General Scott

by Marcus J. Wright

"Under the first inquiry referred to it, the board is of opinion that it is expedient to create by law for the army the additional grade of lieutenant general, and that when, in the opinion of the President and Senate, it shall be deemed proper to acknowledge eminent services of officers of the army, and in the mode already provided for in subordinate grades, it is expedient and proper that the grade of lieutenant general may be conferred by brevet."

Several efforts were subsequently made to pass joint resolutions similar in purport to those quoted and referred to, but it was not until 1852 that the joint resolution was passed creating the brevet rank of lieutenant general, and General Scott succeeded to that dignity in the army. The law did not in terms carry with it the pay and emoluments of the brevet rank, and Mr. Davis, who had become Secretary of War under President Pierce, referred the question to the Attorney-General, Mr. Caleb Cushing; but before that officer rendered an opinion Congress inserted a declaratory provision in the military appropriation bill, which, becoming a law, gave the pay proper and all that went with it to a veteran who had by his services well earned it. General Scott was thenceforward until he died the second officer of the American army (General Washington being the first) who held the office of lieutenant general.

After the inauguration of General Taylor as President, General Scott, between whom and the President there was no very good feeling, continued his headquarters in New York; but when President Fillmore succeeded, in 1850, he removed to Washington, and continued to reside in the latter city until the accession of President Pierce, when, by General Scott's request, there was another change back to New York, where until 1861—with the exception of ten months of hard duty—he remained and maintained headquarters of the army.

In 1849 there were evidences of discontent which almost assumed the attitude of threats in the Canadas growing out of political agitation, and General Scott was interrogated on the question of the advisability of annexation by John C. Hamilton, Esq., of New York. General Scott replied from West Point, June 29, 1849, in which he expressed the opinion that the news from the British Parliament would increase the discontent of the Canadas, and that those discontents might in a few years lead to a separation of the Canadas, New Brunswick, etc., from England. He thought that, instead of those provinces forming themselves into an independent nation, they would seek a connection with our Union, and that thereby the interests of both sides would be promoted, the provinces coming into the Union on equal terms with the States. This would secure the free navigation of the St. Lawrence River, which would be of immense importance to at least one third of our population, and of great value to the remainder. Although opposed to incorporating with us any district densely populated with the Mexican race, he would be most happy to fraternize with our Northern and Northeastern neighbors.

In 1852 General Scott became a candidate a second time for the presidency, having been nominated by the Whig Convention that met at Baltimore in June of that year, his competitors being Mr. Webster, and Mr. Fillmore, who succeeded President Taylor. William A. Graham, Mr. Fillmore's Secretary of the Navy, was put on the ticket for Vice-President. General Franklin Pierce and William R. King, a Senator from Alabama, were respectively put forward for President and Vice-President by the Democrats. The campaign was a heated one. The Democratic orators, however, on all occasions accorded to the Whig candidate that meed of praise for his gallantry as an army officer and commander to which his services to the country had entitled him, and accorded with the universal sentiment that his services to the country had been of inestimable benefit and shed ineffaceable luster on the American arms in the wars since 1800; but still, being in all essentials but a military man, it was contended he was not fit to be intrusted with the exalted office of President. These speakers had doubtless never read, or had forgotten, the orders published by General Scott upon his capturing the City of Mexico, which show a wonderful insight into civil as well as military command. It was left to the lower portion of the opposition to indulge in caricature, and garbled and distorted paragraphs in reports and published letters, such as a "hasty plate of soup" already mentioned, and his reference to "a fire in the rear," which had reference to the weak sympathy and support he had experienced from the Administration during the war with Mexico. The Democratic candidate was overwhelmingly elected, only four States—Massachusetts, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee—casting their votes for Scott. In his autobiography General Scott thanks God for his political defeats. It detracted none from his reputation that the people chose some one else for the chief Executive.

The expedition set on foot in 1857 to bring the hostile Mormons to terms met with General Scott's censure, and he made no concealment of his belief that it was a scheme got up for the benefit of army contractors, whose peculations would involve the country in great expense. It is true the cost in hardship and privation to the army, as well as the money involved, was very great, but the results were very beneficial. During the late civil war the inhabitants of Utah had it in their power to greatly embarrass the Federal Government, but they did not, as a people, commit one disloyal act. At the time of the expedition they had put themselves in such defiance of the Federal Government that it was necessary that strong measures should be resorted to, and the result was as has been stated.

In 1859 General Scott was again called upon to exercise his powers as a diplomat. Commissioners were at that time engaged in running the boundary line between the British possessions and the United States. Differences sprang up as to which of the two countries the San Juan Island in Puget Sound belonged to. This question should have been referred to the two Governments for amicable settlement. General Harvey, an impetuous officer then in command of the United States forces in that country, took forcible possession of the island, endangering the friendly relations between the two countries. The situation was critical, but President Buchanan requested General Scott to go to the scene of operations and settle the matter without conflict, if possible. The general had recently been crippled from a fall, but, suffering as he was, he sailed September 20, 1859, from New York in the Star of the West for Panama, and thence to his destination. The British governor was at Victoria. The few friendly notes that passed between General Scott and the governor restored the island to its former condition, the joint possession of both parties, and thus averting what might have led to great and serious complications.

Nothing of particular public importance attracted the attention of the general until the mutterings of civil war gave utterance to sound. That he knew the feeling and determination of the Southern people better than those in high authority is shown by his suggestions to prevent, if possible, the secession of the Southern States. He was a native of Virginia, and every effort was made by persuasion to induce him to link his fortunes with his State, but without avail. Even his old friends—the friends of his early youth and manhood, to say nothing of those of maturer years—brought to bear upon him every argument to swerve him, but to no purpose. He remained true to the Government he had served and that had honored him, and if his suggestion had been carried out, the war would not perhaps have attained the proportions it did.

On October 29, 1860, General Scott addressed the following note to the President [Buchanan]: "The excitement that threatens secession is caused by the near approach of a Republican's election to the presidency. From a sense of propriety as a soldier, I have taken no part in the pending canvass, and, as always heretofore, mean to stay away from the polls. My sympathies, however, are with the Bell and Everett ticket. With Mr. Lincoln I have no communication whatever, direct or indirect, and have no recollection of ever having seen his person; but can not believe any unconstitutional violence or breach of law is to be apprehended from his administration of the Federal Government.

"From a knowledge of our Southern population, it is my solemn conviction that there is some danger of an early act of secession, viz.: The seizure of some or all of the following posts: Forts Jackson and St. Philip, on the Mississippi below New Orleans, both without garrisons; Fort Morgan, below Mobile, without garrison; Forts Pickens and McKee, Pensacola Harbor, with an insufficient garrison for one; Fort Pulaski, below Savannah, without a garrison; Forts Moultrie and Sumter, Charleston Harbor, the former with an insufficient garrison and the latter without any; and Fort Monroe, Hampton Roads, without a sufficient garrison. In my opinion, all these works should be immediately so garrisoned as to make any attempt to take any one of them by surprise or coup de main ridiculous.