An act of Congress approved March 3, 1861, provided:
Section 15. "That any commissioned officer of the army, or of the marine corps, who shall have served as such for forty consecutive years, may, upon his own application to the President of the United States, be placed upon the list of retired officers, with the pay and allowances allowed by this act.
Section 16.... "Provided, That should the lieutenant general be retired under this act, it shall be without reduction in his current pay, subsistence, and allowances."
On October 31, 1861, General Scott addressed Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, the following communication:
"Sir: For more than three years I have been unable, from a hurt, to mount a horse or to walk more than a few paces at a time, and that with much pain. Other and new infirmities—dropsy and vertigo—admonish me that repose of mind and body, with the appliances of surgery and medicine, are necessary to add a little more to a life already protracted much beyond the usual space of man. It is under such circumstances, made doubly painful by the unnatural and unjust rebellion now raging in the Southern States of our lately prosperous and happy Union, that I am compelled to request that my name be placed on the list of army officers retired from active service. As this request is founded on an absolute right, granted by a recent act of Congress, I am at liberty to say that it is with deep regret that I withdraw myself in these momentous times from the orders of a President who has treated me with much distinguished kindness and courtesy, whom I know upon much personal intercourse to be patriotic, without sectional prejudices; to be highly conscientious in the performance of every duty, and of unrivaled activity and perseverance; and to you, Mr. Secretary, whom I now officially address for the last time, I beg to acknowledge my many obligations for the uniform high consideration I have received at your hands, and I have the honor to remain, sir, with the highest respect, etc."
The following day, November 1st, a special meeting of the Cabinet was convened, and it was decided that the request, under the circumstances set forth in the letter, should be complied with. At four o'clock of that day the President and his Cabinet proceeded to the residence of General Scott. The scene is well described by General Edward Davis Townsend, a member of the general's staff, who was an eye-witness, and who says: "Being seated, the President read to the general the following order:
"'On the 1st day of November, a.d. 1861, upon his own application to the President of the United States, Brevet Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott is ordered to be placed upon the list of retired officers of the Army of the United States, without reduction in his current pay, subsistence, or allowance. The American people will hear with sadness and deep emotion that General Scott has withdrawn from the active control of the army, while the President and unanimous Cabinet express their own and the nation's sympathy in his personal affliction, and their profound sense of the important public services rendered by him to his country during his long and brilliant career, among which will be gratefully distinguished his faithful devotion to the Constitution, the Union, and the flag when assailed by parricidal rebellion.
'Abraham Lincoln.'
"General Scott thereupon arose and addressed the Cabinet, who had also risen, as follows:
"'President, this honor overwhelms me. It overpays all the services I have attempted to render my country. If I had any claims before, they are all obliterated by this expression of approval by the President, with the remaining support of the Cabinet. I know the President and his Cabinet well. I know that the country has placed its interests in this trying crisis in safe keeping. Their counsels are wise, their labors as untiring as they are loyal, and their course is the right one.