Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1866-06-27

pOSluOn, anu SO EWllLly puAoHO0 W "
George that the enemy abandoned that
important post. While entering the fort
splinter, torn off by an exploding mag
azine, struck Colonel Scott from his sad
die, but, with that marvellous vitality
who so long marked him, he entered the
fort and pulled down the British flag
! The gallant Commodore Perry, was his
associate here. The splendor of the un-
dertaking, at that time of great signif-
cance, made the suggestive name Of Win
field Scott a household word
In 1914, Scott became General and
at once entered into the rigid duties of
tactioian. He had been opposing
troops who had fought under the iron
guidance of Wellington with militia men
who neither understood the art of war
nor were sufficiently patriotic to invade
the enemy's country without compulsion.
He was an adm;rer of the French i'm
proved tactics, and disciplined his three
brigades and battalion of artillery better
than any body of men had ever before
| been instructed in America. This sig
nalized him as q man impressed with the
science of war, and keen to avail himself
of its latest suggestions. The brigade
thus disciplined soon after fought the
first scientific battles on open plain ever
attemptep by American troops.
The first American military observer
sent by the republic to Europe was Win
field Scott the second, George B. Nc
Clellan. His duties were, in part, diplo-
matte; but his best services we're the
compilation of Infantry Tactics" and
General Regulations for the Army"
which he prepared after personal confer
ence with such grand Captains as Soult
and other renowned Marshals of Bona
parte. Up to this time we had, in point
of fact, no military literature and in
these, as in other noteworthy regards,
General Scett was the pioneer organizer
and literature of the American military
establishment, and of American military
literature.
Espousing the cause Of our new and
voluntary acquisition. Texas, General
Zachary Taylor Stumbled upon re-
peated victory with little result. There
fore il was determined to strike the capi-
tai Of the hostile country by direct iu-
terror line. and, in General SCOTS Ian
guage, to "conquer pesce. =" Twelve
thousand men in rendezvous upon Lob's
Island, menacing both Tampico and Vera
Cruz, were thrown ashore with brilliant
rromptness without tho loss Of a man,
in the spring Of 1847,, and in four days,
by a triumph Of artillery and engineer
ing, four thousand men marched out from
the Castle Of San Juan D'Ulloa, and
grounded their arms. To one week the
army was in motion in two, the natural
bastions of Cerro Gordo were Invested
By a series of operations, likened by
Santa Anna himself to BonaPaTte's pass
age of the Alps, three thousand men, five I
thousand stand of arms, forty three can
non, and quantities of treasure were cap
tured. In eleven days Jalapa fell in
fourteen Perote in twenty-three Puebla
In August ten thousand men reached |
the beautiful city; they turned splendid |
Notifications to the north Contreras
and Churuhusco yielded successfully 4;
the fall of Molino del Rey and Chapulte-
pee completed the conquest On the |
18th of September, General Scott, hav
ing conquered thirty-two thousand sol
diers, with one-third their number, rode
into the Grande Plaza, seized S15Q,000 ; |
and one-third the present territory ofthe
United States, including the gold fields
of fCalifornia, felt by consequence into the
hands of our countrymen.
The halor of Lieutenant General was
conferred upon this splendid soldier in
1855 the Mexican campaign was his
alone, in essential and in detail no one
man, since Jefferson, ever gave so great
territory to our country, or so thorough
ly imbued its people with the instinct Of
conquest and glory. Soon after the MeXi-
can war he arranged satisfactorily the
Northwestern boundary line, and thus he 7
has been the great political geographer
of our hemisphere, his hand having been
applied to every one of our frontiers, and
his military career, up to the date of the
rebellion, having been one Of the most
sagacious and excellent in the history of
any nation.
The illustrious soldier wasnot doomed
to private retirement; he was three times
a prominent candidate for the Presidency,
and, in 1852, General Pierce beat him
for that high Office by upwards of 2OO,-
900 votes. The following is paragraph
from General Scott's letter Of acceptance
But should at the same time, be
rigorous in regard to qualifications for
Office, retaining and appointing no one
either deficient in capacity or integrity,
or in devotion to liberty, to the COnstitu-
tuition and the Union. Convinced that
harmony or good will betweenthe differ
Of our broad country is es
sential to the present and the future In
terests of the republic, and with a devo
ton to those interests that can knew no
South and no North, I should neither
nor tolerate any sedltlon,
disorder, faction, or resistance to the law
or the Union on any preteZt in any part
of the land, and should carry into the
civil administration, this one principle of
military conduct-obediene to the leg
islative and judicial departments of gov
ernment, each in its constitutional sphere,
saving only in respect to the Legislature,
the possible resort to the veto power, al
ways to be most cautiously exercised, and
under the strictest restraints and necessi-
ties"
Many of the sayings Of General Scott
were as laconic and spirited, if not al
wnus as shremd rs those of General