs of the country ; that he was a lawyer 
 by education, having left his profession in early life 
 to serve the nation as a soldier ; that he was well in 
 structed in the constitutional law and history of the 
 Union, and acquainted with international jurispru 
 dence ; that, while he was the able general, he was 
 also an accomplished scholar and publicist ; and that 
 he was competent, in point of intellectual strength 
 and acquirements, to fill, with credit to himself and 
 advantage to the country, the high post of its chief 
 magistrate. In referring to his services, Mr. Clayton 
 said he had fought more battles than any other Amer 
 ican general, and achieved more victories ; his blood 
 had flowed freely, his life had been perilled over and 
 over again for the people ; his military career, from 
 first to last, was a continuous exhibition of devotion 
 to the welfare and glory of that country whose fame 
 he had made illustrious through the world. And yet 
 he has been less rewarded than any other public ser 
 vant. Nay, he has been cruelly wronged, a.persed, 
 persecuted, by men who v. T ere jealous of his high 
 merits and his deserved popularity. Mr. Clayton 
 here spoke of the sudden and unjust recall of General 
 Scott from the scene of his brilliant triumphs in Mex 
 ico, by President Polk, to be arraigned before a petty 
 court martial, convened to try him on contemptible 
 charges. Some persons pretended to accuse him of 
 being a haughty, imperious, and violent man. Did he 
 exhibit such a temper, asked Mr. Clayton, under the 
 injustice of the government ? What other man, ex 
 posed to the same provocation, would have submitted* 
 with equal patience and loyalty to Executive wrong 
 and abuse ? What other man, situated as he was at 
 the time, at the head of a victorious, devoted army, 
 in the full flush of triumph and conquest, would have 
 resisted so nobly, so firmly, the natural promptings of 
 an outraged, incensed spirit, and laid down without 
 hesitation the high command he held, and returned 
 at once to obey the orders of the government !. DitJ 
 this show haughtiness or rebelliousness ? Nay, more 
 than this, paid Mr. Clayton and he desired that all 
 would mark well the statement, for he made it on.rae 
 
LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 
 
 liable authority at the very moment -when General 
 Scott was so cruelly, unjustly summoned to Washing 
 ton, at the close of that brilliant series of successes 
 which he crowned viith the capture of the city of Mexico, 
 he was tendered the Presidency of the republic he had 
 conquered, find offered the immediate possession of a 
 million and a quarter of dollars, if he would accept the 
 position. But no. Under the keen pangs of the in 
 
 gratitude with which the administration of his own 
 country was visiting him, he refused the glittering 
 prize, clung with undiminished love and fidelity to the 
 land he had served so long and so well, and proceed 
 ed to the national capital to meet, with all the loyalty 
 of a patriotic citizen, even the rancor and injustice of 
 those who were envious of his laurels and eager to in 
 jure and degrade him. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 We have thus rapidly traced the career of Winfield ] 
 Scott. Our limits have confined us to a brief narra- | 
 tive of the leading events of his life. Many details 
 of an interesting nature, but of subordinate character, 
 we have been reluctantly constrained to omit. Yet 
 we trust to have succeeded in giving a correct and 
 connected, though succinct, recital of the more import 
 ant acts in the life of this illustrious patriot ; acts 
 which have made the name of Winfield Scott famous 
 throughout the world, and shed a refulgence over 
 forty years of his country s history that will endure 
 forever. Our brief chronicle is indeed lustrous with 
 deeds the American heart will ever cherish with fond 
 admiration, and which the lapse of time will never 
 efface from the pages of history, or obliterate from 
 the recollection of our remotest posterity. 
 
 If there be those who are inclined to regard Gene j 
 ral Scott simply as a great and successful soldier, we 
 think a perusal of these pages will dispel all such un 
 just impressions. So to consider him, is to take a very 
 limited and imperfect view of his life, actions, and 
 public services. Educated to the law, residing for 
 more than a quarter of a century at the metropolis of 
 the Union, in the habit of daily intercourse with the 
 eminent statesmen of the country, and frequently a 
 partner and counsellor in their deliberation*, he has 
 enjoyed peculiar advantages for mastering the art of 
 American statesmanship, and familiarizing himself 
 with all the workings of our admirable system of gov 
 ernment. The glare of his military reputation has, to 
 the superficial observer, thrown into the shade many 
 of his most noble and valuable traits of character, and 
 too often turned public attention from the many 
 proofs which his career affords of his masculine intel 
 lect and comprehensive understanding. In beholding 
 the great commander, many have omitted to observe 
 the evidences of the great man. But no one who has 
 carefully examined General Scott s history will fail to 
 recognize the most distinguished claims to personal 
 distinction, independently of his military talents, or 
 
 deny to him the possession of mental endowments of 
 the very first order. In exactness of mind, in breadth 
 and clearness of intellectual vision, in accuracy and 
 tenacity of memory, in knowledge of men, and in un 
 erring soundness o"f judgment, General Scott has no 
 superior among our public men. He has, on numer 
 ous public occasions of importance given the most sig 
 nal and convincing proofs of pre-eminent abilities and 
 superior qualifications for the conduct of civil affairs. 
 In his settlement of the JS T orth Eastern Boundary dif 
 ficulties, in his management and control of the border 
 troubles on the Canada frontier, in his judicious treat 
 ment of South Carolina affairs when nullification was 
 threatened, and above all, in his masterly conduct in 
 the discharge of his arduous and perplexing duties in 
 the removal of the Cherokces, he displayed admin 
 istrative abilities of the highest character, and mani 
 fested transcendent qualifications for the management 
 of great and delicate national concerns. His entire 
 conduct in all of these embarrassing exigencies was 
 marked by sound sense, an unfailing discretion, and 
 consummate wisdom. 
 
 Happy will it be for our country, if its candi 
 dates for the Presidency shall always bo able to 
 point to so illustrious a record of deeds that at 
 test wise statesmanship, as the c*ivil career of Gene 
 ral Scott affords ! The lives of but few of our public 
 men are embellished with so many tokens and evi 
 dences of their capacity to treat great national ques 
 tions with skill and judgment, as adorn the civic ex 
 perience of Winfield Scott. To doubt his capacity, 
 therefore, and eminent fitness for any station in the 
 government, however exalted, is to confess ignorance 
 of the man and his history ; or be wilfully blind to 
 the distinguishing characteristics of one whose celeb 
 rity is world-wide, who has not onlv shown himself tc 
 be a commander of comprehensive capacity and con 
 summate genius ; a soldier, without fear and without 
 reproach ; but a civilian, conciliatory, energetic, anu 
 wise ; a man, pure, noble, generous, and humane. 
 
 C .A.ALVORD, Printer 
 29 Gold-st. N Y 
 
 A. H. JOCELYN. 
 
 Engraver and Electrotyper of Wood-cats, 
 64 JOHN-STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS 
 
 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
 DAY AND TO $f.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 OVERDUE. 
 
 __. 
 
 1 1 
 
 RECC 
 
VC 50551 
 
 886476 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY