Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-09-10
Civil War Stories
Mfntield Scott,s Secret RevealeS

the Union army at Inc t1u10 Vi the
rebellion, never before told, Is re-
vealed by letter Of the late Colonel
A X. Mcclure, which G. L. Baldwin,
veteran of Wilkesbarre, Pa, has de-
cided to give for publication. The
story has not been embodied in the
history of the country and was known
only to President Lincoln, Colonel
Thomas A Scott, to Secretary Cam
eron and to Colonel Mcclure.
Mr.. Baldwin. after reading some
articles of Colonel Mcclure on the re-
bellion, wrote to him as follows, in
1904: Il have been hoping you would
say something about the retirement
Of General Scott from the command
Of the army. A mystery has hung
around that incident to this day.
With his sudden retirement, his hasty
departure for Europe, accompanied
by his son-in-law, his speedy return,
leaving the young man there; the
young man dropped out Of sight. All
this has had interest to me, intensi-
fed by Information given me in Wash
ington during the war. the only con-
firmation of which has been the utter
oblivion Of the young man.
Son-tn-Law a Traitor.
The story as told to me was this:
That there was a leak in high on
cial circles; that information Of the
most important character would
speedily find its way to the enemy;
that finally, move was contemplated
for day in the near future; that
the day before its contemplated exc
cution, loyal lady, within the rebel
lines, Informed the Secretary Of War
that the whole plan was made known
to the enemy through some source In
the confidence Of our headquarters.
LAS important information had sur
reptitiously been impaired to the
enemy on several occasions before.
aid knowledge of this contemplated
move was confined to five persons:
The President, Secretary of War,
General Scott, his son-in-law, and the
general in the field. Yet the infOrn1a-
ton had been given to the enemy.
The son-in-law was accused and he
confessed. The penalty was, Of course,
death. Through Difference to General
Scott exposure was withheld, on con-
dition that he resign and take his
private secretary (sonAn-law) to Eu-
rope, the latter never to return to
America
IF you know anything Of this, and
yet too early for the vital secrets of
that period to be published, it would
be of mighty interest to those who re-
main Of the war period, to have the
facts of this mysterious event, which
resulted in a change of the COM
mander Of the army. + am, sir, sin
cerely yours,
&c. l.. BALDWIN"
Colonel McClure's Reply.
In reply to this Colonel Mcclure
wrote as follows:
THE Supreme Court of Pennsylvania,
Eastern District, Alex. Mcclure,
Prothonotary:
philadelphia, Nov. 1, 1904.--Mr. G.
L Baldwin: Dear Sir-I have your
letter Of the 30th, and was glad to
receive it. / am quite familiar with
the entire story to which you refer.
Scotts son-in-law, also named Scott,
was doubtless disloyal and faithless
while acting on Scott's staff, and he
was detected, but that was not the
reason for SCOTS resignation. His
son-inIaw had been disposed of be-
fore that time and was practically
banished. I do not know that ] have
ever heard of him since. and what
came Of him or where he died ] have
never learned.
SCOTS resignation was accom-
plished by Colonel Thomas A. Scott.
He was assistant Secretary of War
to Cameron, and both of them we'll
knew how to manage delicate cases.
SCOTS retirement was an absolute
necessity for the safety of the army,
and they found in the records Of the
War Department an old claim made
by Scott at the close of the Mexican
war for some $4,000 that had never
been considered by any Secretary Of
War, but Colonel Thomas A. Scott
suggested that the grand old soldier
was entitled to that much If he would
retire.
Get 100000 for Retiring.
The intimation was made to Scott
that he ought to retire and ought to
be able to live comfortably, as he
could II he received that claim. He
finally agreed to 1t, the claim was
paid without making any record in
the government archives, and Scott
resigned.
When I was writing about Lin
coin and men of war times, some
years ago, Cameron was yet living,
and / wrote to him about giving the
story Of how Scott actually retired,
but Cameron said 1t was best not,
and without his consent I could not
use it. simply stated in the chapter
on the subject that why he retired
from the army was known to only
three men-Lincoln, Colonel Scott and
Cameron-two Of whom we're then
dnaH The story qa Won uivo A. 10