Evansville weekly journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 184?-18??, 1848-03-02
MAJOR GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT.

mander-in chief OF the army In Mexico, was
born on the 18th of June, 1855. near Peters
burgh, Va. He graduated at William and Ma
~ College, and Immediately began the study
of law; but feeling a strong instinct towards
the military profession he entered the army IN
1903 as a captain of light artillery. The break
ing out of the war of 1912, leading TO a large
increase of the army. Scott was rapidly adj
vanced to the rank of lieutenant colonel, his
soIdierly person, his military knowledge, and
his high character as a d~isciplinarian, recon-
mending him prominently for Iormotion.
Since that period he has been necessarily en-
plOyed in the service of his country, and al
ways with honor to himself. Indeed, SO nu-
merous are his exploits that we must necessa-
rily condense the account of them.
In October. 1912; being in command at
Black Rock, he furnished a detachment to as
sist Lieutenant afterwards Commodore) Ell
lott in cutting out the Adams and Caledonia
from under the guns of Fort Erie; and he sub
sequently defended the vessels triumphantly
agalnsta British force sent 10 re-capture them.
At the battle of Queenstown, after a most he
roIc resistance, he was overpowered by supe-
rlor numbers, and compelled to surrender.
Scott was taken to Quebec, but soon after eX-
changed. Some of the prisoners, who were
frishmen, being threatened with death as Bri-
fish subjects ca ptured in armsagainst their king
Scott took up their cause and declared that the
American government would retallate, head
Tor head. This spirited conduct had the desir-
ed effect. The men were exchanged.
In the spring of 1913, Scott returned to the
Niagara frontier, as adjutant general of the ar
my there, then commanded by Dearborn. Ia
the attack on Fort George, on the 9th day Of
May in 1913 he led the van, and took down
the enemy's flag with his own hands. In July
he was promoted to the command of a regi-
ment. He served at Burlington heights, at the
burning of York, and in the expedition against
Montreal under Wilkinson. In this latter af-
fair, if the commanding general had listened to
such men as Scott and Brown, disaster would
have been changed into victory.
The campaign ofl8l3 terminated inglorious-
y, soon after the failure of Wilkinson's inva-
sion; but in 1914 the army being placed under
command of Major General Brown, %withScott,
now raised to the rank of Brigadier General,
as second in command, a new spirit was iniu-
sed into our operations. From that day may
be dated a change in the military ability of the
country, Brown and Scott were the first gen
erals to teach the doctrine that an American
soldier ought never to fly. They took COM
mand when the whole country was disheart-
ened by a series of defeats, and when the sol
diers were themselves without confidence; but
in one short campaign they turned the tide.
won the victories OF Chippewa and Lundy's
Lane against superior odds, and extorted from
the British government the very terms of peace
which, six months before, the Prince Regent
had rejected.
The battle Of Chippewa, the first of those
glorious victories, was won principally by Scott
at the head of a single brigade; for with such
impetuously did he attack, that the British
were in full retreat before the other brigades
could arrive to his assistance. The battle Of
Lundys Lane was begun by Scott, with his
single brigade, and maintained for two hours
against overwhelming odds, before Browncould
come up with the reserve. Towards the close
OF this obstinately contested battle, Scott was
severely wounded, and in consequence was
compelled 10 retire from the CAM for a season.
On his way to Philadel phia, there to seek medi-
cal aid, he stopped at Princeton. 1t happened
to be commencement day, and weak as he was,
he was forced to attend where the audience re-
ceived him with the utmost enthusiasm. He
did not again return to The Niagara frontier,
peace having been declared early in 1915. For
his gallantry in this war, Scott received a gold
medal from Congress, with the brevet rank of
Major General. The testimonials awarded him
in addition, in the shape of swords, compli-
mentary resolutions from legislatures, &c. are
too numerous to mention in detail in this
sketch. Thus, at twenty-eight, Scott had at
tanned the rank in The army-the young
gest man ever raised by his services to that po-
sition, in either America or Great Britain!
From the peace OF 1918 until the capture of
Vera Cruz, circumstances presented no oppor
tunity for brilIiantdeeds Scott married in 1917
He was more or less engaged, as became his
high rank, in the Black Hawk war, the Flori
da war, and the threatened border war in Can
ada.-ln 1871, on the death of Major General
Macomb, commanGer-in-chie of the army.
Scott was appointed his successor. 1t was on
SCOTS suggestion that Taylor was entrusted
with the command OF the army of occupation.
When the advance of that army to the Rio
Grande was followed by the attack on Capt.
ThOrnton,s party, by the battles of PaIo Alto
and Resaca de la Palma, and by the other
primary events OF the Mexican war, Scott was
sollcitous to obtain command of the army in
Mexico. His sagacious plans, then ridiculed
by many, have since proved to have been cor
rect. The public is familiar with the cores
pondence which ensued. When however, it
was resolved to capture Vera Cruz, Scott re-
ceived command of the army for that purpose.
The series OF events that foilowed are too well
known TO our readers TO require repitition.-
They are, however, so briiliant-they approach
indeed, so near to the miraculous, that future
ages will place the name of the hero of Vera
Cruz, Ce-ro Gordo, Churubusco, Chapultepec
and Mexico side by side with that of the great
est generals of the past.
ltis admitted by all competent army officers
that. as a strategist, Scott has no superior. 1t
must be recollected that however CALAMITY
Worth, Twiggs, Smith, and the other generals
behaved on the battlefield, or whatever genius
they showed in manevering when Scott was
absent, they acted usually merely in an execu-
tive capacity, and that while theirs were the
hands to execute, SCOTS was the head to plan.
The schemes of the whole campaign, from the
landing at Vera Cruz, to the triumphant entry
into the capital of Mexico, was his and his
alone.-Neal,s Gazette.
EXTRAORDINARY PHENoMENA.-The Rev.
James Whitman, a respectable Unitarian cler-
gvman, lately deceased, at Portland, Maine.
and the circumstances attending his death were
i the snhiect of mnch curinSitv HIS holy m