Winfield Scott (June 13, 1786 – May 29, 1866) was an American military commander and political candidate. He served as Commanding General of the United States Army from 1841 to 1861, having taken part in the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the early stages of the American Civil War, and also in the American Indian Wars earlier in his career. Scott was the Whig Party's presidential nominee in the 1852 election, but was defeated by Democrat Franklin Pierce. He was known as Old Fuss and Feathers for his insistence on proper military etiquette, as well as the Grand Old Man of the Army for his many years of service.
Scott was born near Petersburg, Virginia, in 1786. After training as a lawyer and brief militia service, he joined the army in 1808 as a captain of the light artillery. In the War of 1812, Scott served on the Canadian front, taking part in the Battle of Queenston Heights and the Battle of Fort George, and was promoted to brigadier general in early 1814. He served with distinction in the Battle of Chippawa, but was badly wounded in the subsequent Battle of Lundy's Lane. After the conclusion of the war, Scott was assigned to command army forces in a district containing much of the Northeastern United States, and he and his family made their home near New York City. During the 1830s, Scott negotiated an end to the Black Hawk War, took part in the Second Seminole War and the Creek War of 1836, and presided over the forced removal of the Cherokee. Scott also helped to avert war with Great Britain, defusing tensions arising from the Patriot War and the Aroostook War.
In 1841, Scott became the Commanding General of the United States Army, beating out his rival Edmund P. Gaines for the position. After the outbreak of the Mexican–American War in 1846, Scott was relegated to an administrative role, but in 1847 he led a campaign against the Mexican capital of Mexico City. After capturing the port city of Veracruz, he defeated Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna's armies at the Battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, and Churubusco. He then captured Mexico City, after which he maintained order in the Mexican capital and indirectly helped envoy Nicholas Trist negotiate the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which brought an end to the war.
Scott unsuccessfully sought the Whig presidential nomination three times, in 1840, 1844, and 1848. He finally won it in 1852, when the party was already dying off. The Whigs were badly divided over the Compromise of 1850, and Franklin Pierce won a decisive victory over his former commander. Nonetheless, Scott remained popular among the public, and in 1855 he received a brevet promotion to the rank of lieutenant general, becoming the first U.S. Army officer to hold that rank since George Washington. In 1859 he peacefully solved the conflict of the Pig War, ending the last in a long series of British-American border conflicts. Despite being a Virginia native, Scott stayed loyal to the Union when the Civil War broke out and served as an important adviser to President Abraham Lincoln during the opening stages of the war. He developed a strategy known as the Anaconda Plan, but retired in late 1861 after Lincoln increasingly relied on General George B. McClellan for military advice and leadership. In retirement, he lived in West Point, New York, where he died on May 29, 1866.
Scott's military talent was highly regarded by contemporaries, and historians generally consider him to be one of the most accomplished generals in U.S. history.
Scott was born on June 13, 1786, the fifth child of Ann (Mason) Scott and William Scott, a planter, veteran of the American Revolutionary War, and officer in the Dinwiddie County militia.[3] At the time, the Scott family resided at Laurel Hill, a plantation near Petersburg, Virginia.[4][5] Ann Mason Scott was the daughter of Daniel Mason and Elizabeth Winfield, and Scott's parents chose his maternal grandmother's surname for his first name.[6] Scott's paternal grandfather, James Scott, had migrated from Scotland after the defeat of Charles Edward Stuart's forces in the Battle of Culloden.[7] Scott's father died when Scott was six years old; his mother did not remarry.[8] She raised Scott, his older brother James, and their sisters Mary, Rebecca, Elizabeth, and Martha until her death in 1803.[9] Although Scott's family held considerable wealth, most of the family fortune went to James, who inherited the plantation.[10] At six feet, five inches tall and 230 pounds, with a hardy constitution, in his prime Scott was a physically large and imposing figure.[11]
Scott's education included attendance at schools run by James Hargrave and James Ogilvie.[12] In 1805, Scott began attending the College of William and Mary, but he soon left in order to study law in the office of attorney David Robinson.[12] His contemporaries in Robinson's office included Thomas Ruffin.[13] While apprenticing under Robinson, Scott attended the trial of Aaron Burr, who had been accused of treason for his role in events now known as the Burr conspiracy.[14] During the trial, Scott developed a negative opinion of the Senior Officer of the United States Army, General James Wilkinson, as the result of Wilkinson's efforts to minimize his complicity in Burr's actions by providing forged evidence and false, self-serving testimony.[15]
Scott was admitted to the bar in 1806, and practiced in Dinwiddie.[16] In 1807, Scott gained his initial military experience as a corporal of cavalry in the Virginia Militia, serving in the midst of the Chesapeake–Leopard affair.[17] Scott led a detachment that captured eight British sailors who had attempted to land in order to purchase provisions.[17] Virginia authorities did not approve of this action, fearing it might spark a wider conflict, and they soon ordered the release of the prisoners.[17] Later that year, Scott attempted to establish a legal practice in South Carolina, but was unable to obtain a law license because he did not meet the state's one-year residency requirement.[18]
In early 1808, President Thomas Jefferson asked Congress to authorize an expansion of the United States Army after the British announced an escalation of their naval blockade of France, thereby threatening American shipping.[19][20] Scott convinced U.S. Senator William Branch Giles, a family friend, to help him obtain a commission in the newly expanded army.[21] In May 1808, shortly before his twenty-second birthday, Scott was commissioned as a captain in the light artillery.[22] Tasked with recruiting a company, he raised his troops from the Petersburg and Richmond areas, then traveled with his unit to New Orleans to join their regiment.[22] Scott was deeply disturbed by what he viewed as the unprofessionalism of the army, which at the time consisted of just 2,700 officers and men.[23] He later wrote that "the old officers had, very generally, sunk into either sloth, ignorance, or habits of intemperate drinking."[24]
He soon clashed with his commander, General James Wilkinson, over Wilkinson's refusal to follow the orders of Secretary of War William Eustis to remove troops from an unhealthy bivouac site.[22] Wilkinson owned the site, and while the poor location caused several illnesses and deaths among his soldiers, Wilkinson refused to relocate them because he personally profited.[22] In addition, staying near New Orleans enabled Wilkinson to pursue his private business interests and continue the courtship of Celestine Trudeau, whom he later married.[25]
Scott briefly resigned his commission over his dissatisfaction with Wilkinson, but before his resignation had been accepted, he withdrew it and returned to the army.[26] In January 1810, Scott was convicted in a court-martial, partly for making disrespectful comments about Wilkinson's integrity,[27] and partly because of a $50 shortage in the $400 account he had been provided to conduct recruiting duty in Virginia after being commissioned.[28] With respect to the money, the court-martial members concluded that Scott had not been intentionally dishonest, but had failed to keep accurate records.[29] His commission was suspended for one year.[27] After the trial, Scott fought a duel with William Upshaw, an army medical officer and Wilkinson friend whom Scott blamed for initiating the court-martial. Each fired at the other, but both emerged unharmed.[30]
After the duel, Scott returned to Virginia, where he spent the year studying military tactics and strategy,[22] and practicing law in partnership with Benjamin Watkins Leigh.[31] Meanwhile, Wilkinson was removed from command for insubordination, and was succeeded by General Wade Hampton.[32] The rousing reception Scott received from his army peers as he began his suspension led him to believe that most officers approved of his anti-Wilkinson comments, at least tacitly; their high opinion of him, coupled with Leigh's counsel to remain in the army, convinced Scott to resume his military career once his suspension had been served.[31] He rejoined the army in Baton Rouge, where one of his first duties was to serve as judge advocate (prosecutor) in the court-martial of Colonel Thomas Humphrey Cushing.[33]
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During the early 19th century, relationships between Britain and the United States continued to deteriorate due to a variety of factors, including the British impressment of American citizens alleged to be Royal Navy deserters and Britain's support to Native Americans who were resisting U.S. colonization in the Northwest Territory.[35] In July 1812, the U.S. Congress declared war on Britain.[36] After the declaration of war, Scott was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and assigned as second-in-command of the 2nd Artillery Regiment, serving under George Izard.[37] While Izard continued to lead recruitment efforts, Scott led two companies north to join General Stephen Van Rensselaer's militia force, which was preparing for an invasion of the Canadas.[38] President James Madison made the invasion the central part of his administration's war strategy in 1812, as he sought to capture Montreal and thereby take control of the St. Lawrence River and cut off Upper Canada from Lower Canada. The invasion would begin with an attack on the town of Queenston, which was just across the Niagara River from Lewiston, New York.[39]
In October 1812, Van Rensselaer's force attacked a British force in the Battle of Queenston Heights. Scott led an artillery bombardment that supported an American crossing of the Niagara River, and he took overall command of U.S. forces at Queenston after Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer was badly wounded.[40] Shortly after Scott took command, a British column under Roger Hale Sheaffe arrived. Sheaffe's numerically superior force compelled an American retreat, ultimately forcing Scott to surrender to the British after reinforcements from the militia failed to materialize.[41] As a prisoner of war, Scott was treated hospitably by the British, although two Mohawk leaders nearly killed him while he was in British custody.[42] As part of a prisoner exchange, Scott was released in late November; upon his return to the United States, he was promoted to colonel and appointed to command the 2nd Artillery Regiment. He also became the chief of staff to Henry Dearborn, who was the senior general of the army and personally led operations against Canada in the area around Lake Ontario.[43]
Dearborn assigned Scott to lead an attack against Fort George, which commanded a strategic position on the Niagara River. With help from United States Navy elements commanded by Isaac Chauncey and Oliver Hazard Perry, he led U.S. troops to land behind the fort, forcing its surrender. Scott was widely praised for his conduct in the battle, although he was personally disappointed that the bulk of the British garrison escaped capture.[44] As part of another campaign to capture Montreal, Scott forced the British to withdrawal from Hoople Creek in November 1813. Despite this success, the campaign fell apart after the American defeat at the Battle of Crysler's Farm, and after Wilkinson (who had taken command of the front in August) and Hampton failed to cooperate on a strategy to take Montreal.[45] With the failure of the campaign, President Madison and Secretary of War John Armstrong Jr. relieved Wilkinson[a] and some other senior officers of their battlefield commands. They were replaced with younger officers such as Scott, Izard, and Jacob Brown. In early 1814, Scott was promoted to