General Scott

by Marcus J. Wright

Some citizens of Florida made complaints of the nonsuccess of the army, and severely censured General Scott. In fact, complaints of this nature were made against every officer who commanded in Florida, except General Zachary Taylor. It has been seen that the court of inquiry fully vindicated General Scott's course in the management of the war in Florida. The campaign, however, vindicated itself. Considering the scarcity of all the means at hand, it is remarkable how much was accomplished with so little loss of life.

When General Scott undertook this campaign Florida was a terra incognita. The greater part of it had scarcely been visited by the whites, and very little was known of the settlements of the Seminoles. They were known by their approaches to the white settlements, and when the war broke out by their plunders and devastations. It was not known where their hiding places were, and this could only be determined by pursuing them. At the time of General Scott's assignment to the command all the information tended to locating them on the waters of the Ouithlacoochee and the St. John's Rivers; and accordingly against this portion of the country the movement of the army was directed.

It was not only the want of ordnance, clothing, and subsistence, but the geographical peculiarity of Florida—with its marshes, thickets, hammocks, everglades, and impenetrable swamps—that made this campaign almost fruitless, and which for years baffled all efforts of the Government to subdue this small but brave and desperate tribe of Indians.

In Congress General Scott's campaign in Florida was defended by some of the ablest men in the country. Richard Biddle, of Pennsylvania, in 1837, when the House of Representatives was engaged in a debate on appropriations for carrying on the war in Florida, said: "It would be recollected by all that after the war in Florida had assumed a formidable aspect Major-General Scott was called to the command. An officer of his rank and standing was not likely to seek a service in which, amid infinite toil and vexation, there would be no opportunity for the display of military talent on a scale at all commensurate with that in which his past fame had been acquired. Yet he entered on it with the alacrity, zeal, and devotion to duty by which he had ever been distinguished....

"When the late General Brown, writing from the field of Chippewa, said that General Scott merited the highest praises which a grateful country could bestow, was there a single bosom throughout the wide republic that did not respond to the sentiment? I, for one at least, can never forget the thrill of enthusiasm, boy as I then was, which mingled with my own devout thankfulness to God that the cloud which seemed to have settled on our arms was at length dispelled. On that plain it was established that Americans could be trained to meet and to beat in the open field, without breastworks, the regulars of Britain....

"Sir, the result of that day was due not merely to the gallantry of General Scott upon the field. It must in part be ascribed to the patient, anxious, and indefatigable drudgery, the consummate skill as a tactician, with which he labored night and day, at the camp near Buffalo, to prepare his brigade for the career on which it was about to enter. After a brief interval he again led that brigade to the glorious victory of Bridgewater. He bears now upon his body the wounds of that day. It had ever been the characteristic of this officer to seek the post of danger—not to have it thrust upon him. In the years preceding that to which I have specially referred—in 1812 and 1813—the eminent services he rendered were in the positions which properly belonged to others, but into which he was led by irrepressible ardor and jealousy of honor.

"Since the peace with Great Britain the talents of General Scott have ever been at the command of his country. His pen and his sword have alike been put in requisition to meet the varied exigencies of the service. When the difficulties with the Western Indians swelled into importance, General Scott was dispatched to the scene of hostility. There rose up before him then, in the ravages of a frightful pestilence, a form of danger infinitely more appalling than the perils of the field. How he bore himself in this emergency, how faithfully he became the nurse and the physician of those from whom terror and loathing had driven all other aid, can not be forgotten by a just and grateful country....

"Mr. Chairman, I believe that a signal atonement to General Scott will one day be extorted from the justice of the House. We owe it to him; but we owe it still more to the country. What officer can feel secure in the face of that great example of triumphant injustice? Who can place before himself the anticipation of establishing higher claims upon the gratitude of the country than General Scott? Yet he was sacrificed. His past services went for nothing. Sir, you may raise new regiments and issue new commissions, but you can not without such atonement restore the high moral tone which befits the depositories of the national honor. I fondly wish that the highest and lowest in the country's service might be taught to regard this House as the jealous guardian of his rights, against caprice, or fanaticism, or outrage from whatever quarter. I would have him know that in running up the national flag at the very moment our daily labors commence, we do not go through an idle form. On whatever distant service he may be sent—whether urging his way amid tumbling icebergs toward the pole, or fainting in the unwholesome heat of Florida—I would enable him as he looks up to that flag to gather hope and strength. It should impart to him a proud feeling of confidence and security. He should know that the same emblem of majesty and justice floats over the council of the nation, and that in its untarnished luster we have all a common interest and a common sympathy. Then, sir, and not before, will you have an army or a navy worthy to sustain and to perpetuate the glory of former days."

Soon after the decision of the court of inquiry exonerating him from blame or censure General Scott was tendered a public dinner in New York from leading members of both political parties. He accepted the invitation, but it was subsequently postponed until about the middle of May, and before that time it was altogether declined, for reasons expressed in a note of which a copy follows:

"Gentlemen: Early last month I accepted the invitation to a public dinner which you and other friends did me the honor to tender me. In a few days the embarrassments of this great emporium became such that I begged the compliment might be indefinitely postponed. You, however, were so kind as to hold me to my engagement, and to appoint a day for the meeting, which is now near at hand. In the meantime the difficulties in the commercial world have gone on augmenting, and many of my friends, here and elsewhere, have been whelmed under the general calamity of the times. Feeling deeply for the losses and anxieties of all, no public honor could now be enjoyed by me. I must therefore, under the circumstances, positively but most respectfully withdraw my acceptance of your invitation.