Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-06-01
O5Io Statesman.
.f... From the Now York Worldl
A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
LIEUT.. GEN. WINFIELD SCOTT.

LIEU /. GENI WINFIELD Sui IL
Was it Hazlitt who said, when he touch
ed the hand of the poet Rogers 81 live in
| the presence of all the literary men of a
century," TO shake hands with the great
chiefwho is gone, at any rate, was to be in
the bodily presence OF al ] american history.
| His was life reaching back three genera
| tions. For eighty years, less only fifteen
days, he has lived in this republic, and for
llfty-siX years has been, not presence only,
but colossal energy, which his grand stat
ure fifty symbolized. He came from the
Old Dominion, the mother of great chill
! dTen aud it must have been a sad thought
| in his latest days that she was debarred
| the dignity of representation in the Capitol
he had twice defended.
There, in Petersburgh, he was born, June
13 l7SG.
In Petersburgl This storm-rlddled
town, this little battered hulk in sea, of
wave-heaped intrenchments, where the
guns of great army have rained their
deadiest, making the mornings perilous,
and the nights trailed with fiery bombs
even here, where the last and longest strug-
gle for empire was maintained, Winfield
Scott, our stersoldier, was born.
There is something superbly appropriate
in this commemOration of a great captains
birthplace. History has few similar adap-
tations of men to places.
The parents of General Scott were of
Scotch descent remotely, and, dying in his
boyhood, yet gave him sufficient to insure
him fair education in the batte-scarred
town of Williamsburgh, at William and
Mary College.
Returning to Petersburgh, he became a
law student with Mr.. A. Robinson, and, af-
ter admission to the bar, practiced some
years with the average success of prOviu-
cial lawyer. This period was fertile of an
noyances from the old world, and in 1908
young lawyer Scott, ardent with martial
inspirations, raised battery of flying artil-
lery in Petersburgh and proceeded to the
since ominOus City of Charleston, taking
post in the now st0ried harbOrs.
FIRST MILITARY REBUFF.
Soon after his voluntary entrance into
military life, Captain Scott was regularly
appointed to corresponding rank in the
United States army, and in the artillery
branch. He distinguished himself directly
by great zeal in political matters, and while
at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in WilkinsOn's
division, he made so precise and pointed
remarks upon his commanding General
that he was prosecuted, and afGerWard sus-
pended from command. The cause of his
insubordination was the famous Burr con-
spiracy, in which he believed Wilkinson an
active spirit.
Thus, for the second time, we see re-
markable parallel in the lie of our great
captain. His opening career was marked
by his denunciatiOn of traltorOuS scheme,
as his last great act was an armed protest
against domestic treason.
Returning to Petersburgh, he laid aside
the law, and diligently studied military lit
eratuTe. At that time BOnaparte was con-
Quoting his latest and most tremendous
campaigns, and the sympathies of Captain
Scott were warmly cast in favor of the great
European Marshal as opposed to the COM
binations OF tyTants. He was soon destin-
ed to meet the legions of one of those same
tyrants in actual campaign.
p. t..... WANTED AT THE FRONT. .. D..
At the age of twenty-six, in the summer
of 1912, citizen Scott was reappointed a
Lieutenant Colonel, and ordered to report
atonce for duty on the Canada frontier.-
When he arrived at Lewiston, he found our
troops already across the river, and cross
ing at once became the central figure in the
fray. His light brown locks and command
ing stature made him at once conspicuous
the fate of the day was doubtful; he re-
formed the troops, led the charge himself
and made the dispositions of the battle
and the day was soon decided for the re-
publican arms. At the moment of victory
the national contingent on the American
side, composed of militia, aud having pru-
dent motions about exposing themselves
refused to cross. The British mustered re-
Inducements and the little army of Scott
was almost all made prisoners of war. "A,
,o FIRST DIPLOMATIC ACT. a.#
s His diplomatic nature was at once of use
to his Government. The British had long
practiced the maxim of "once a subject
always subject" Therefore, they re-
solved to select all the Scotch, English and
Irish soldiers in the captured command
and send them to England to be tried foI
treason. Lieutenant Colonel Scott order
ed his men neither to speak nor declare
their nativity, and threatened to retaliate
man for man, for every punished American
soldier. This he had confirmed, when eX-
changed, by the Administration, and q
number of British soldiers were set aside
to be executed If any summary visitation
befell the exported Republicans. At the
end of the war, therefore, all the threaten
ed men were returned. This single action
so far in advance of all that had been
fought, gave the young officer reputation
! as considerable as that gained by General
Lyon in the early battles OF the rebellion
PROMOTED TO A ooLoNELCY. H
With the full rank of Colonel, he became
the Seth Williams of the war, officiating as
adjutant to General Dearborn, and in the
spring of 1918 took command of the adj
vance in the hazardous assault upon Fort
George. In the face of scathing musket-
ry fire, he landed in surf-boats, and, per-
4. sonally forming his troops upon the beach,
charged up the steep, and engaged fifteen
hundred British aud Canadians. The odds
being very great, he was driven back, but,
reforming again, with great CALAMITY re-
ascended, took the position, and so swiftly
i pursued to Fort George that the euemy
abandoned that important post. While
entering the fort, a splinter, torn off by an
/ exploding magazine, struck Colonel Scott
1 from his saddle, but, with that marvellous
vitality which 50 long marked him, he en-
tered the tort and pulled down the British
flag. The gallant Commodore Perry was
his associate here. The splendor of the
undertaking, at that time of great signiti-
canoe, made the suggestive name of Win
field Scott household word. su
NEARLY THE CAPTURE OF MONTREAL.
But for the confusion or imbecility OF the
Government of that era, Colonel Scott, in
the autum of the same year, would have
captured the City of Montreal as he after
1 Z. Al. II