"III. Conquer the seceded States by invading armies. No doubt this might be done in two or three years by a young and able general—a Wolfe, a Desaix, a Hoche—with three hundred thousand disciplined men, estimating a third for garrisons and the loss of a yet greater number by skirmishes, sieges, battles, and Southern fevers. The destruction of life and property on the other side would be frightful, however perfect the moral discipline of the invaders.
"The conquest completed at the enormous waste of human life to the North and Northwest, with at least $250,000,000 added thereto, and cui bono? Fifteen devastated provinces! not to be brought into harmony with their conquerors, but to be held for generations by heavy garrisons at an expense quadruple the net duties or taxes, which it would be possible to extort from them, followed by a protector or emperor.
"IV. Say to the seceded States: 'Wayward sisters, depart in peace.'
"In haste, I remain very truly yours,
"Winfield Scott."
The two months preceding the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln were fraught with great responsibility to General Scott. He had moved his headquarters to Washington, as he thought, temporarily; but from the threatening aspect of the political troubles it soon became apparent that his stay there would be, if not permanent, prolonged a greater length of time than was at first expected. As March 4th approached, rumors thick and fast filled the atmosphere of attempts to resist Mr. Lincoln's taking the oath. It was said that bodies of men were drilling in Maryland, Virginia, and even in the District of Columbia, for that purpose. There is no doubt men were being put through military exercise within a few miles of the capital, which was known at the War Department; but if the object was violence of any kind it never developed. Great apprehension was felt, and not without reason, for the general's daily mail contained letters—mostly anonymous, a few signed doubtless with fictitious names—threatening him and Mr. Lincoln with assassination if the latter should attempt to be inaugurated. Some idea of the difficulty may be gathered when it is known that the militia of the District was but poorly equipped either in officers or otherwise to cope successfully with the situation should an outbreak or invasion of armed men from Maryland or Virginia be attempted. The military force of the District showed large on paper, but the actual force consisted of two or three companies tolerably well drilled. In this emergency Captain (afterward Brigadier-General) Charles P. Stone, a graduate from West Point, offered his services, which were accepted, and about January 1, 1861, he was mustered into the United States service as colonel and inspector general of the militia of the District of Columbia, and assigned to the command of the District, with authority to organize volunteers. Some members of the companies already in existence left the ranks, but Colonel Stone soon succeeded in organizing a small compact force with those that remained loyal, and a number of recruits, which did good service. In addition to these, a light battery, under Captain John B. Magruder, First Artillery; Captain (afterward General) William Farquhar, Barry's Battery of the Second Artillery; and a battery made up at West Point and commanded by Captain (afterward General) Charles Griffin, arrived. With these, some infantry ordered from distant points, and the District militia, which had been very much increased in numbers, General Scott had about three thousand men under his command for the defense of Washington, the preservation of order, and to guard the approaches to the city. It is but due to the citizens of Washington to state that, when trouble was apprehended and an intimation went out that there was a possibility of trouble, they came in great numbers to offer their services in defense of their city and the Government. Companies were organized, and persons in all positions and callings, from the highest in social life to the humblest resident, were not backward in asserting their allegiance and giving proof of it by entering the ranks. By marching and maneuvering the men on the streets frequently they made the impression that a greater force was present than really was.
Many efforts were made to induce General Scott to resign, but he never once wavered in his devotion to the Union. On one occasion Judge Robertson, a small, thin, but venerable-looking man, who had filled the office of chancellor in Virginia and was a man of high character and standing, came to Washington with two other Virginia gentlemen to offer Scott the command of the Army of Virginia if he would abandon the United States service and go with his State. The general listened in silence as Robertson feelingly recalled the days when they were schoolboys together, and then spoke of the warm attachment Virginians always cherished for their State, and of their boasted allegiance to it above all other political ties. But when he began to unfold his offer of a commission, General Scott stopped him, exclaiming: "Friend Robertson, go no further. It is best that we part here before you compel me to resent a mortal insult!" It is needless to say that this ended the interview, and Judge Robertson and his companions departed, looking and doubtless feeling very much discomfited. No man stood higher in the esteem of the people of Virginia than Judge Robertson, and it is not probable that he and his friends would have taken it upon themselves to make the offer they did upon a contingency. If, however, they had any authority to act on the part of the Commonwealth of Virginia, no act of the Convention to that effect can be discovered.
Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, a Senator from Illinois and one of the unsuccessful candidates for the presidency in 1860, made a speech in Ohio early in 1861, in which, in alluding to a question that had been asked, or rather suggested, as to General Scott's loyalty to the Government, said: "Why, it is almost profanity to ask such a question. I saw him only last Saturday. He was at his desk, pen in hand, writing his orders for the defense and safety of the American capital."
On April 30, 1861, Alexander Henry, Horace Binney, William M. Meredith, a former Secretary of the Treasury, and others of Philadelphia, addressed a letter to General Scott, in which they said: "At a time like this, when Americans distinguished by the favor of their country, intrenched in power, and otherwise high in influence and station, civil and military, are renouncing their allegiance to the flag they have sworn to support, it is an inexpressible source of consolation and pride to us to know that the general in chief of the army remains like an impregnable fortress at the post of duty and glory, and that he will continue to the last to uphold that flag, and defend it, if necessary, with his sword, even if his native State should assail it."
The Charleston (South Carolina) Mercury of April 22, 1861, contained the following statement: "A positive announcement was made at Montgomery, Ala." (then the capital of the Southern Confederacy), "that General Scott had resigned his position in the army of the United States and tendered his sword to his native State—Virginia. At Mobile one hundred guns were fired in honor of his resignation." This shows in some measure the high estimation in which General Scott's influence was held throughout the South.