General Marcus J. Wright - General Scott
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General Marcus J. Wright >> General Scott
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Great Commanders
Edited by James Grant Wilson
[Illustration: Winfield Scott]
GENERAL SCOTT
by
GENERAL MARCUS J. WRIGHT
New York
D. Appleton and Company
1894
Copyright, 1893,
By D. Appleton and Company.
All rights reserved.
The Great Commanders Series.
Edited by General James Grant Wilson.
Admiral Farragut.
By Captain A.T. MAHAN, U.S.N.
General Taylor.
By General O.O. HOWARD, U.S.A.
General Jackson. By JAMES PARTON.
General Greene.
By Captain FRANCIS V. GREENE, U.S.A.
General J.E. Johnston.
By ROBERT M. HUGHES, of Virginia.
General Thomas.
By HENRY COPPER, LL.D.
General Scott.
By General MARCUS J. WRIGHT.
_IN PREPARATION_
General Washington.
By General BRADLEY T. JOHNSON.
General Sherman.
By General MANNING F. FORCE.
General Grant.
By General JAMES GRANT WILSON.
Admiral Porter.
By JAMES R. SOLEY, late Assist. Sec. of Navy.
General Lee.
By General FITZHUGH LEE.
General Hancock.
By General FRANCIS A. WALKER.
General Sheridan.
By General HENRY E. DAVIES.
Each, 12mo, cloth, with Portrait and Maps, $1.50.
New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 2 & 5 Bond St.
PREFACE.
In the preparation of this volume the author has consulted and used
with freedom the following-named works: History of the Mexican War, by
General Cadmus M. Wilcox; Autobiography of General Scott; Life of
General Scott, by Edward D. Mansfield; Life of General Scott, by David
Hunter Strother; Life of General Scott, by J.T. Headley; History of
the Mexican War, by John S. Jenkins; Anecdotes of the Civil War, by
General E.D. Townsend; Sketches of Illustrious Soldiers, by General
James Grant Wilson; Fifty Years' Observation of Men and Things, by
General E.D. Keyes; Reminiscences of Thurlow Weed, and Historical
Register of the United States Army, by F.B. Heitman.
My thanks are due to Mr. David Fitzgerald, Librarian of the War
Department; Mr. Andrew H. Allen, Librarian of the State Department;
and Colonel John B. Brownlow, for many courtesies. I am specially
indebted to Mr. John N. Oliver, of Washington city, for valuable
assistance rendered me.
M.J.W.
WASHINGTON, _August, 1893_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Parentage and birth of Scott--Precocity--Enters William and Mary
College--Leaves college and commences the study of law with Judge
Robinson--Attends the trial of Burr at Richmond--Impressment of
American seamen and proclamation of President Jefferson--Joins
the Petersburg troop--Leaves for Charleston--Returns to
Petersburg--Appointed captain of artillery--Trial of General
Wilkinson--Scott sends in his resignation, but withdraws it and
returns to Natchez--Is court-martialed--On staff duty at New
Orleans--Declaration of war with Great Britain--General Wade Hampton
and the Secretary of War--Hull's surrender--Storming of
Queenstown--March to Lewiston--Scott's appeal to the officers and
soldiers--Indians fire on a flag of truce--Incident with a
Caledonian priest--Letter in relation to Irish prisoners sent home
to be tried for treason 1
CHAPTER II.
Scott ordered to Philadelphia--Appointed adjutant general with the
rank of colonel--Becomes chief of staff to General Dearborn--Death
of General Pike--Leads the advance on Fort Niagara--Anecdote
of Scott and a British colonel--Commands the expedition to
Burlington Heights--March for Sackett's Harbor--Meets a force at
Cornwall--Retreat of Wilkinson--Scott appointed brigadier
general--Attack on and surrender of Fort Erie--Battle of
Chippewa--Lundy's Lane and wounding of Scott--Retreat 23
CHAPTER III.
Is received and entertained by prominent civilians and military men
in Europe--Marries Miss Mayo--Offspring--Thanks of Congress--Thanks
of the Virginia Legislature voted, and also a sword--Controversy
with General Andrew Jackson and correspondence--Prepares general
regulations for the army and militia--Controversy with General
Gaines and the War Department about rank--In command of the Eastern
Division--War with the Sac and Fox Indians--Black Hawk--Cholera
breaks out among the troops 41
CHAPTER IV.
Troubles in South Carolina growing out of the tariff acts
apprehended, and General Scott sent South--Action of the
nullifiers--Instructions in case of an outbreak--Action of the South
Carolina Legislature 60
CHAPTER V.
Events that led to the war in Florida--Treaty of Camp Moultrie and its
stipulations--Complaints of Indians and whites--Treaty of Payne's
Landing--Objections of the Indians to complying with the latter
treaty--Councils and talks with the Seminoles--Assiola--Murder
of mail carrier Dalton--Murder of Charley Amanthla--Dade's
massacre--Murder of General Thompson and others--General
Clinch--Depredations by the Indians on the whites and by
the latter on the Indians--Volunteers--Military departments
of Gaines and Scott 72
CHAPTER VI.
Review of the army by General Gaines--Arrival of General Gaines at
Fort King--Lieutenant Izard mortally wounded--Correspondence
between General Gaines and Clinch--General Scott ordered to command
in Florida--Disadvantages under which he labored--Preparations for
movements--Commencement of hostilities against the Indians 103
CHAPTER VII.
Scott prefers complaint against General Jesup--Court of inquiry
ordered by the President--Scott fully exonerated by the
court--Complaints of citizens--Difficulties of the campaign--Speech
in Congress of Hon. Richard Biddle--Scott declines an invitation to
a dinner in New York city--Resolutions of the subscribers--Scott is
ordered to take charge of and remove the Cherokee Indians--Orders
issued to troops and address to the Indians--Origin of the Cherokee
Indian troubles--Collision threatened between Maine and
New Brunswick, and Scott sent there--Correspondence with
Lieutenant-Governor Harvey--Seizure of Navy Island by Van
Rensselaer--Governor Marcy 122
CHAPTER VIII.
Annexation of Texas--Causes that led to annexation--Message of the
President--General Scott's letters regarding William Henry
Harrison--Efforts to reduce General Scott's pay--Letter to T.P.
Atkinson on the slavery question--Battle of Palo Alto, and of Resaca
de la Palma, Monterey, and Buena Vista--"The hasty plate of
Soup"--Scott's opinion of General Taylor--Scott ordered to
Mexico--Proposal to revive the grade of lieutenant general,
and to appoint Thomas H. Benton--Scott reaches the Brazos
Santiago--Confidential dispatch from Scott to Taylor--Co-operation
of the navy--Letters to the Secretary of War as to places of
rendezvous--Arrival and landing at Vera Cruz, and its investment,
siege, and capture--Letter to foreign consuls--Terms of
surrender--Orders of General Scott after the surrender 149
CHAPTER IX.
General Santa Anna arrives at Cerro Gordo--Engagement at
Atalaya--General Orders No. 111--Reports from Jalapa--Report of
engagement at Cerro Gordo--Occupation of Perote--Account of a
Mexican historian--General Santa Anna's letter to General
Arroya--Delay of the Government in sending re-enforcements--Danger
of communications with Vera Cruz--Troops intended for Scott ordered
to General Taylor--Colonel Childs appointed governor of
Jalapa--Occupation of Puebla--Arrival of re-enforcements--Number of
Scott's force 175
CHAPTER X.
Movement toward the City of Mexico--The Duke of Wellington's
comments--Movements of Santa Anna--A commission meets General Worth to
treat for terms--Worth enters Puebla--Civil administration of the city
not interfered with--Scott arrives at Puebla--Scott's address to the
Mexicans after the battle of Cerro Gordo--Contreras--Reconnoissance
of the _pedregal_--Defeat of the Mexicans at Contreras--Battle of
Churubusco--Arrival of Nicholas P. Trist, commissioner--General Scott
meets a deputation proposing an armistice--He addresses a
communication to the head of the Mexican Government--Appointment of a
commission to meet Mr. Trist--Major Lally--Meeting of Mr. Trist with
the Mexican commissioners--Failure to agree--Armistice violated by the
Mexicans and notice from General Scott--Santa Anna's insolent
note--The latter calls a meeting of his principal officers--Molino del
Rey--Chapultepec--Losses on both sides 195
CHAPTER XI.
General Quitman's movements to San Antonio and Coyoacan--Movements of
General Pillow--General reconnoissance by Scott--Chapultepec--Scott
announces his line of attack--Surrender of the Mexican General
Bravo--Preparations to move on the capital--Entry of General
Scott into the City of Mexico--General Quitman made Military
Governor--General Scott's orders--Movements of Santa Anna--General
Lane--American and Mexican deserters--Orders as to collection of
duties and civil government 223
CHAPTER XII.
Scott's care for the welfare of his army--Account of the money
levied on Mexico--Last note to the Secretary of War while commander
in chief in Mexico--Army asylums--Treaty of peace--Scott turns over
the army to General William O. Butler--Scott and Worth--Court of
inquiry on Worth--The "Leonidas" and "Tampico" letters--Revised
paragraph 650--Army regulations--General Worth demands a court of
inquiry and prefers charges against Scott--Correspondence--General
belief as to Scott's removal command--The trial--Return home of
General Scott 254
CHAPTER XIII.
General Taylor nominated for the presidency--Thanks of Congress to
Scott, and a gold medal voted--Movement to revive and confer upon
Scott the brevet rank of lieutenant general--Scott's views as to the
annexation of Canada--Candidate for President in 1852 and
defeated--Scott's diplomatic mission to Canada in 1859--Mutterings
of civil war--Letters and notes to President Buchanan--Arrives in
Washington, December 12, 1861--Note to the Secretary of
War--"Wayward sisters" letter--Events preceding inauguration of Mr.
Lincoln--Preparation for the defense of Washington--Scott's
loyalty--Battle of Bull Run--Scott and McClellan--Free navigation
of the Mississippi River--Retirement of General Scott and
affecting incidents connected therewith--Message of President
Lincoln--McClellan on Scott--Mount Vernon--Scott sails for
Europe--Anecdote of the day preceding the battle of Chippewa--The
Confederate cruiser Nashville--Incident between Scott and
Grant--Soldiers' Home--Last days of Scott--His opinion of
noncombatants--General Wilson's tribute 289
INDEX 337
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FACING PAGE
Portrait of Winfield Scott _Frontispiece_
The Niagara Frontier 12
Battle of Chippewa 32
Siege of Vera Cruz 170
Route from Vera Cruz to Mexico 198
Operations of the American Army in the Valley of Mexico 226
GENERAL SCOTT.
CHAPTER I.
Parentage and birth of Scott--Precocity--Enters William and Mary
College--Leaves college and commences the study of law with Judge
Robinson--Attends the trial of Burr at Richmond--Impressment of
American seamen and proclamation of President Jefferson--Joins
the Petersburg troop--Leaves for Charleston--Returns to
Petersburg--Appointed captain of artillery--Trial of General
Wilkinson--Scott sends in his resignation, but withdraws it and
returns to Natchez--Is court-martialed--On staff duty at New
Orleans--Declaration of war with Great Britain--General Wade Hampton
and the Secretary of War--Hull's surrender--Storming of
Queenstown--March to Lewiston--Scott's appeal to the officers and
soldiers--Indians fire on a flag of truce--Incident with a Caledonian
priest--Letter in relation to Irish prisoners sent home to be tried
for treason.
Winfield Scott was born at Laurel Branch, the estate of his father,
fourteen miles from Petersburg, Dinwiddie County, Virginia, June 13,
1786. His grandfather, James Scott, was a Scotchman of the Clan
Buccleuch, and a follower of the Pretender to the throne of England,
who, escaping from the defeat at Culloden, made his way to Virginia in
1746, where he settled. William, the son of this James, married Ann
Mason, a native of Dinwiddie County and a neighbor of the Scott
family. Winfield Scott was the issue of this marriage. There were an
elder brother and two daughters. James Scott died at an early age,
when Winfield was but six years old. William, the father of Winfield,
was a lieutenant and afterward captain in a Virginia company which
served in the Revolutionary army. Eleven years after the father's
death the mother died, leaving Winfield, at seventeen years old, to
make his own way in the world.
At the death of his father, Winfield, being but six years old, was
left to the charge of his mother, to whom he was devotedly attached.
It is a well-warranted tradition of the county in which the Scott
family resided, that the mother of General Scott was a woman of
superior mind and great force of character. In acknowledging the
inspiration from the lessons of that admirable parent for whatever of
success he achieved, he was not unlike Andrew Jackson and the majority
of the great men of the world. He wrote of her in his mature age as
follows: "And if, in my now protracted career, I have achieved
anything worthy of being written, anything that my countrymen are
likely to honor in the next century, it is from the lessons of that
admirable parent that I derived the inspiration."
In his seventh year he was ordered on a Sunday morning to get ready
for church. Disobeying the order, he ran off and concealed himself,
but was pursued, captured, and returned to his mother, who at once
sent for a switch. The switch was a limb from a Lombardy poplar, and
the precocious little truant, seeing this, quoted a verse from St.
Matthew which was from a lesson he had but recently read to his
mother. The quotation was as follows: "Every tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." The quotation
was so apt that the punishment was withheld, but the offender was not
spared a very wholesome lesson.
General Scott's mother, Ann, was the daughter of Daniel Mason and
Elizabeth Winfield, his wife, who was the daughter of John Winfield, a
man of high standing and large wealth. From his mother's family he
acquired his baptismal name of Winfield. John Winfield survived his
daughter, and dying intestate, in 1774, Winfield Mason acquired by
descent as the eldest male heir (the law of primogeniture then being
the law of Virginia) the whole of a landed estate and a portion of the
personal property. The principal part of this large inheritance was
devised to Winfield Scott, but, the devisee having married again and
had issue, the will was abrogated. The wife of Winfield Mason was the
daughter of Dr. James Greenway, a near neighbor. He was born in
England, near the borders of Scotland, and inherited his father's
trade, that of a weaver. He was ambitious and studious, and giving all
of his spare time to study, he became familiar with the Greek, Latin,
French, and Italian languages. After his immigration to Virginia he
prepared himself for the practice of medicine, and soon acquired a
large and lucrative practice. He devoted much of his time to botany,
and left a _hortus siccus_ of forty folio volumes, in which he
described the more interesting plants of Virginia and North Carolina.
He was honored by memberships in several of the learned European
societies, and was a correspondent of the celebrated Swedish
naturalist Linnaeus. He acquired such a knowledge of music as enabled
him to become teacher to his own children.
James Hargrave, a Quaker, was one of young Scott's earliest teachers.
He found his pupil to be a lad of easy excitement and greatly inclined
to be belligerent. He tried very hard to tone him down and teach him
to govern his temper. On one occasion young Scott, being in Petersburg
and passing on a crowded street, found his Quaker teacher, who was a
non-combatant, engaged in a dispute with a noted bully. Hargrave was
the county surveyor, and this fellow charged him with running a false
dividing line. When Scott heard the charge he felled the bully to the
ground with one blow of his fist. He recovered and advanced on Scott,
when Hargrave placed himself between them and received the blow
intended for Scott; but the bully was again knocked to the ground by
the strong arm of Scott. Many years afterward (in 1816) Scott met his
Quaker friend and former teacher, who said to him: "Friend Winfield, I
always told thee not to fight; but as thou wouldst fight, I am glad
that thou wert not beaten."
His next instructor was James Ogilvie, a Scotchman, who was a man of
extraordinary endowments and culture. Scott spent a year under his
tutelage at Richmond, and entered, in 1805, William and Mary College.
Here he gave special attention to the study of civil and international
law, besides chemistry, natural and experimental philosophy, and
common law. At about the age of nineteen he left William and Mary
College and entered the law office of Judge David Robinson in
Petersburg as a student.
Robinson had emigrated from Scotland to Virginia at the request of
Scott's grandfather, who employed him as a private tutor in his
family. There were two other students in Mr. Robinson's office with
Scott--Thomas Ruffin and John F. May. Ruffin became Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court of North Carolina, and May the leading lawyer in
southern Virginia. After he had received his license to practice he
rode the circuit, and was engaged in a number of causes. He was
present at the celebrated trial of Aaron Burr for treason, and was
greatly impressed with Luther Martin, John Wickham, Benjamin Botts,
and William Wirt, the leading lawyers in the case. Here he also met
Commodore Truxton, General Andrew Jackson, Washington Irving, John
Randolph, Littleton W. Tazewell, William B. Giles, John Taylor of
Caroline, and other distinguished persons.
Aaron Burr was a native of Newark, N.J., and was the grandson of the
celebrated Jonathan Edwards. He graduated at Princeton in September,
1772, and studied law, but in 1775 joined the American army near
Boston. Accompanied Colonel Benedict Arnold in the expedition to
Quebec, and acquired such reputation that he was made a major;
afterward joined General Washington's staff, and subsequently was an
aid to General Putnam. Promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, he
commanded a detachment which defeated the British at Hackensack, and
distinguished himself at Monmouth. Burr became Vice-President on the
election of Jefferson as President, and was involved in a quarrel with
Alexander Hamilton, and killed him in a duel at Weehawken, N.J., July
7, 1804. This affair was fatal to his future prospects. In 1805 he
floated in a boat from Pittsburg to New Orleans. His purpose was
supposed to be to collect an army and conquer Mexico and Texas, and
establish a government of which he should be the head. He purchased a
large tract of land on the Wachita River, and made other arrangements
looking to the consummation of his object. Colonel Burr was arrested
and tried for treason in Richmond in 1807, but was acquitted. He died
on Staten Island, September 14, 1836.
In May, 1807, the British frigate Leopard boarded the Chesapeake in
Virginia waters and forcibly carried off some of her crew, who were
claimed as British subjects. Mr. Jefferson, President of the United
States, at once issued a proclamation prohibiting all British war
vessels from entering our harbors. Great excitement was produced
throughout the entire country. The day after the issuance of the
President's proclamation the Petersburg (Va.) troop of cavalry
tendered its services to the Government, and young Scott, riding
twenty-five miles distant from Petersburg, enlisted as a member. He
was placed in a detached camp near Lynn Haven Bay, opposite where the
British squadron was at anchor. Sir Thomas Hardy was the ranking
officer in command of several line of battle ships. Learning that an
expedition from the squadron had gone out on an excursion, Scott, in
charge of a small detachment, was sent to intercept them. He succeeded
in capturing two midshipmen and six sailors, and brought them into
camp. The capture was not approved by the authorities, and the
prisoners were ordered to be released, and restored to Admiral Sir
Thomas Hardy.
The prospect of a war with Great Britain had abated, and the affair of
the Chesapeake being in train of settlement, Scott left Virginia in
October, 1807, and proceeded to Charleston, S.C., with a view of
engaging in the practice of law. The law of that State required a
residence of twelve months before admission to the bar. Scott went to
Columbia, where the Legislature was in session, and applied for a
special act permitting him to practice. The application failed for
want of time. He then proceeded to Charleston, with a view of office
practice until he could be qualified for the usual practice in the
courts; but the prospect of war being again imminent, he went to
Washington, and on the application and recommendation of Hon. William
B. Giles, of Virginia, President Jefferson promised him a captain's
commission in the event of hostilities. No act of war occurring, he
returned in March, 1808, to Petersburg, and resumed the practice of
law in that circuit; but his life as a lawyer came suddenly to a close
in the succeeding month of May, when he received from the President
his commission as captain of artillery. He recruited his company in
Petersburg and Richmond, and embarked from Norfolk to New Orleans,
February 4, 1809.
It being thought that on the breaking out of hostilities the British
would at once endeavor to invade Louisiana, a military force was sent
to New Orleans under the command of General James Wilkinson. The
discipline of the army became greatly impaired, and much sickness and
many deaths occurred in this command. General Wilkinson was ordered to
Washington for an investigation into his conduct as commanding
officer, and General Wade Hampton succeeded to the command. The camp
below New Orleans was broken up in June, 1809, and the troops were
transferred to and encamped near Natchez.
General Wilkinson was charged with complicity with Aaron Burr, and
with being in the pay of the Spanish Government, and was tried by
court-martial; and although he was acquitted, there were many persons
who believed him guilty, and among these was Captain Scott, who was
present, as heretofore mentioned, at the trial of Burr, and
participated in the strong feeling which it produced throughout the
country.
The apparent lull in the war feeling having produced the impression
that there would be no hostile movements, Captain Scott forwarded his
resignation and sailed for Virginia, intending to re-engage in the
practice of the law. Before his resignation had been accepted he
received information that grave charges would be preferred against him
should he return to the army at Natchez. This determined him to return
at once to his post and meet the charges. Scott had openly given it as
his opinion that General Wilkinson was equally guilty with Colonel
Burr. Soon after his return he was arrested and tried by a
court-martial at Washington, near Natchez, in January, 1810. The first
charge was for "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman," and
the specification was "in withholding at sundry times men's money
placed in his possession for their payment for the months of September
and October." Another charge was "ungentlemanly and unofficerlike
conduct," the specification being "In saying, between the 1st of
December and the 1st of January, 1809-'10, at a public table in
Washington, Mississippi Territory, that 'he never saw but two
traitors--General Wilkinson and Burr--and that General Wilkinson was a
liar and a scoundrel.'" This charge was based on the sixth article of
war, which says: "Any officer who shall behave himself with contempt
and disrespect toward his commanding officer shall be punished,
according to the nature of the offense, by the judgment of a
court-martial."
Captain Scott's defense to this charge was that General Wilkinson was
not, at the time the words were charged to have been spoken, his
commanding officer, that place being filled by General Wade Hampton.
General Scott, in his Memoirs, says that some of Wilkinson's partisans
had heard him say in an excited conversation that he knew, soon after
Burr's trial, from his friends Mr. Randolph and Mr. Tazewell and
others, members of the grand jury, who found the bill of indictment
against Burr, that nothing but the influence of Mr. Jefferson had
saved Wilkinson from being included in the same indictment, and that
he believed Wilkinson to have been equally a traitor with Burr. He
admits that the expression of that belief was not only imprudent, but
no doubt at that time blamable. But this was not the declaration on
which he was to be tried. This was uttered in New Orleans, the
headquarters of General Wilkinson. The utterance on which he was
tried, as will be seen, was made in Washington, Mississippi Territory,
when General Wade Hampton was his commanding officer.
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