On learning the particulars of the defeat of Marshal Ney at
Dennewitz, says St. Cyr, in his _Histoire Militaire_,[34] Napoleon
remarked, that “he knew of but one general who had constantly
gained by experience, and that was Turenne, whose great talents
were the result of profound study.” A similar remark might, not
inappropriately, be applied to WINFIELD SCOTT, the General-in-Chief
of the Army of the United States. For more than forty years he has
been in the military service of the American people, constantly
improving in reputation, as in the knowledge appertaining to his
profession,--the experience of each year furnishing new and useful
lessons to its successor, which have not been permitted to remain
unimproved,--and he now stands before the country and the world,
occupying a high place among the heroes of modern times, and towering
far above his compeers, in stature and in fame.
[Sidenote: BIRTH AND EDUCATION.]
Among the Scottish gentlemen who rallied around Charles Edward, when
he unfurled the banner of his kingly race on the hills of Glenfinnan,
on the nineteenth of August, 1745, were two brothers, by the name
of Scott. They adhered to “the young Chevalier” through weal and
woe, through good and evil report, till the fortunes of the Stuarts
sank forever on the bloody field of Culloden. The elder brother
sealed his loyalty with his life on that fatal day; and the younger,
being seriously compromised by his participation in the rebellion,
emigrated to America, and established himself in the practice of
the law, in the then Colony of Virginia. His son William, a farmer
by occupation, married into one of the most respectable families in
Virginia, and died in 1791, leaving two sons and several daughters.
The elder son, James, commanded a regiment of Virginia militia, at
Norfolk, in 1812; the younger was Winfield, the subject of this
biographical notice, who was born near Petersburg, Virginia, on the
thirteenth of June, 1786.
Within two years after the death of his father, young Scott was
also deprived of his mother, and, at the age of seventeen, was left
his sole master, possessed of but limited means, to make or mar his
fortune, as he himself decided to guide the little bark freighted
with his boyish hopes and aspirations. Happily, he had been early
accustomed to habits of self-government and self-reliance. He was
frank and ingenuous by nature; ardent, ambitious, and chivalric,
in his temperament; gifted with a superior intellect; industrious
by inclination, as well as from a consciousness of its importance;
quick to perceive, and ready to learn. Qualities like these, properly
improved and directed, are always sure to reward their possessor a
hundred fold; for mind, like water, will, sooner or later, find its
own appropriate level.
Scott was originally designed for the legal profession. He pursued
a regular course of instruction in mathematics and the classics,
in the High-School at Richmond, then in charge of a distinguished
teacher of the name of Ogilvie, and afterwards repaired to William
and Mary College, where he spent between one and two years, and
attended a course of law lectures. His legal studies were completed
in the office of David Robertson, a learned and able lawyer, and
in 1806 he was admitted to the bar. He spent the following year in
his native state, riding the circuit two terms in the vicinity of
Petersburg, and residing most of the time with Benjamin Watkins
Leigh, subsequently one of the most eminent counsellors and advocates
in Virginia. In the fall of 1807, he visited South Carolina,
intending to establish himself in practice in the city of Charleston.
Failing, for want of time, to procure the passage of a bill by the
legislature, specially exempting him from the statutory provision
requiring a year’s residence in the state, he returned to Virginia.
This was, perhaps, the most fortunate disappointment he has ever
experienced. The whole country was then in a complete ferment of
agitation. The attack on the Chesapeake took place in June previous,
and a war was confidently predicted as the inevitable result.
President Jefferson issued a proclamation prohibiting British armed
vessels from entering the harbors of the United States, and bodies
of militia were called out for the defence of the coast, and the
enforcement of the prohibition. The first blast of the trumpet roused
young Scott from his studies, and dissolved many of his gayest
and brightest dreams of future eminence and distinction among the
gentlemen of the gown and wig. He enrolled himself as a member of a
volunteer troop of horse raised in Petersburg, and, in the summer of
1807, performed a tour of duty on Lynnhaven Bay.
Visions of military greatness and renown danced constantly before
him, while on his visit to South Carolina, which more than half
compensated for his disappointment. He took a deep interest in
the progress of the difficulties with England and France, and his
sympathies were warmly enlisted in behalf of his country. His voice
and his pen were both employed in defence of the administration of
Mr. Jefferson, and of that of his successor, Mr. Madison; and from
the time of the attack on the Chesapeake, till the declaration of
war, he was an active and energetic supporter of war measures.
[Sidenote: APPOINTED A CAPTAIN OF ARTILLERY.]
Immediately after his return to Virginia, he determined to abandon
his profession and enter the army. Accordingly, he applied to the
President, for a commission in one of the new regiments proposed to
be raised by a bill introduced in Congress at the session of 1807–8.
The bill lingered sometime on its passage, and, in the meanwhile,
Scott returned to his circuit. It finally became a law in April,
1808; and on the third day of May following, through the influence of
his friend, the Hon. Wm. B. Giles, then a senator in Congress, and
afterwards governor of the State of Virginia, he was commissioned,
by President Jefferson, a captain of light artillery. Briefs and
black-letter tomes, red tape and parchment, were now thrown aside;
his company was raised and organized; and early in 1809, he joined
the army under General Wilkinson, at New Orleans.
The character of the connection of Wilkinson with the intrigues
of Colonel Burr, as indicated by the testimony elicited on the
trial of the latter, which took place while Scott was in Virginia,
had not produced a very favorable impression on his mind. General
Wilkinson, however, was pleased with the appearance and talents of
his subordinate; he mentioned him as a young man “who could speak,
and write, and fight”, and made repeated attempts to attach him to
his interest. Scott calmly, but firmly, declined to meet his advances
in a similar spirit, and took no pains to conceal the opinions he
had formed. In the autumn of 1809, General Wilkinson was relieved by
General Hampton, in the command of the southern army,--the main body
of which was stationed near Natchez. Scott was now more unguarded
in his conversation, and on one occasion, perhaps unwisely, though
his sincerity cannot be doubted, indulged in the strongest terms of
reprehension. Charges were soon after preferred against him,[35]
and in January, 1810, he was tried and found guilty, of having
uttered disrespectful language towards his superior officer, General
Wilkinson. The sentence of the court was, that he should be suspended
“from all rank, pay, and emoluments, for the space of twelve months.”
The following year was spent by Captain Scott, at Richmond, in the
family of his friend, Mr. Leigh, who tendered him the free use of
his large library. The opportunity thus afforded, for benefiting
his mind, was faithfully improved. The greater part of the period
of his suspension was spent in the careful and diligent study of
works on military science; and he thus laid the foundation of that
vast and comprehensive information, which subsequently embraced
every department of knowledge belonging to, or connected with, his
profession.
[Sidenote: PROMOTED TO LIEUTENANT COLONEL.]
A further augmentation of the army, consequent upon the declaration
of war against Great Britain, was made in the summer of 1812, and in
the month of July, upon the urgent recommendation of the Virginia
delegation in Congress, Scott was promoted to the rank of lieutenant
colonel in the 2nd artillery. He at once proceeded to the Niagara
frontier, with two companies of his regiment, and took post at Black
Rock, to protect the naval dépôt at that place.
It is well known that the venerable Albert Gallatin, whose varied
learning, and great abilities, are so highly honored and esteemed at
home and abroad, was decidedly opposed, as a member of Mr. Madison’s
cabinet, to the war with England, or to a war with any foreign power;
and the younger, and more ardent and ambitious, members of the
party to which he belonged, often complained that he did not render
that hearty support to the administration, in the management of the
affairs of his department, necessary to the vigorous prosecution
of hostilities. On one occasion he is reported to have doubtingly
inquired of Lieutenant Elliott, of the navy, what they were to do
for vessels on Lake Erie, when they had none, and there was no money
to build any? “Take them!” said the lieutenant, in whose patriotism
calculations of dollars and cents had no place.--The theory of the
young officer was gallantly put in practice on the night of the
eighth of October, 1812, on the shores of the Niagara. The Caledonia,
a British brig of war, the next year employed in Perry’s squadron,
and the Detroit, formerly the Adams surrendered by Hull, were cut out
from under the guns of Fort Erie, where they were lying at anchor,
and brought off with their crews, by a party in two boats, headed
by Elliott in person. Captain Towson, of the 2nd artillery, and a
portion of his company, belonging to Scott’s command, took part in
the expedition. Scott himself volunteered to accompany his men, but
was not permitted to go; he rendered important assistance, however,
by the fire of his guns, in preventing the recapture of the Detroit,
which grounded on Squaw Island. It being found impossible to get her
off, she was subsequently burned, by order of General Smythe.
Early in the month of October, 1812, there were near fifteen hundred
regular troops at Buffalo and Fort Niagara, under the command of
General Smythe; and General Stephen Van Rensselaer, of the New York
militia, the commander of the united force, known as the Army of the
Centre, had concentrated about twenty-five hundred men at Lewiston.
Nothing was talked of but the invasion and conquest of Canada. The
successful enterprise under Elliott infused new zeal into the breasts
of the really patriotic, but raw and undisciplined militia; and all
that was then required to have terminated the campaign, and perhaps
the war, by a bold and successful stroke in the upper province, was
the presence of resolute and energetic general officers. General
Smythe possessed few of the qualifications requisite in a skilful and
successful soldier, and there was very little cordiality of feeling
existing between him and General Van Rensselaer,--when, had they
zealously coöperated together, and made a vigorous irruption into the
enemy’s country, at the head of their combined forces, the power of
England in Upper Canada, would have been at an end in three weeks.
[Sidenote: ATTACK ON QUEENSTON.]
General Van Rensselaer was high-minded and patriotic, and not
deficient in ability or personal bravery, but he was, to some extent,
jealous of the regular officers, and did not infuse that energy into
his operations, which, after all, is the great secret of converting
militia into reliable troops. Day after day passed by, and the army
still remained inactive. Action and excitement are always necessary
to keep up the spirits of a newly organized militia force. Nothing
was done in this respect, until the men threatened to return home,
when an attack was planned on the British post at Queenston, nearly
opposite Lewiston; it being understood that the greater part of the
enemy’s forces had been withdrawn from the peninsula, for the defence
of Malden.
The morning of the eleventh of October was fixed upon for the attack;
but on account of the violence of the weather, and the want of a
sufficient number of boats, it was postponed to the thirteenth, when
it was arranged to take place in two columns, one of militia, and
the other of regulars, each to consist of three hundred men. Colonel
Solomon Van Rensselaer, of the New York militia, and Lieutenant
Colonel Chrystie, of the 13th infantry, were selected to command the
two columns. Lieutenant Colonel Fenwick was to follow the movement
with a force of two hundred regulars, under Major Mullaney.
The arrangements for storming the heights of Queenston were completed
on the twelfth of October, and late in the evening of that day
Lieutenant Colonel Scott hastened to Lewiston, through mud, and
rain, and sleet, and entreated General Van Rensselaer to permit him
to serve as a volunteer with the attacking force. His services were
declined, but he was authorized to bring his command to Lewiston,
there to act as circumstances might require. He instantly returned
to Schlosser, where his men were posted, ordered them under arms,
and just before daylight arrived at Lewiston, bringing with him two
pieces of artillery which were conveyed down the river in a boat,
in consequence of the bad state of the roads. The troops under Van
Rensselaer and Chrystie had already passed the river,--though with
not much regularity, on account of the deficiency of boats,--under
a heavy fire from the enemy’s batteries; and they were now warmly
engaged on the opposite bank. Colonel Van Rensselaer and Lieutenant
Colonel Chrystie were both known to be severely wounded, and
Scott was finally ordered to cross over and take the command. The
detachment under Major Mullaney, had previously attempted the
passage, but their boats being seized by the eddies, they were
driven below the point designated for the landing, and directly
under the British batteries; the whole detachment, therefore, with
the exception of Major Mullaney and a few of his men, who made their
escape, were obliged to surrender themselves as prisoners of war.
[Sidenote: CROSSES THE RIVER.]
Leaving his train in battery on the American shore, under the command
of Captains Towson and Barker, who opened an effective fire on the
enemy, Scott crossed the stream, about eight o’clock in the morning,
when he found that the British force, consisting of two flank
companies of the 49th, and a body of militia, had been driven from
their position; that Captain Wool had stormed the heights south of
the town, with three companies of the 13th infantry, and carried the
enemy’s batteries; and that the British commander, General Brock,
had been killed in an unsuccessful charge, which he had gallantly
headed in person. He also ascertained that General Wadsworth, of the
New York militia, had reached the Canada shore, though without the
knowledge of General Van Rensselaer, and, of course, was entitled
to the command. General Wadsworth, however, magnanimously waived
all claims of superior rank, and requested Scott to make such
dispositions as he thought proper.
Although the American detachments, who had made a lodgment on the
Canada shore, remained for several hours unmolested, it was not
doubted that the enemy would rally again before night. Scott arranged
his men, therefore, so as both to cover the ferry, in order that
he might be reinforced if necessary, and to repel an attack. About
the middle of the day, General Van Rensselaer came over, and having
examined and approved of his arrangements, returned to superintend
the crossing of the remainder of the troops. But the sight of the
action in the morning had cooled the ardor and impatience of the
militia. Some few parties were induced to cross over,--though most of
them might as well have remained behind; but the great body of the
command had entirely forgotten their former boisterous professions of
patriotism. General Van Rensselaer alternately coaxed and threatened,
but it was all to no purpose. Every circumstance was calculated to
discourage them; many of the boats, originally too few in number, had
been crippled, the current was rapid, the stream one complete sheet
of eddies, and the weather cold, wet, and stormy. They would not, and
they did not go; but they stood still, and with the utmost unconcern
and indifference, saw their countrymen sacrificed on the opposite
shore of the river, when their presence would have changed the fate
of the day.
Between two and three o’clock in the afternoon, small parties of the
enemy were seen hovering along the slopes of the hills, and, shortly
after, the action was fiercely renewed by the rallied militia and
grenadiers, and about four hundred Indians, under Norton, who had
heard the previous firing, and had hurried down from Chippewa. With
a mixed command of regulars and militia, not far from three hundred
and fifty strong--nearly four hundred of the militia being seized
with a panic, and refusing to take part in the action--Scott boldly
encountered the enemy. A sharp conflict ensued for a few moments, and
the assailants were then driven back, and put to flight, by a forward
movement of the bayonet.
[Sidenote: GALLANTRY AND INTREPIDITY.]
The protection of the ferry rendered a pursuit impossible. Scott
therefore reformed his line, in readiness for another attack. He
had just returned to the rear, to direct his men how to unspike a
captured cannon, when the enemy rallied again, and forced in the
advanced picket. The main line, too, had commenced a retreat ere
he could reach them. Instantly springing to the front, by great
exertions, in which he was ably seconded by General Wadsworth and
Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie, he brought the retreating line to the
right about. His earnest enthusiasm produced a sudden revulsion of
feeling, and the enemy were soon a second time repulsed.
Meanwhile, General Sheaffe, who commanded the troops at Fort George,
had hastily collected all his disposable forces, and the provincial
militia in the neighborhood, and was rapidly approaching the scene of
action. About four o’clock, his column, numbering rather more than
eight hundred men, emerged into open view just below the village of
Queenston. He advanced with much caution, though fully aware that
the Americans were greatly inferior to his own force in point of
numbers, especially when he had effected a junction with the light
troops and Indians. Leaving Queenston on his left, he took a wide
circuit through the woods, gained the heights, and opened the action
anew, with a rapid fire of musketry and artillery. For half an hour,
the little band headed by the dauntless and heroic Scott, manfully
held their ground, and breasted the volleys that met them on every
side. All that bravery and skill could do, was nobly performed,--but
performed in vain!
Scott fearlessly exposed his person to the enemy’s bullets. His tall
form, six feet and five inches in height, was the most conspicuous
object on the field. He was arrayed in full uniform, and was
entreated again and again to cover up or change some part of his
dress. “No, no!” said he, smiling; “I will die in my robes!” Others
were constantly falling around him, but he escaped unharmed.--After
the action, when he had surrendered himself a prisoner of war,
an Indian warrior came up to him, and surveying him attentively,
said--“You are not born to be shot; so many times--(holding up all
the fingers of both hands)--so many times did I fire at you!”
The bloody and desperate contest was soon ended. Overpowered by
superior numbers, and nearly surrounded on all sides, the Americans
retreated to the bank of the river, under cover of the precipice,
where they found the faint-hearted militia concealed in the clefts
and fissures. Retreat was hopeless; the troops were disheartened;
there were no boats in which they could cross the river; and the
twilight was fast settling over the field of combat. General
Wadsworth and the other principal officers now held a consultation,
and it was decided that they should surrender themselves to the
enemy. Several messengers were sent with a flag, but they failed to
reach the British commander, as they were shot down on the way by
the Indian rifles. Scott then volunteered to go himself. He attached
a white handkerchief to his sword, and, accompanied by Captains
Totten and Gibson, made his way to the enemy’s rear, by taking a
circuitous route under cover of the precipice overlooking the river.
He and his companions had all the while been exposed to a random fire
from the Indians, and on approaching the road leading up from the
village to the heights, they were suddenly beset by two warriors,
who discharged their rifles at them, and were preparing to rush
forward with their knives and hatchets,--paying no heed to the sacred
character of the flag which they carried,--when a British officer
came up with a file of men, and compelled them to desist.
[Sidenote: TAKEN PRISONER.]
The three officers were forthwith conducted to the presence of
General Sheaffe, and terms of capitulation agreed on. The force
surrendered with Wadsworth and Scott, consisted of one hundred and
thirty-nine regulars, and one hundred and fifty-four militia; about
four hundred militia, who had taken no part in the engagement, were
afterwards included in the surrender; and there had been about
one hundred killed during the day--making a total of casualties,
including the two hundred regulars under Major Mullaney, who
surrendered in the morning, of near one thousand.
This disastrous action was the first, as it was the most unfortunate,
in which Scott was engaged. His conduct throughout the day was
worthy of all praise. He was but a few years older than young Condé,
when the latter routed the famous corps of Spanish infantry; yet he
exhibited the skill and intrepidity of a veteran officer, and had
he been supported by anything like an equal force, it can scarcely
be doubted that the setting sun would have witnessed the American
banners floating in triumph on the heights of Queenston.
After the surrender, the American prisoners were taken to the
village of Niagara, or Newark, under an escort, and the officers
temporarily lodged in an inn. While there, a message was brought in
that some one at the door wished to see the “tall American.” Scott,
presuming, of course, that he was intended by the designation, went
out into the hall, where he was surprised to find the two warriors
who had so cowardly attacked him when bearing the flag of truce.
Both were distinguished chiefs--one being the son of the renowned
Mohawk leader, Joseph Brant, and the other known by the name of
Captain Jacobs. They eagerly commenced questioning him in regard to
his wounds, and attempted to examine his person. Scott bore with
them for some time, but they soon became angry and insulting, and at
length Jacobs seized him by the arm to turn him round. Scott promptly
resented the indignity, and hurled the savage from him, with ease,
exclaiming, “Off, villain!--you fired like a squaw!”
The savages at once clenched their knives and tomahawks, and sprang
towards him, crying out--“We kill you now!--we kill you now!”
Fortunately, in one corner of the hall, underneath the staircase,
stood the swords of the American officers. Scott darted back, caught
up a long heavy sabre, turned upon his heel, and in a breath stood
on his defence; with an unflinching eye and look regarding the dark
warriors, whose painted visages lowered fiercely upon him. At this
moment, Captain Coffin, a member of General Sheaffe’s staff, entered
from the street; he instantly cried out for the guard, caught Jacobs
by the arm, and placed his pistol at the head of young Brant. This
had the desired effect. The Indians were intimidated, and on the
appearance of the guard, retired from the inn. Their people, however,
were so much excited, that Scott could not venture out into the
street, during his stay at Niagara, even to dine with the British
commander, without a strong escort.
General Brock was buried on Queenston Heights, immediately after the
surrender of the American troops, and at the request of Lieutenant
Colonel Scott, who so well knew what was due to the memory of the
gallant dead, minute guns were fired from Fort Niagara, on the
American shore, during the sad ceremony.
[Sidenote: INTERFERENCE IN BEHALF OF PRISONERS.]
Scott was sent to Quebec with the other prisoners, where he was
placed on a cartel to be conveyed to Boston; and in January, 1813, he
was regularly exchanged. When the transport was about leaving Quebec,
a party of British officers came on board, and commenced mustering
the prisoners, with a view of selecting those who were ascertained to
be Irishmen, by their speech, to be sent to England for trial. Great
Britain has ever denied the right of expatriation in the subject, and
hence these men, if found in arms against her authority, were liable,
according to her laws, to be convicted of the crime of treason. Scott
was seated in the cabin; but hearing the tumult, he rushed upon deck.
By this time, the British officers had selected twenty-three men
from the detachment. On learning the cause of the disturbance, he
forbade the remainder of the prisoners to utter a single syllable,
when questioned. The men readily obeyed him; the British officers
threatened to use violence, but he was in nowise intimidated by their
menaces; he felt, justly, that the honor of his country was for the
time in his keeping, and, in spite of threats and frowns, persisted
in the order he had given.
The British officers were finally obliged to retire with the
twenty-three prisoners, but before the latter left the side of the
vessel, Scott pledged himself to secure their liberation, if it were
possible; but if not, he solemnly declared that he would retaliate,
on the first prisoners whom the fortune of war should place in his
power. He faithfully kept his word. On his return to the United
States, he made a full and faithful report of the transaction to
the Secretary of War, and in May, 1813, at the capture of Fort
George, selected twenty-three prisoners to be held as hostages for
the unfortunate Irishmen. The British government persisted in their
determination to try the men and execute them; consequently, they
ordered forty-six other prisoners into confinement; the Americans
reciprocated their conduct, in kind; but after venting a great deal
of spleen and ill humor to no purpose, the British ministry finding
their braggadocio of no avail, tacitly surrendered their position,
and shortly after the peace, the twenty-three prisoners taken to
England from Quebec, were sent home to the United States. Twenty-one
of them--the remaining two having died natural deaths--landed in New
York, in July, 1815. Almost the first object which they encountered,
was the tall form of the gallant Scott, upon whose brow the laurels
were yet fresh and green which he had won at Chippewa and Niagara.
They eagerly hailed him as their deliverer, caught him in their arms,
and nearly overwhelmed him with their enthusiastic manifestations of
gratitude.
At the opening of the campaign of 1813, Scott was appointed adjutant
general in the staff of General Dearborn, the head of the army, and
the commander of the ninth military district. It was stipulated,
however, on his part, that he should be entitled to his command in
the line, on all extraordinary occasions. On the second of March,
he was promoted to the colonelcy of the 2nd artillery, a double
regiment, consisting of twenty companies.
The campaign of this year opened auspiciously. The forests of
Canada were scarcely robed in the bright array of spring, when the
American soldiers precipitated themselves on her shores. On the
twenty-seventh of April, York capitulated to the surviving comrades
of the heroic Pike.[36] General Dearborn remained for several days
in the vicinity; but on the fifth of May he reëmbarked, and, having
been joined by successive reinforcements, increasing his command to
about five thousand men, effected a landing on the American shore,
at Four Mile Creek, on the evening of the eighth instant. Colonel
Scott joined the army shortly after the capture of York. The duties
devolving upon him, as chief of General Dearborn’s staff, were
intricate and multifarious, as the army was newly organized, or
composed of different corps recently brought together; but they were
performed with untiring zeal and industry, and in a manner that gave
satisfaction to all parties concerned.
[Sidenote: ATTACK ON FORT GEORGE.]
The next object of attack, was the British post of Fort George,
situated opposite Fort Niagara, at the mouth of the river. The
boats built for the occasion were launched on the afternoon of
the twenty-sixth of May, and their stations assigned; and careful
reconnaissances were made of the Canada shore, in order to ascertain
the most feasible points for landing. The movement in the American
camp being discovered by the enemy, a severe cannonade was opened on
Fort Niagara and the adjacent batteries. The roar of the howitzers
was incessant; and peal on peal of heavy ordnance reverberated
along the beach, with a loud crashing noise, and then died away, in
deafening echoes, among the distant hills and ridges. The fire was
soon returned from the American fort; shells were rained without
intermission on the enemy’s batteries, and balls sent whistling
through the lanes and streets of the village of Niagara.
[Sidenote: CAPTURE OF THE FORT.]
At three o’clock in the morning of the twenty-seventh of May, all was
in readiness for the expedition, and the signal was given for the
flotilla of boats to get under weigh. The descent was to be made in
six divisions of boats, though, in consequence of the early retreat
of the enemy, all the troops were not landed. In the first division
was the advanced guard, or forlorn hope, of five hundred picked men,
led by the intrepid Scott; in the second was the field train, under
Colonel Porter; and these were followed, in the order of attack, by
the brigades of Generals Boyd, Winder and Chandler, and a second
reserve under Colonel Macomb. Owing to a strong wind then prevailing,
the rapid current, and the heavy surf, the landing on the Canada
shore was not effected as easily as had been anticipated. Under cover
of the guns of the fleet and of Fort Niagara, which opened a terrible
fire, that crushed down the walls and batteries in and about Fort
George, in huge masses, at nine o’clock in the morning, Colonel Scott
gained the beach, and prepared to land. General Vincent, the British
commander, had previously disposed his whole regular force, about
nine hundred strong, with five or six hundred militia, in a ravine
near the shore; and as the Americans approached, they were met by
several warm volleys of musketry.
With shouts and cheers, the American advance leaped into the water,
and waded to the beach. They instantly formed on the shingle,
covered by an irregular bank, from seven to twelve feet high, above
which flashed the bristling bayonets of the enemy. Colonel Scott
forthwith ordered a charge. The first attempt to scale the bank
was unsuccessful; on the second, the men clambered up in spite of
resistance,--Scott himself being among the foremost, and knocking
up the British bayonets with his sword. The enemy retired a short
distance, and stoutly maintained the ground for twenty minutes;
but on the arrival of Colonel Porter and General Boyd, with their
commands, portions of which participated in the skirmish near its
close, they commenced retreating in haste, in the direction of
Queenston,--having already laid trains to their different magazines.
Scott pushed his column after them, without delay, and, at the
village of Niagara, was joined by the 6th infantry, under Colonel
Miller.
On approaching Fort George, one of its magazines exploded. The sad
calamity that befel the American troops at York, had produced its
probably natural effect; and a similar mishap was the _bête noire_
which they always dreaded throughout the early part of the campaign.
Colonel Scott was struck by a piece of timber, thrown from the horse
which he had borrowed from a British colonel taken prisoner, and
considerably bruised; but he sprang to his feet in an instant, and
accompanied by a few equally brave spirits, forced the gate, and
entered the fort.[37] Captains Hindman and Stockton extinguished
the lighted matches, and General Boyd and Colonel Scott made their
way to the flag staff. The British standard soon fluttered in the
wind,--Captain Hindman being the fortunate individual who first
seized it, though the staff was cut down by Scott,--and the stars and
stripes speedily rose in its place.
Colonel Scott continued the pursuit for some distance beyond the
fort,--Lieutenant Riddle, with his party, following the enemy almost
to Queenston, and picking up a number of stragglers--but he was
soon recalled by General Boyd, in conformity with the directions of
General Lewis, who had assumed the command on shore. With the return
of the advanced corps, the battle terminated. The Americans had
thirty-nine killed and one hundred and ten wounded in the attack;
while the British lost one hundred and eight killed, and one hundred
and sixty wounded,--and there were one hundred and fifteen regulars,
and five hundred militia, taken prisoners.
After the loss of Fort George, General Vincent withdrew all his
forces from the peninsula, including those previously stationed at
Chippewa and Fort Erie, to Burlington Heights; and the Americans
established themselves in a solid manner on the Niagara frontier.
This lodgment would undoubtedly have been permanent, had it not been
for the inaction--the pest and bane of the northern army during
the campaigns of ’12 and ’13--which characterized the subsequent
operations of our principal officers in that quarter.
It has been said that the campaign of 1813 opened auspiciously. So,
indeed, it did,--but it terminated in disaster and disgrace. The
bold stroke of Lieutenant Colonel Harvey, which resulted in the
capture of Generals Chandler and Winder, on the third of June, and
the defeat and surrender of Colonel Boerstler on the twenty-fourth of
the same month, were, in themselves, affairs of no great importance;
or rather, they would not have been considered such, had they been
relieved, as might, and should have been the case, by those successes
which it was in the power of the American army to have achieved.
Immediately after the surrender of Boerstler, General Dearborn was
recalled, and subsequently resigned his commission. General Boyd
succeeded to the command, during the summer, but the War Department
refused to give him authority to act offensively; consequently,
he remained cooped up the whole season in Fort George, with four
thousand men, when General Vincent had very little over two thousand.
[Sidenote: EXPEDITION AGAINST BURLINGTON HEIGHTS.]
General Dearborn surrendered the command on the fifteenth of July,
and Colonel Scott then returned to his duty in the line, and took
charge of his regiment. In September, an expedition was projected
against Burlington Heights, and he volunteered to command the
land troops. Embarking on board Commodore Chauncey’s fleet, he
proceeded to the Heights, but found neither enemy, nor stores, at
that point. On his return, he landed at York, burned the barracks
and storehouses, and brought off a large quantity of provisions,
clothing, and ammunition, together with eleven armed boats and
several pieces of cannon.
Upon the resignation of General Dearborn, the command of the army
was given to General Wilkinson, under whose auspices the famous
expedition down the St. Lawrence, in the fall of 1813, was conducted.
In the original arrangements of Wilkinson, Colonel Scott was to be
left in command at Fort George, which had been considerably enlarged
and strengthened after its occupation by the American troops. At
the urgent request of the latter, who ardently desired to take part
in the great movement of the campaign, his orders were made so far
discretionary, that he was authorized to give up the fort to General
McClure, of the New York militia, when it had been placed in a
proper state of defence, provided it was not seriously threatened
by the enemy. The works were soon completed, and the enemy retired
to Burlington Heights, and afterwards concentrated at Kingston,
which post they supposed to be threatened by General Wilkinson.
On the thirteenth of October, General McClure took charge of Fort
George, and Colonel Scott proceeded with the regular troops, who had
previously garrisoned the post, to the mouth of the Genesee river,
where he expected to find transportation for his men. Disappointed
in this, he marched his column, with all possible expedition, to
Utica, and then directed his course towards Sacketts Harbor. A short
distance north of Utica, he met General Armstrong, the Secretary of
War, who informed him that the expedition had already set out, but
gave him permission to leave his command with Major Hindman, and to
join Wilkinson, in person, on the St. Lawrence, at whatever point he
could.
[Sidenote: SKIRMISH AT HOOPHOLE CREEK.]
Thirsting for distinction, Scott eagerly availed himself of the
permission granted, and dashed off on horseback, through the rain and
mud. On the sixth of November, he joined the army at Ogdensburgh,
and accompanied General Brown in the descent of the river, with the
flotilla, under the heavy fire of the British batteries at Prescott.
Being without a command, Colonel Macomb magnanimously surrendered
to him one of his battalions, which he had reserved for himself in
case the regiment was divided; and, on the seventh instant, he was
regularly assigned to the _corps d’élite_. He commanded the advanced
guard during the subsequent movement of the army down the river,
almost daily encountering and defeating large or small parties of
the enemy. He was not concerned in the action on the eleventh of
November; but, on the following day, he engaged a detachment of
the enemy, under Colonel Dennis, about equal to his own command in
numbers, at Hoophole Creek, near Cornwall, routed them with ease,
captured a number of prisoners, and hotly pursued the remainder of
the enemy till dark. The army now retired into winter quarters at
French Mills,--the young and ambitious officers, like Brown and
Macomb, Gaines and Scott, literally overcome with mortification and
chagrin.[38]
Not long after this memorable expedition terminated, Colonel Scott
was relieved from duty, and made a visit to his friends in Virginia,
and at the seat of government. By the direction of the president,
he spent a part of the winter at Albany, engaged in making
preparations, in connection with Governor Tompkins, for the ensuing
campaign.
On the ninth of March, 1814, when scarcely twenty-eight years of
age, Colonel Scott was promoted to the rank of brigadier general,
and immediately joined General Brown, then moving with his column
from Sacketts Harbor to Buffalo. At the latter place, a camp of
instruction was established by General Scott,--General Brown leaving
him temporarily in the command, while he returned for a few weeks to
Sacketts Harbor, with authority to adopt such measures as he thought
proper, to secure the efficient discipline and instruction of the
troops, preparatory to taking the field.
New officers,--more active, more ambitious, and more
enterprising,--were now at the head of affairs on the Niagara
frontier. General Brown properly appreciated the skill and abilities
of the talented Scott, and gave him almost unlimited power. The
latter infused new spirit and energy into every corps belonging
to the army; superannuated, infirm, or incompetent officers, no
matter how high in rank, were relieved from duty; the strict
rules of military discipline were rigidly enforced; and the whole
command was daily paraded for instruction. All were drilled, from
the highest to the lowest, officers as well as men, under the eye
of Scott himself,--first in squads, then in companies, then in
battalions, and, finally, carried through the evolutions of the line.
The brilliant, but practical genius, of the youthful general, his
unwearied efforts and exertions, accomplished wonders. When General
Brown crossed the Niagara on the third of July, he crossed it with
an army of soldiers, not merely of men!
[Sidenote: CAMP OF INSTRUCTION AT BUFFALO.]
The fruits of the camp of instruction at Buffalo, established
and directed by General Scott, were witnessed on the plains of
Chippewa,--on the blood-stained heights of Niagara,--when “Greek met
Greek,” when steel clashed against steel, and the American soldiers
stood firm and unflinching as the rocks beneath their feet. They
may still be witnessed, in the wide-spread renown and eminent glory
indissolubly connected with the achievements of the gallant army
which Brown and Scott led out to battle,--in the noble deeds and
feats of lofty daring, paralleled only on the brightest pages of
by-gone martial story.
The incidents of the campaign on the Niagara frontier, in the summer
of 1814, have been so fully detailed in the memoir of General
Brown,[39] that it seems unnecessary to recapitulate them here. On
the third of July, the American commander crossed the Niagara with
his whole army, little more than three thousand strong, consisting
of the regular brigades of Scott and Ripley,--the former leading the
van,--and the militia under Porter. Fort Erie was reduced on the same
day, and, immediately thereafter, he proceeded against the position
of General Riall, at Chippewa. On the fourth of July, General Scott
had a running fight for more than sixteen miles, with the 100th
British foot, under the command of the Marquis of Tweedale, whom he
drove at full speed across the Chippewa.
On the fifth of July, the battle of Chippewa was fought,--mainly by
the first brigade, under General Scott. “To him more than any other
man,” said General Brown, in his official dispatch, “am I indebted
for the victory.” This was high praise; but it was well deserved by
the personal intrepidity, the chivalric bearing, and the dashing and
dazzling manœuvres, which decided the result of the action. The day
had opened with skirmishes of light troops, but the main action was
brought on about four o’clock in the afternoon, when Scott dashed
across Street’s creek, and engaged the British army on the plain
south of the Chippewa. The light troops on the left of the field were
in the meantime warmly engaged, but the principal struggle took place
in the open field, which was as brief as it was decisive.
Scott’s brigade numbered only about fourteen hundred men, consisting
of three small battalions, and the battery of Captain Towson. After
crossing Street’s creek, he continued alternately to advance, halt,
and fire, till he was not more than eighty yards from the enemy’s
line. It being evident that preparations were making to outflank
him, he detached one of his battalions into the woods on his left,
to protect that flank. With the remainder of his small force, he
prepared to meet the enemy, who were making ready to charge,--their
artillery having been already silenced. Spurring his horse through
the dust and smoke, he dashed up to the side of Captain Towson, who
was posted on the Chippewa road, on the right of the field, and
directed him to maintain his ground, and pour a raking fire into the
British columns as they came up.
[Sidenote: BATTLE OF CHIPPEWA.]
This order being given, he returned to his place in the rear of his
two infantry battalions. He now directed them to throw forward their
outer flanks, so as to form a reëntering angle, but taking care to
flank the enemy on the left.[40] The two battalions did not touch
each other; but the interval would be every instant lessened by the
movement which he contemplated. Having given the necessary orders, he
cried out to the battalion of Major McNeil--the 11th infantry, which
had not a recruit in it--on the left,--“The enemy say we are good at
long shot, but cannot stand the cold iron! I call upon the Eleventh
instantly to give the lie to that slander!”--“Charge!” he added, as
the shot from Towson’s guns ploughed through and through the British
ranks. “Charge!--Charge!” he repeated in thundering tones, rising up
in his stirrups, and waving his men on with his sword.
This masterly charge, so well conceived and executed, put an end
to the contest. The front lines of the enemy staggered, and rolled
back in a confused mass on the reserve. All caught the infection of
defeat, and the slope leading down to the Chippewa was soon darkened
by a cloud of fugitives. The pursuit was ordered, but was checked
when the Americans reached the stream, by the hostile batteries that
frowned on the opposite shore.
The bloody battle on the heights of Niagara followed, on the night of
the twenty-fifth of July.[41] General Scott opened the action with
his brigade, and for nearly two hours gallantly sustained himself
against the vastly superior numbers of the British army. When the
enemy’s batteries were ordered to be stormed, he piloted Colonel
Miller, who was directed to execute this daring enterprise with the
21st infantry, through the smoke and darkness, and the iron shower
that swept unceasingly down the hill-side. Twice, during the height
of the engagement, after being relieved by the troops under Ripley
and Porter, Scott precipitated his brigade on the British left and
right. Two horses were shot under him--one literally torn from its
rider. Though badly wounded in the side by a spent ball, he persisted
in remaining on the ground, wading on foot through the blood and
carnage, and his clear ringing voice ever and anon heard above the
roar of artillery, as he cheered and encouraged his men. At length,
about eleven o’clock, he was finally disabled by a musket ball, which
shattered his left shoulder; and at midnight, just as the battle
closed, he was borne from the field, with his aid, Lieutenant Worth,
also severely wounded.
[Sidenote: COMPLIMENTARY RESOLUTIONS.]
For more than a month it was extremely doubtful whether General Scott
would recover from his wounds. Kind friends were not wanting, to
provide for the comfort, and to soften the pillow, of the gallant
soldier. He remained for several weeks,--suffering, in the meantime,
great pain,--at Buffalo, Williamsville, and Batavia, and was thence
borne, in a litter, to Geneva, to the house of his friend, the Hon.
John Nicholas. As soon as he became able to travel, he proceeded to
Philadelphia and Baltimore, in order to procure the best surgical and
medical aid in the country. His journey was like the triumphal march
of a conqueror. Passing through Princeton on commencement day, he
was waited on by a committee of the faculty of the College of New
Jersey, who requested his presence at the exercises. He complied with
the invitation, and was received by the large audience assembled,
with the most rapturous demonstrations of applause. Before he left
Princeton, he was also complimented with the honorary degree of
Master of Arts, bestowed upon him by the authorities of the College.
As he approached Philadelphia, he was met by Governor Snyder at the
head of a division of militia, who formed his escort into the town.
Being incapacitated by his wounds, which were a long time in
healing, from any active duty, General Scott was prevailed upon,
at the instance of the congressional delegations from Maryland and
Pennsylvania, to take the nominal command of the troops collected
for the defence of Baltimore and Philadelphia. On the sixteenth of
October, 1814, he entered upon the duties of commanding officer of
the tenth military district,--his headquarters being at Washington
city.
On the third day of November, 1814, Congress passed a resolution of
thanks, complimenting General Scott for his skill and gallantry at
Chippewa and Niagara, and for his uniform good conduct “in sustaining
the reputation of the arms of the United States.” A massive gold
medal was also struck and presented to him, by order of Congress,
and he was brevetted a major general. Resolutions of thanks were
likewise adopted by the Legislatures of New York and Virginia, and
splendid swords publicly presented to him, in accordance with their
directions. He was further honored, by being chosen an honorary
member of the State Society of Cincinnati in Pennsylvania, in the
year 1815.
After the ratification of the treaty of peace, in February, 1815,
General Scott was requested, temporarily, at least, to take charge
of the War Department. This he declined, but solicited permission to
travel in Europe, for the restoration of his health and professional
improvement. The request was granted without hesitation. Having
assisted in reducing the army to the peace establishment--being
himself retained as one of the four brigadier generals--he embarked
for England, and then crossed over to the Continent. While abroad,
he was honored with the notice of Kosciusko, who gave him letters
of introduction to the most distinguished marshals of France. He
attended several courses of public lectures, in the most eminent
literary institutions, and visited all the principal fortresses
and naval establishments in western Europe. He returned home in
1816, fully restored in strength and spirits; and in the same year
was assigned to the command of the Eastern Division, with his
headquarters at the city of New York.[42]
In March, 1817, General Scott was married to Miss Maria Mayo,
a Virginia lady, distinguished alike for rare beauty and
accomplishments. By her he has had several daughters, but no living
son.
Shortly after his marriage, General Scott purchased a residence in
the village of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, which he still regards as
his home. For nearly twenty-five years, from the fall of 1816 to the
summer of 1841, with brief intervals, he was continued in command of
the Eastern Division, and his family, during that period and since,
have spent most of their time at Elizabethtown.
[Sidenote: PUBLICATIONS ON MILITARY SUBJECTS.]
The commanding talents, and extensive military information of
General Scott--his whole life having been spent in storing up
valuable knowledge in every department of science connected with his
profession--have been of vast service to his country, even in time
of peace. In 1821, he published an octavo volume, entitled “General
Regulations for the Army, or Military Institutes,”--a complete manual
for both regular and militia officers. In the winter of 1814–15, he
was president of a board appointed to prepare a system of infantry
tactics, similar to that taught in the camp of instruction at
Buffalo, which was afterwards revised by another board, of which he
was also president, and published in 1825. In 1826, he presided over
another board, composed of regular officers and militia generals,
ordered to convene by the War Department, and to report--1. A plan
for the organization and instruction of the whole body of the militia
of the Union--2. A system of tactics for the artillery--3. A system
of cavalry tactics--and 4. A system of infantry and rifle tactics.
The reports made by the board, on the first and fourth subjects, were
prepared exclusively by General Scott, and reflect high credit on his
military knowledge and abilities. They were published for the use
of the army, and the information of the country; and in 1835, under
a resolution of Congress, he prepared a new edition of his system
of Infantry Tactics, in three small volumes, containing all the
improvements made subsequent to the general peace of 1815.
On the death of General Brown, in February, 1828, General Scott was a
candidate for the vacant office of General-in-Chief. His claims were
founded, mainly, on the fact, that his commission as a brevet major
general, which bore date July 25, 1814, was older than that of Macomb
or Gaines, both of whom were candidates for the same station. It was
decided, however, by President Adams, and, subsequently, by President
Jackson, that brevet rank was merely honorary in its character; and
the appointment was therefore conferred on General Macomb, the oldest
brigadier.[43] Pending the decision of this question, a warm personal
controversy sprung up between the different parties concerned, in
regard to brevet rank; and on the decision of the government being
made known, General Scott tendered his resignation. Under the advice
of his friends, he afterwards reconsidered this hasty step, withdrew
his resignation, and resumed the command of the Eastern Division.
On the fourth of July, 1831, the melancholy duty devolved upon
General Scott, of closing the eyes of his esteemed and venerable
friend, Ex-President Monroe, who expired at the city of New York on
that day.
[Sidenote: WAR WITH THE SACS AND FOXES.]
In the summer of 1832, General Scott was ordered to assume the
command of the troops sent to suppress the disturbance with the
Sacs and Foxes, under Black Hawk, on the Illinois frontier.[44] He
embarked at Buffalo, in July, on board a steamer, with two hundred
and twenty men; Colonel Twiggs proceeding on another vessel, with a
detachment of four hundred; and a third detachment, of over three
hundred men, taking still another vessel. Bunches of cypress, rather
than wreaths of laurel, were the trophies of this expedition. On the
route to Chicago, the command was overtaken by that terrible scourge,
the Asiatic Cholera. More than one half of the men composing the
detachments died of the disease, or were left in hospital. General
Scott paid every necessary attention to the wants of his soldiers;
nurses and medical attendants, suitable food and clothing, were
provided; and everything in his power was done, that could assuage
the sufferings of disease, or the pangs of death. After a long
delay, he left Chicago, at the head of only four hundred men. With
these he pushed forward as rapidly as possible, but did not come up
with General Atkinson, the officer in command of the troops then
operating in that quarter, till the third of August, the day after
the battle of the Bad-Axe, which put a finishing stroke to the war.
On the twenty-seventh instant, Black Hawk surrendered himself to the
American officers, and in September following, advantageous treaties
were concluded with the Sacs and Foxes, and the Winnebagoes, by
General Scott, and Governor Reynolds, of Illinois.
During the agitation of the nullification question, when a conflict
was daily expected to take place between South Carolina and the
General Government, General Scott was ordered to Charleston and
Savannah, to take command of the regular troops in that section, if
a collision should become unavoidable. His firmness, and manly and
dignified conduct, were productive of the happiest results. The state
receded from her position, and the angry waters which discord had
lashed into fury, were hushed and stilled by the blessed influence of
Peace.
Osceola, or Asceolah, “the black drink,”--as the name signifies,--and
the hostile Seminoles of Florida under his command, commenced their
depredations in the summer of 1835, and in the autumn the everglades
resounded with their shrill war-whoop. On the twenty-eighth of
December, Major Dade and his command were attacked and massacred,
when on the march from Fort Brooke, and General Thompson, the Indian
agent, and several companions were waylaid and killed, in sight of
Fort King. On the thirty-first instant, General Clinch encountered
the savages, under Osceola, on the banks of the Withlacoochee, and
after a severe action, though of brief duration, put them to flight.
[Sidenote: THE FLORIDA WAR.]
Immediately on the receipt of the intelligence of this outbreak,
General Scott was ordered to take command of the army in Florida.
At four o’clock in the afternoon of the twentieth of January,
1836, he reported to the Secretary of War, and was asked when he
could set out? “To night!” he replied promptly. His instructions,
however, could not be prepared until the following day; and, on
the twenty-first instant, he left Washington, travelling night and
day until he reached Florida. On the twenty-second of February, he
arrived at Picolata, and issued his orders forming the army into
three divisions.--Previous to this time, General Gaines had repaired
to the seat of war and commenced offensive operations; but he now
surrendered the command to General Scott.[45]--The troops on the
west of the St. John’s were placed under General Clinch; those on
the east of the river under General Eustis; and those at Tampa Bay
under Colonel Lindsay. The three divisions then moved towards the
Withlacoochee, where they met, in what was supposed, with good
reason--as this had been the theatre of the disturbances--to be the
heart of the Indian country; but they failed to discover the retreats
of the savages.
The object of this expedition not having been attained, another
movement was ordered. Six different corps were organized, with which
the whole country, between the twenty-eighth and thirtieth degrees of
north latitude, was effectually scoured. One of these detachments was
led by General Scott in person. Passing the scene of the massacre on
the twenty-eighth of December, he crossed the Ocklewaha, and ascended
the St. John’s from Volusia, in a steamboat. Still the Indians could
not be discovered, in any large bodies, though very small parties
were occasionally seen, with whom the troops had several skirmishes.
The soldiers had suffered considerably by their long and fatiguing
marches through the sickly and malarious swamps in the interior, the
deadly exhalations of which brought on severe diseases, and filled
the hospitals with the sick and suffering. It was now rendered
certain that the savages had retired among the dense live oak and
cypress forests, and the marshy hummocks, in the southern part of the
peninsula. To follow them, at that time, was out of the question;
and General Scott decided to suspend his operations until another
campaign. He then repaired to the Creek country, in Georgia and
Alabama, where a number of outrages had recently been committed. Here
he had fewer difficulties of climate or country to contend with. He
arrived in Georgia, in May, and in less than one month, nearly five
hundred of the refractory Creeks had surrendered themselves.
While General Scott was actively engaged in the discharge of his
duties in the Creek country, he was unexpectedly recalled, and, on
the ninth of July, gave up the command to General Jesup. It being
evident that he labored under the displeasure of the Executive,
General Jackson, he demanded a court of inquiry, on his arrival at
Washington. The court assembled at Frederick, Maryland, in October,
and after a long and tedious investigation, fully approved of
his conduct. The finding of the court was sustained by the then
president, Mr. Van Buren, and General Scott soon after returned to
the command of the Eastern Division. He requested permission to
be again sent to Florida, but as the war was at that time being
prosecuted by other officers, it was not thought advisable to comply
with his request, and thus disturb the arrangements which had been
made subsequent to his recall.
[Sidenote: THE NORTH EASTERN BOUNDARY.]
In the winter of 1837–8, General Scott rendered efficient services
in the preservation of neutrality on the northern frontier, and in
preventing the war which threatened to grow out of the outbreak in
Canada, and what was called “the patriot excitement.” No collision
took place with the British forces, although General Scott was
fully prepared for such an emergency. In the summer of 1838, he was
ordered to take command of the troops in the Cherokee country,--in
Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, and Tennessee,--and to superintend
the removal of the Indians west of the Mississippi. This duty was
discharged with so much promptitude and humanity, that he received
the grateful thanks of the Cherokees, as well as the express
approbation of his own government.
Having terminated his mission among the Cherokees, General Scott
hastened to the north, where his almost unbounded popularity had
produced such a favorable result the previous year, to take command
of the troops ordered to preserve the integrity of the territory
of Maine, a large part of which had long been in dispute, and the
subject of negotiation, between the governments of England and
the United States. He found in Sir John Harvey, the lieutenant
governor of New Brunswick--in the campaign of 1813, Lieutenant
Colonel Harvey--an old acquaintance, whom he had known during the
late war with England. The former discovered that the militia of
Maine were too numerous, and too well disposed, to be attacked by
his inferior force, and he readily met the friendly, but dignified
advances, of General Scott, in a similar spirit. A cessation of all
hostile movements and operations, was mutually agreed on between
them,--which received the approval of the Governor of Maine, the
American Executive, and the British Minister. The disputed boundary
was finally adjusted, under the Treaty of Washington, concluded in
1842.
Though taking no active part in the political contests of the day,
and never solicitous to venture in “the fiery chase of ambition,”
the opinions of General Scott on all leading questions, were so well
known to coincide with those of the Whig party, that he was warmly
supported as a candidate for the presidency, at their National
Convention, held at Harrisburg, in December, 1839. He received
sixty-two votes, on the last ballot but one; the choice of the
convention, however, fell on General Harrison, who was elected to the
office in the autumn of 1840. In the summer of 1848, General Scott
was again proposed as a candidate for the same high station, by his
numerous friends in different sections of the Union, and received a
highly flattering vote in the Whig National Convention, which met
at Philadelphia in the month of June,--though the nomination was
conferred on General Taylor, also a distinguished officer of the army.
General Macomb, the commanding general, died at Washington on the
twenty-fifth of June, 1841, and General Scott, to the universal
satisfaction of the American people, was elevated to the head of the
army, with the full rank of major general. The services performed by
him in this capacity were chiefly those of a cabinet officer, and
nothing more need be said of them, than that they were faithfully and
appropriately rendered.
[Sidenote: THE WAR WITH MEXICO.]
We now approach the most brilliant epoch in the military history of
General Scott,--his splendid campaign amid the burning sands and
lofty mountains of Mexico--the land of the citron and the orange, of
the fragrant acacia and the spreading banana; whose valleys teem with
the glowing vegetation of an unending summer, and whose hill-tops
are covered with eternal snow;
“where the stars,
In tropic brightness gleam,”--
and the overhanging rocks and rough buttresses of the sierras,
intrenched by the “deep scars of thunder,” look down upon sweet
Paphian bowers, blooming with the fragrant shrubs and flowers whose
soft intoxicating odors lull the senses to repose, and bright with
the plumage of the parrot and mocking bird, and the scarlet and
purple blossoms of innumerable creepers, twining about the columnar
stems of the tulip tree, or depending in heavy festoons from the
graceful palm. Like the Alpine scenery, to which the reviewer[46]
compares the poetry of Milton, “Nooks and dells, beautiful as fairy
land, are imbosomed in its most rugged elevations. The roses and the
myrtle bloom unchilled on the verge of the avalanche!”
Repeated insults and outrages, for a long series of years, were
heaped upon the American people and the American flag, by the
authorities of Mexico. Her weakness, and her position as one of the
family of republics on the Western Continent, alone shielded her
from attack. Injuries perpetrated by her were tolerated, which, had
they been committed by a monarchical power, would have been promptly
redressed. At length, after the annexation of Texas to the United
States--the citizens of which had revolted from her authority and
achieved their independence--on the twenty-fourth of April, 1846, a
body of Mexican lancers committed an unprovoked attack upon a small
party of American troops, on the left bank of the Rio Grande, and
within what was claimed to be the territory of the State of Texas.
The Congress of the United States was at this time in session, and
on receiving official intelligence of the transaction, an act was
passed, with great unanimity, declaring that a state of war existed
between the two countries “by the act of the republic of Mexico.”
Provision was made for filling up the regular regiments, the
President was authorized to accept the services of fifty thousand
volunteers, and the sum of ten millions of dollars was appropriated
to carry on the war.
Consultations were immediately held between the President, the
Secretary of War, and General Scott; and the various staff officers
and heads of bureaus were directed to prepare estimates, and furnish
the _matériel_ for the large army about to be called into the field.
It was originally intended that General Scott, whose abilities as a
skilful and scientific officer were admitted to be unequalled in the
American service, should proceed to the seat of war and assume the
chief command. An unfortunate misunderstanding, however, occurred
between him and the Executive, and he was directed to remain at
Washington. During the summer of 1846, nearly twenty thousand men
were thrown forward. General Taylor, the officer commanding on the
Rio Grande, was largely reïnforced, and strong columns of attack
were directed upon Chihuahua and New Mexico, under Generals Wool and
Kearny. Previous to this, General Taylor had driven the Mexicans from
the left bank of the Rio Grande, by a series of brilliant victories,
and taken possession of Matamoras. On the arrival of reïnforcements
and supplies, he proceeded against Monterey, the capital of New Leon,
where the shattered columns of the enemy had rallied; and after a
stout resistance, this town also surrendered to his arms, on the
twenty-fourth of September.
[Sidenote: EXPEDITION AGAINST VERA CRUZ.]
Before the close of the campaign, most of the northern provinces
of Mexico had been overrun, or occupied, by the American troops.
Victory everywhere perched on our banners. Still, the enemy made no
propositions for peace. Artful demagogues, availing themselves of
the dissensions which they had fomented among the Mexican people,
had obtained the control of affairs; and they hoped to preserve
their influence and authority, only by the successful prosecution
of hostilities. It was therefore determined to land a strong and
well-appointed column at Vera Cruz, and after reducing the formidable
castle of San Juan de Ulua--the Gibraltar of America--to march upon
the Mexican capital. This service demanded the highest military
talents in the Nation, and, in accordance with the general desire,
the hero of Chippewa and Niagara was selected to lead the American
armies to victory and triumph.
The expedition against Vera Cruz and San Juan de Ulua, was planned by
General Scott; great pains had been taken to procure the necessary
information in regard to the defences of the city and castle; and he
was engaged for several weeks in making the necessary preparations. A
corps of sappers and miners, mountain howitzer and rocket batteries,
heavy ordnance, large quantities of missiles and ammunition,
transport vessels, bomb-ketches, and surf-boats, to land the troops,
were ordered to be organized and prepared, and dispatched to the
Gulf of Mexico without delay. The troops destined to take part in the
expedition, who were to proceed from the United States, were ordered
to rendezvous at the island of Lobos, lying just off the Mexican
shore, about one hundred and twenty miles northwest of Vera Cruz--a
lovely perfumed island, hanging suspended in the waters like a basket
of flowers. The remainder of the force was to be withdrawn from the
army under General Taylor, and to embark for the same point, at
Tampico, or the Brazos.
General Scott received his final orders on the twenty-third of
November, 1846, and on the twenty-fourth left Washington for New
York, where he embarked for New Orleans. From thence he proceeded
to the Rio Grande, and, having selected the troops to compose his
column, repaired to the general rendezvous.
It was late in the month of February, 1847, before all the troops
reached the island of Lobos; the arrangements were then speedily
completed; and just before nightfall on the fifth of March, the whole
fleet came bearing down into the roadstead of Vera Cruz, under a
full press of canvas, and blocking up the bay with a dense forest
of masts and spars. The American naval squadron, under Commodore
Conner, previously employed in blockading the Mexican ports, was
present to coöperate in the expedition. Careful reconnaissances of
the enemy’s coast were immediately made by the Commodore and General
Scott, and the debarkation was ordered to take place on the ninth
of March, opposite the island of Sacrificios, between four and five
miles south of the city of Vera Cruz. The surf-boats, sixty-five in
number, were properly marked, and the troops arranged in divisions,
and transferred from the transports to the vessels of war, so as not
to crowd the contracted anchorage with too many sail.
[Sidenote: LANDING OF THE TROOPS.]
At eleven o’clock in the morning of the ninth, the squadron weighed
anchor, and at three in the afternoon hove to abreast of Sacrificios.
The arrangements of Commodore Conner and General Scott were all
perfect; nothing was amiss or in confusion; and not a single accident
occurred to interrupt the movement. The small boats, which had been
towed astern of the larger vessels, were ranged alongside, manned by
the sailors, and received their complements of men, all fully armed
and equipped, and their bright muskets and bayonets glistening with
sunbeams. The steamers Spitfire and Vixen, with five gun boats, then
formed a line parallel with the beach, within good grape range, to
cover the descent. The regular brigade of General Worth, was the
first to land. As the signal gun fired from the Massachusetts boomed
over the waters, the line of boats darted for the shore.
The day was highly favorable for the landing. It was bright and
clear, and a soft southeasterly breeze, fresh from groves of balm
and forests of citron trees, just rippled the surface of the bay,
and died away in gentle murmurs on the sandy beach. The harbor was
crowded with American, and foreign vessels of war; and every deck,
mast and spar, were alive with anxious spectators. But a few moments
elapsed ere the boats reached the shore, and the American flag was
unfurled amid the joyous shouts and loud hurrahs of the brave tars
and gallant soldiers. The remainder of the troops--the volunteer
division of General Patterson, and the regular brigade of General
Twiggs--numbering, in all, between ten and eleven thousand men, were
landed by the surf-boats, in successive trips, before ten o’clock in
the evening.
No attempt was made by the enemy to oppose the disembarkation of
General Scott’s army. There were between six and seven thousand men
in the city and castle, all under the command of General Morales,
Governor of the State of Vera Cruz; but that officer contented
himself with remaining in security behind his defences, which he
might well have deemed almost impregnable. The city was entirely
surrounded by a stone wall, with towers at irregular intervals,--the
two most important ones, the Santiago and the Conception, being on
the water-front, twelve hundred and seventy yards distant from each
other. The castle of San Juan de Ulua, the reduction of which was
the great object of the expedition, stood on a bar, or small island,
in front of the town, one thousand and sixty-two yards from the main
land. The armament of the castle was very heavy; it contained about
one hundred and fifty guns, of different calibre; and there were over
one hundred guns mounted upon the fortifications of the city. In the
rear of the town was a wide stretch of country, dotted here and there
with thickets of chaparral, originally a level plain; but the loose
sand had been drifted into hillocks, from twenty to two hundred and
fifty feet high, by the perpetual blowing of the fierce _nortes_.
[Sidenote: LINE OF INVESTMENT.]
General Scott landed on the morning of the tenth of March, and made
immediate preparations to invest the town. He had rendered himself
familiar with the topography of the country, and his columns moved
as regularly to their positions, as if they had been on parade;
General Worth occupying the right of the line with his command,
General Patterson the centre, and General Twiggs the extreme left.
Though half blinded by the whirling sand, the men cheerfully mounted
over the clumps and ridges, dragging after them their baggage,
tents, and artillery, and entirely indifferent to the fire of the
enemy’s guns, which kept up a continued and incessant roar. Several
slight skirmishes occurred, but the Mexicans appeared nowhere in
force outside their strong fortifications, frowning with cannon,
and bristling with bayonets. The investment was completed on the
thirteenth of March, and on the same day safeguards were sent to the
foreign consuls in the town. The whole line, extending from the beach
opposite Sacrificios, to the hamlet of Vergara, on the coast north of
Vera Cruz, was about seven miles in length, with an interval of from
two and a half to three miles between it and the city.
The plan of attack fixed upon by General Scott, was, in the first
place, to compel the city to surrender, and then to take up battering
positions near it, and assault the castle. A succession of severe
northers cut off all communication with the fleet for several
days, and prevented the landing of the mortars and heavy guns; but
in the afternoon of the twenty-second of March, three batteries
were finally established, within eight hundred yards of the city,
under the direction of Colonel Totten, the Chief Engineer, and
seven mortars planted. The city was then regularly summoned; but
Governor Morales affected to regard the castle as being embraced
in the demand, and peremptorily refused to capitulate. Orders were
therefore given to open the fire, and the squadron, under Commodore
Perry, who had relieved Commodore Conner, moved up to prevent any
further intercourse between the town and the foreign vessels of war.
The command of the trenches was assigned to Colonel Bankhead, of
the 2nd artillery; and shortly after four o’clock on the afternoon
of the twenty-second, the three batteries commenced bombarding the
town. A strong battery, manned by officers and men of the navy, and
mounting three 8-inch Paixhan guns, and three long thirty-two’s,
opened its fire on the following day; and early in the morning of
the twenty-fifth, a fifth battery, with four 24-pounders and two
8-inch howitzers, added its deep-toned thunders to the ceaseless din.
The enemy returned the fire, with considerable spirit, from their
batteries in the city and castle; but little injury was done to the
trenches, and the Americans sustained but a trifling loss.
In the city, the horrors of a bombardment were soon witnessed.
The American fire was terribly destructive. Deep channels were
ploughed in the streets, and the walls sunk in large masses. The
air was full of blazing shells; houses were set on fire, and the
affrighted inmates fled hither and thither, seeking, in vain, some
place of refuge and safety. The city resounded, in every quarter,
with the groans of the dying, the shrieks of pale-faced women and
orphaned children. On the night of the twenty-fourth, the foreign
consuls dispatched a memorial to General Scott, praying him to
grant a truce to enable the neutrals to withdraw, with the Mexican
women and children. All the terrors which they depicted, had been
foreseen by the American commander, and they had been forewarned in
time. They had chosen to remain in the city till it was too late.
There could now be no alternative but a surrender. The request of
the memorialists was therefore refused, and the siege pressed with
increased vigor.
[Sidenote: THE BOMBARDMENT AND CAPITULATION.]
The firing was continued without intermission during the day,
on the twenty-fifth, and the following night. Governor Morales
resisted every appeal on the part of the inhabitants of Vera Cruz,
to surrender, and it was only when the streets had become deluged
with blood, that he resigned the command to General Landero, who
immediately opened negotiations with General Scott, which terminated
in the capitulation of the city and castle, with their armaments,
and the surrender of the garrison as prisoners of war. The American
batteries ceased playing on the morning of the twenty-sixth; and on
the twenty-ninth, the Mexican troops marched out and lay down their
arms, while the victors entered and took possession of the formidable
strongholds which they had evacuated.
There were but thirteen killed, and sixty-three wounded, on the side
of the Americans, including the losses sustained by the navy, during
the operations before the city of Vera Cruz, from the landing to the
capitulation; except that there were a few casualties occurred on the
twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth of March, in brief skirmishes with
mounted parties of the enemy, who made their appearance in the rear
of the line of investment, but were driven off by detachments under
the command, respectively, of General P. F. Smith and Colonel Harney.
The loss of the Mexicans during the siege was not ascertained, but
was variously estimated at from one to two thousand.
Anticipating the speedy arrival of the dreaded _vómito_ on the low
and sickly coast of Mexico, General Scott hastened to put his army in
motion for the interior, hoping to find among the cool retreats of
the _terra templada_, a refuge from the scorching sun of the tropics.
Lieutenant Colonel Belton, of the 3rd artillery, was left in command
of Vera Cruz and the Castle, with a suitable garrison; and, on the
eighth of April, General Twiggs took up the line of march for Jalapa,
about ninety miles distant. The remaining columns followed in a few
days.
Meanwhile, Santa Anna, the Provisional President of Mexico, and
General-in-chief of her armies, had sustained a terrible repulse
near Buena Vista, on the twenty-third of February, when he had
attacked the American army under General Taylor, with a force four
times greater than that of his opponents. Escaping from the scene of
disaster, with the wreck of his forces,--as the Americans did not
design to penetrate further into the country in that direction,--and
augmenting their numbers by forced levies, together with large
additions from the National Guard, and considerable bodies of
guerillereros, he proceeded to the heights of Cerro Gordo, nearly
thirty miles east of Jalapa, and commenced fortifying his position.
The National Road, along which the victorious columns of General
Scott were approaching, here commences the ascent from the _tierra
caliente_, to the elevated table land of Mexico.
[Sidenote: THE HEIGHTS OF CERRO GORDO.]
After crossing the Rio del Plan, the road winds up among the
hills--now scaling a bold sierra, and now disappearing in the
wooded depths of some dark ravine--until, at the distance of two
or three miles, it enters a narrow defile, flanked, on the left,
by three ridges jutting out from the plateau above,--beyond which
is the impassable channel of the river,--and, on the right, by the
tall mountain peak of Cerro Gordo, crowned with the _Telegrafo_, a
fortified citadel, or tower. Intrenchments were thrown up on the
eastern extremities of the hills on the left, which terminated
abruptly, and upwards of twenty guns placed in battery. In addition
to the work on the lofty summit of Cerro Gordo, which contained six
guns mounted on carriages, there was a strong battery, of six large
brass guns, at the foot of the height, which completely enfiladed the
defile. Breastworks for the protection of infantry were constructed
in and about this chain of defences, within which Santa Anna posted
about one half of his army, altogether consisting of not far from
fifteen thousand men. With the remaining half, he encamped on the
National Road, about half a mile west of the tower, where he had,
also, a battery of five guns.
The march of the American army from Vera Cruz to the Rio del Plan was
entirely unobstructed,--though, on account of the deep sandy roads,
very tedious and difficult. For most of the distance, the wayside
was skirted with thickets of chaparral, with occasional openings,
through which glimpses could be caught of plantations of maguey,
whose bright clustering flowers shed their rich golden radiance
on everything around; of waving fields of corn and sugar cane; of
groves of citrons, oranges, and pomegranates,--the trees bending
down with their luscious fruit, or loaded with rare foliage; or of
sylvan nooks, where the waters of some gentle streamlet trembled in
the faint light stealing softly down through the overhanging branches
of the majestic plane-tree, the dark-leaved banana, the lofty cedar,
or the gigantic arbutus. Now and then, too, they passed the rude
sheds, covered with green palmetto leaves, of the _jarochada_,--the
humblest class of Mexican peasantry,--who looked upon the advent of
these strange warriors, with emotions similar to those with which the
ancient Aztecs regarded the mail-clad followers of Hernando Cortés.
General Twiggs arrived at the Plan del Rio, on the eleventh of April,
with his division, and encamped for the night; his advanced guard,
under Colonel Harney, having driven a party of Mexican lancers from
the ground. On the following day reconnaissances were pushed in the
direction of the enemy’s position, which, it was ascertained, could
be turned on the right, by the construction of a road leaving the
main route some distance below the defile, and winding round to the
north of the height of Cerro Gordo. The first and third brigades of
General Patterson’s volunteer division, commanded by Generals Pillow
and Shields, came up on the twelfth instant; the second brigade,
under General Quitman, did not arrive in time to take part in the
action. General Scott soon followed, and, on the sixteenth of April,
General Worth reached the ground with his division. Dispositions were
forthwith made for carrying the whole Mexican line of intrenchments
by assault. The operations on the line reconnoitred by General
Twiggs, were pushed with great activity, and a road was constructed,
extending for two or three miles, through thickets of chaparral,
underneath jutting precipices, and across deep stony chasms. The
fatigue parties continued at work, until they came within range of
the enemy’s batteries, and orders were then issued to prepare for the
storm.
[Sidenote: STORMING THE FORTIFICATIONS.]
The division of General Twiggs was thrown forward on the new road,
and in the afternoon of the seventeenth, his advanced parties seized
a commanding eminence directly below the frowning height of Cerro
Gordo, upon which several heavy guns were planted, that were drawn
up during the evening by the 4th artillery and the volunteers of
General Shields, who had been directed to reïnforce the regular
division. The main attack was now ordered to be made at sunrise on
the eighteenth of April; General Twiggs being directed to carry the
works on the right of the road, with his division and the brigade of
General Shields; and General Pillow receiving orders to attack the
intrenchments on the series of hills on the left, aided by the fire
of an 8-inch howitzer put in position on the heights, on the opposite
bank of the Rio del Plan. General Worth was required to follow the
movement under General Twiggs with his division.
With the first light of dawn, the command of General Twiggs was in
motion. The main height of Cerro Gordo, from the sides of which the
enemy’s skirmishers were driven by the fire of the mounted rifles,
was gallantly ascended by the 1st artillery,[47] and the 3rd and 7th
infantry, headed by Colonel Harney, under a plunging and withering
fire of grape and musketry, and the fortified work on its summit
carried at the point of the bayonet. General Shields crossed a
ravine, hitherto deemed impassable, further to the west and right,
with his brigade, and boldly attacked the battery in the rear near
the principal camp of Santa Anna; being desperately wounded, he gave
up the command to Colonel Baker, who promptly led on the column,
and, with the assistance of Colonel Riley, who moved up with the
2nd infantry and 4th artillery, succeeded in carrying the battery
and routing the main body of the enemy. The private carriage of the
Mexican President, his baggage, and the military chest of the army,
were captured; but Santa Anna himself, and his principal officers,
succeeded in effecting their escape.
General Pillow was less successful in the attempt to carry the
batteries and intrenchments on the left of the road. The fire of the
enemy proved so destructive, that he was obliged to call off his men;
but, nothing daunted by one repulse, they were preparing for a second
and more determined effort, when white flags were thrown out over
the breastworks,--the Mexican force in this quarter being completely
in the power of the American troops, who had carried the height of
Cerro Gordo and the battery in the rear. A large number of the enemy
having escaped just previous to the capture of the works, the way
was cleared, and the mounted men and light batteries, with portions
of the infantry, dashed after them in pursuit, under Generals Twiggs
and Patterson. The intrenchments and fortifications were all carried
before the sun had reached its meridian, and at eventide the advanced
corps halted and encamped within sight of the white towers of Jalapa.
[Sidenote: DEFEAT AND PURSUIT OF THE ENEMY.]
The American force in this action barely exceeded eight thousand
men; but the network of defences constructed by Santa Anna to impede
their advance, proved as frail and powerless as the gossamer’s web.
Yet the victory was not achieved without a severe loss; there being
four hundred and thirty-one officers and men killed and wounded.
The Mexican loss, however, was much greater; there were upwards
of one thousand killed and wounded, and over three thousand taken
prisoners, including five general officers. Forty-three pieces of
artillery, four thousand stands of arms, and a large quantity of
fixed ammunition, were also captured by the Americans.
Jalapa surrendered to the victors on the nineteenth of April, and
on the twenty-second General Worth took possession of the important
castle of Perote. No resistance was now made to the arms of General
Scott. Panic and dismay were visible on every side, and had the
American commander been in a situation to advance immediately upon
the Mexican capital, it is more than probable that he would have
encountered but feeble opposition. But, when he arrived at Jalapa,
the terms of service of more than three thousand of his volunteer
force were about to expire; and they returned at once to the
coast, to reëmbark for the United States before the sickly season
came on. Although his army was thereby reduced to less than seven
thousand effective men--a feeble band left to maintain themselves
in the heart of the enemy’s country, whose communications with the
sea-board were soon after cut off by the guerilleros, who swarmed
during the whole season on the road to Vera Cruz--he determined,
nevertheless, to surrender not one of the advantages which he
had gained, but to penetrate still further into the interior.
Accordingly, General Worth moved forward, in May, to Puebla de los
Ángelos--the City of the Angels--with his division and the volunteer
brigade of General Quitman, in all but little more than four thousand
men. On the fourteenth instant, near Amasoque, he had a slight
skirmish with a body of lancers three thousand strong, under Santa
Anna; but he drove them before him with ease, and on the fifteenth
instant entered the city and took formal possession.
Like Jackson and Harrison, General Scott had no sooner evolved
his plans, than he found them counteracted by the orders or
proceedings of the War Department. The experience, oftentimes the
bitter experience, of the Revolution and the second war with Great
Britain,--in which it was over and over again demonstrated, that it
was essential to success that there should be as little interference
as possible with the details and incidents of a campaign,--seemed
to be forgotten by the Executive authorities at Washington. The
general object of a campaign, or expedition, may, perhaps should be,
designated by the President, as commander in chief of the army; but
it may be unhesitatingly affirmed, that no officer is fit to conduct
either, to whom a large discretion may not be safely confided. He
will find cares and vexations enough, without being fretted by
petty annoyances, or thwarted, at every turn, in the most trifling
circumstance.
[Sidenote: MARCH FROM PUEBLA.]
It was a long time before General Scott found himself in sufficient
force to warrant him in continuing his march upon the Mexican
capital. On the twenty-second of May, General Twiggs marched from
Jalapa for Puebla, with his division. General Scott followed him
on the twenty-third, in company with Mr. Trist, the American
Commissioner sent to confer with the Mexican government, in case
negotiations for peace should be proposed. Strong garrisons were
left at Jalapa and Perote, under Colonels Childs and Wynkoop. At
Puebla another tedious delay took place; but the time was wisely and
profitably spent in drilling the troops. At length, the long-expected
reïnforcements began to arrive. Generals Pillow and Cadwalader
reached Puebla on the eighth of July, with over three thousand men,
including the command of Colonel Childs; and on the sixth of August,
General Pierce came up with twenty-five hundred men. Both columns had
repeated, and, in every instance, successful encounters, with the
guerilleros.
Arrangements had already been made for the contemplated movement
towards the far-famed halls of the Montezumas. The army, now
consisting of ten thousand seven hundred men, moved forward _en
échelon_; General Twiggs marching on the seventh instant with his
division, preceded by the cavalry brigade of Colonel Harney, and
the remaining divisions, under Generals Quitman, Worth, and Pillow,
following on successive days. General Scott left Puebla in person on
the eighth instant, and on the same day overtook, and then continued
with, the leading division, under General Twiggs. The line of march
followed the National Road, which ascends gradually through a rich
rolling country, to the _tierra fria_, the third of the great
terraces into which Mexico is divided.--Elated with past victories,
and the brilliant promise of future triumphs, the serried columns
press on, through groves and gardens decked out in the most gorgeous
array, through fields of maize and barley, and amidst towering cedars
and lofty pines:
“Through rocky pass, o’er wooded steep,
In long and glittering files they sweep.”
Not an enemy appeared to obstruct their march, until, on emerging
from the pass of Rio Frio, they commenced descending into the valley,
in the midst of which, like some bright vision of fairy land, lay
the city of Mexico, whose shining domes and sculptured façades were
bathed in the rich flood of golden light that streamed down through
the transparent atmosphere. On approaching the hacienda of Buena
Vista, Major Sumner, of the 2nd dragoons, who commanded the advanced
corps, descried a party of Mexican lancers apparently drawn up to
defend the passage. Dashing fiercely upon the enemy, without pausing
to count their numbers, he compelled them to make a hasty retreat.
General Twiggs’ division halted at Ayotla, fifteen miles from Mexico,
on the eleventh of August, and as the other divisions came up, they
encamped in the rear, about the head of Lake Chalco.
The Mexican capital lies about three miles west of Lake Tezcuco,
and six miles from the northwest point of Lake Xochimilco. It is
approached by six principal roads, which terminate in massive stone
causeways, elevated from ten to twenty feet above the low marshy
grounds that surround the city. On the east, is the National Road,
along which the American army moved; on the south, the Acapulco road,
entering on the San Antonio causeway; on the south-west, the Tacubaya
road and causeway; on the west, the San Cosmé road and causeway; and
on the north, are the remaining two roads.
[Sidenote: FORTIFICATIONS OF MEXICO.]
After his repulse at Amasoque, Santa Anna returned to the capital,
and began diligently to fortify it. The National Road, which runs
close to the southern shore of Lake Tezcuco, was defended by El
Peñon, an isolated hill three hundred feet high, seven miles from the
city, on the south side of the road; this was garnished with twenty
batteries mounting fifty-one guns, and fifteen infantry breastworks;
and there was, also, a strong battery on the road, or causeway, four
hundred yards in advance of the height, another by its side, and a
third about a mile from the gate of San Lazaro. Between the National
Road and Lake Xochimilco, is a lateral road, leading to the San
Antonio causeway by way of the village of Mexicalcingo, which lies on
the outlet or canal reaching from the lake to the city. The bridge
over the outlet was fortified, and flanked by strong works,--there
being, in all, eight batteries, with thirty-eight guns, and one
breastwork for infantry.
On the opposite side of Lake Xochimilco, upon the San Antonio
causeway, was a _tête du pont_ of heavy mason work, at the bridge
over the Churubusco river, over two miles south of the city. To
the left of the bridge, were the church and convent of San Pablo,
surrounded by a high wall and designed to be used for purposes of
defence. Between two and three miles further south, at San Antonio,
there were extensive field works, containing seven batteries,
mounting twenty-four heavy guns, and two infantry breastworks. Five
miles northwest of the _tête du pont_, on the Tacubaya causeway, and
distant only one and a half miles from the Belén garita, or fortified
gateway, was the frowning fortress of Chapultepec, situated on a
rocky eminence in an oblong inclosure, the walls at the foot of
which, on the north and south, were formed by aqueducts extending
into the city, over heavy arches, by the Tacubaya and San Cosmé
causeways, which were thus divided into double roadways. On the
heights of Chapultepec, there were seven batteries, including those
in the main fortification, which mounted nineteen guns, and seven
infantry breastworks. Beneath this fortress, on the west, twelve
hundred yards distant from the acclivity, was El Molino del Rey--“the
Mill of the King”--a long range of stone buildings now occupied by
the Mexican troops; and four or five hundred yards further to the
west, on a retired line, was Casa de Mata, an old square building,
with thick stone walls, and surrounded by ditches and bastioned
intrenchments.
In addition to the exterior chain of defences, there was an interior
line equally formidable. A wide and deep navigable canal, extremely
difficult, if not impossible, to bridge in the face of an active
enemy, girded the city throughout its greater extent. There were
eight main entrances, at each of which there was a fortified garita;
and on the left and north of the Tacubaya causeway, a short distance
in rear of the garita Belén, was the Ciudadela, or citadel, a
rectangular work, containing fifteen heavy guns. Batteries and
redans were constructed upon and near the causeways and garitas, and
preparations were made to connect all the works of the interior line
by a continuous chain of redoubts. Guns could not be obtained in
sufficient quantities to arm all the works, but it was the intention
of the Mexican commander to withdraw his pieces from the outer
batteries, whenever it became necessary to take up a new position.
For the defence of these fortifications, and the protection of the
city, he had collected an army of over thirty thousand men, mainly
consisting of the battalions of the National Guard, but all well
armed and equipped.
[Sidenote: RECONNAISSANCES.]
From his camp at Ayotla, General Scott threw forward several
reconnoitering parties, through whom he obtained definite and
reliable information in regard to the enemy’s fortifications. He was
able to break through the chain at any point, but his army was weak
in numbers, and no reïnforcements could be expected for some time to
come; consequently, he decided to husband his strength, and avoid
the more important and stronger works at El Peñon and Mexicalcingo,
by making a détour to the left, round Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco.
He had long had this project in contemplation, and on the fourteenth
of August, a reconnaissance was made in that direction, which
demonstrated its entire practicability. Directions were forthwith
given for the columns to be put in motion. The order of march was
now reversed; General Worth leading the van, with Colonel Harney’s
brigade in the advance, and the other divisions closely following the
movement.
The enemy’s light troops and skirmishers were repeatedly encountered
while making the circuit of the lakes; the route was found to be low
and uneven, sometimes crossing deep pits and marshes, and at others
running underneath overhanging scaurs which threatened to fall down
upon the heads of the soldiers; but the tedious march was terminated
on the evening of the seventeenth of August, by the arrival of
General Worth at San Augustin, on the Acapulco road,--twenty-seven
miles from Ayotla by this circuitous route, and nine miles south of
the city of Mexico. In the morning of the eighteenth, General Worth
moved along the causeway, towards San Antonio, to allow the other
divisions to close on him.
Reconnaissances having been made by the engineer officers, it was
found that the fortifications at San Antonio commanded the causeway
and the marshes on their left, as far as Lake Xochimilco. West of the
road there was a vast field of volcanic rocks, called a _pedregal_,
utterly impassable for cavalry or artillery, and nearly so for
infantry, which extended some four or five miles, to the San Angel
road, leading from the factory of Magdalena, down the valley of the
Churubusco river, to the San Antonio causeway. General Scott again
resolved that the skill of the enemy should avail them nothing. His
plan--to gain the San Angel road, and then move round to the attack
of San Antonio in rear--was soon formed, and the necessary orders
given to carry it into effect. A mule path was discovered running
westward from San Augustin, and connecting with the San Angel road,
which the engineers reported could be made practicable for artillery.
On the morning of the nineteenth instant General Pillow advanced
to open the path with his division and the corps of sappers and
miners,--the movement being covered by the division of General Twiggs.
[Sidenote: CONTRERAS AND CHERUBUSCO.]
In the meantime, Santa Anna had moved his forces to the southern
side of the city. Eight guns were planted in battery at the _tête
du pont_; the defences of San Pablo were increased, and seven guns
mounted; and General Valencia was thrown forward on the San Angel
road, with a corps of seven thousand men, and twenty-four pieces
of artillery, half of which were of heavy calibre. In the morning
of the eighteenth of August, he had been directed to fall back to
Coyoacan, near San Pablo; but he proceeded to the Hill of Contreras,
situated in a bend of the San Angel road, opposite the opening of the
mule path leading from San Augustin, where he intrenched himself and
planted his guns.
The working parties under General Pillow encountered innumerable
difficulties, but they overcame them all, with cheerfulness and
alacrity; and at three o’clock in the afternoon, he opened a lively
and well-directed fire from a battery of field pieces, and a mountain
howitzer battery, which he had planted within nine hundred yards
of the Hill of Contreras. The fire was answered with spirit; and
slugs, shot, and fragments, were thrown from the enemy’s guns with
terrible effect. Meanwhile, Colonel Riley had moved round to the
right, with his brigade of General Twiggs’ division, across the field
of lava,--officers and men, the latter divested of their knapsacks,
picking their way on foot,--to attack the Mexicans in the rear.
Strong detachments of the enemy’s infantry, supported by heavy
guns, being discovered moving up the slopes west of the San Angel
road, General Pillow detached General Cadwalader, with his brigade,
to the support of Colonel Riley. General Smith also crossed the
_pedregal_, with the remaining brigade of General Twiggs’ division;
and, subsequently, General Scott dispatched Colonel Morgan, with the
fifteenth infantry, and General Shields, with his brigade, in the
same direction.
No serious impression being made against the heavier metal of the
enemy, by the American guns, they ceased playing after nightfall. A
violent storm of wind and rain now came on, which served to heighten
the anxiety of General Scott and his officers, to learn the situation
and prospects of the troops who had crossed the _pedregal_. Late
at night, when all was uncertainty and gloom, Captain Lee, of the
engineers, returned from the opposite side of the bed of lava, with
the information that General Smith, who had taken the command of the
detachments, numbering altogether about thirty-three hundred men,
would storm the camp of General Valencia at sunrise. Shortly after
the day broke on the twentieth instant, the intrenchments on the hill
of Contreras were gallantly carried, as had been promised, and the
enemy driven from their position with great loss.
General Scott immediately followed the mule path to the San Angel
road, with the brigades of General Pierce and Colonel Harney,
and ordered a rapid pursuit of the retreating enemy, who were
concentrating at San Pablo and the _tête du pont_. At the same time,
General Worth moved against San Antonio in front, with his division;
but the enemy evacuated their works on his approach, and retired to
the bridge, whither he pursued them as rapidly as possible.
[Sidenote: ROUT OF THE ENEMY.]
A general action, of more than two hours’ duration, which was hotly
contested on both sides, now took place in and about the _tête du
pont_ and the defences of San Pablo. At length, the fierce onset of
General Worth compelled the enemy to give way on the right; the whole
line soon staggered and broke, and a complete rout ensued. At the
request of Colonel Harney, the way was cleared, and he was permitted
to follow the retreating columns of the enemy along the San Antonio
causeway, to the very gates of the city. His squadrons dashed through
and through the files of Mexican infantry, smiting terrible blows on
every side; spurring in upon the crowding fugitives, they cleft down
all who refused to surrender; and up to the very garita, their shouts
and cheers, their pistol shots and sabre strokes, spread terror and
alarm.
In this action, the old war-spirit of General Scott was fully
aroused. When the clangor of the battle was the wildest and the
highest, careless and indifferent in regard to the exposure of his
person, he ventured again and again within range of the enemy’s guns.
In the course of the engagement, he received a slight wound from a
grape-shot, but he entered the church of San Pablo soon after it was
taken, and was received by his brave soldiers with many a glad hurrah.
This series of bloody contests finally terminated at sunset. During
the day, the enemy lost four thousand men in killed and wounded,
and there were over twenty-five hundred taken prisoners. Among
the prisoners were eight general officers. Thirty-seven pieces
of artillery, and large quantities of small arms and ammunition,
standards, pack-mules and horses, were also captured. The American
loss was far less in proportion, yet it was very severe; there were
one hundred and thirty-seven killed, eight hundred and seventy-nine
wounded, and forty missing.
It is not improbable, that General Scott might have forced his way
into the city, on the night after this action; but it was far too
hazardous an undertaking for eight thousand men to enter a hostile
town, containing a population of two hundred thousand souls, whose
convents and public edifices could be readily converted into
fortifications, and the _azoteas_, or flat roofs, of whose dwellings,
would afford a secure shelter for thousands upon thousands of
sharp-shooters. It was not half so well provided for defence, when
Guatemozin, “the last of the Aztecs,” resisted for three months the
utmost efforts of Cortés, though the latter was aided by two hundred
thousand Tlascalan allies.
[Sidenote: THE ARMISTICE.]
On the night of the twentieth of August, while the thunders of the
battle were yet echoing among the gorges of the Cordilleras, and
ere the dark flocks of the _zopilote_--the voracious vulture of the
country--which hovered over the ensanguined plain, had descended to
their unhallowed carnival, General Scott was visited by the British
Consul, and other foreign residents of the Mexican capital, at whose
suggestion, in the spirit of a magnanimous victor, he addressed a
note to Santa Anna on the following morning, proposing an armistice
with a view to negotiation. Previous to this time, on the morning
of the twenty-first, General Scott was waited on by General Mora y
Villamil, who came out to propose a truce; but the terms not being
satisfactory, nothing was agreed on. Upon the receipt of General
Scott’s note, Santa Anna appointed commissioners to confer with such
as might be appointed on the other side. An armistice was ultimately
signed, and ratified on the twenty-fourth instant.
Negotiations were instantly opened; but the duplicity and bad faith
of the Mexican government daily became more and more apparent.
Infractions of the armistice constantly took place; and on the
sixth of September General Scott notified Santa Anna, that unless
full satisfaction was made, before twelve o’clock, meridian, on the
following day, he should consider it at an end from and after that
hour. The reply of the Mexican President was both insulting and
evasive,--and General Scott made immediate preparations to renew
offensive operations. Having been informed that there was a cannon
foundry in El Molino del Rey, to which a number of bells had been
sent from the city to be cast into guns--though this afterwards
proved to be a mistake--and that there was a large deposit of powder
in Casa de Mata, he determined to drive the enemy from these works,
and to seize the powder and destroy the foundry. The performance
of this service was confided to General Worth, with his division,
reïnforced by the brigade of General Cadwalader and other small
detachments. It was brilliantly executed on the eighth of September,
in spite of the opposition of nearly the whole Mexican army, but
with the loss of near eight hundred men killed and wounded, out of
thirty-four hundred.
The capital itself still remained in the possession of the enemy, who
labored night and day to complete their defences. Including the works
at the garitas, there were forty-seven batteries, designed for one
hundred and seventy-seven guns, and seventeen infantry breastworks,
constructed around the city. All the batteries, however, could
not be manned at the same time, in consequence of the deficiency
in artillery. The most formidable works were at the garita of San
Antonio, and on the heights of Chapultepec.
After completing his reconnaissances, General Scott made a
demonstration before the southern gates of the city, with the
divisions of Generals Pillow and Quitman, on the afternoon of the
eleventh of September, in order to deceive the enemy; but when it
became dark, he directed those officers to join him with their
columns, at Tacubuya, whither his headquarters had been sometime
previous removed. General Twiggs was left at Piedad with his
division, to threaten, or make false attacks, on the batteries near
the garita of San Antonio.
On the twelfth instant, four heavy batteries were planted, and
opened, on the castle of Chapultepec, less than a mile distant from
Tacubaya,--while General Twiggs directed a vigorous fire upon the
batteries in the vicinity of the southern gates. The cannonade was
very effective; the enemy were driven from their outworks on the
heights of Chapultepec, and the main fortification was seriously
crippled. On the night of the twelfth, final arrangements were made
for storming the castle early on the following morning. Before midday
on the thirteenth, the works were bravely carried at the point of
the bayonet, by the divisions of Generals Pillow and Quitman,--the
former being supported by the division of General Worth, and the
latter by the brigade of General Smith. Immediately after the
reduction of the castle, Generals Worth and Quitman followed the
retreating masses of the Mexican troops along the San Cosmé, and
Chapultepec, or Tacubaya causeways. The latter was the first to gain
a foothold in the city; the garita of Belén being carried by his
men shortly after one o’clock in the afternoon. The route taken by
General Worth was much longer, but he steadily advanced on his way,
driving the enemy from every redoubt and battery; and, during the
evening, he securely established himself inside of the garita of San
Cosmé. Between nine and ten o’clock, a few shells were thrown from
a mortar brought up to his column, in the direction of the National
Palace, on the great plaza, in order to obtain the exact distance.
[Sidenote: CAPTURE OF MEXICO.]
Santa Anna and his ministers did not think it advisable again to
encounter the American army, or to bring upon the city the horrors
of a bombardment. During the night of the thirteenth, the Mexican
commander hastily evacuated the capital with all his forces; and on
the morning of the fourteenth of September, General Scott entered
and took possession with his troops,--the civil officers making an
unconditional surrender of the town. For upwards of twenty-four
hours, the Americans were annoyed by the _leperos_, and lower classes
of the populace, who fired, and hurled missiles upon them, from the
roofs and windows. The vigilant measures of General Scott speedily
checked the _émeute_, and the American flag waved undisturbed over
the Palacio of Mexico.[48]
A rigid system of police was at once established and enforced by the
American commander,--whose watchful care for the comfort and welfare
of his men, whose regard for the rights of the citizens, and whose
respect for his vanquished opponents, manifested at all times and on
all occasions, won golden opinions from both friends and foes.
The brilliant campaign of General Scott,--especially remarkable
for the wonderful display of his military knowledge and ability,
his rapidity of decision, the power and compass of his mind, the
clearness of his plans, and the strategical skill which so often
rendered all the labors of the enemy completely nugatory,--terminated
with the fall of the Mexican capital. Large reïnforcements were sent
to join him, by the aid of which his communications with the seacoast
were effectually opened. For a few weeks, Santa Anna, who had
resigned his office of provisional president, attempted to continue
the war, but he eventually abandoned the contest and quitted the
country. The new administration exhibited a more friendly and pacific
disposition; the negotiations were resumed, and on the second day of
February, 1848, a treaty of peace was signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo,
which was subsequently duly ratified.
[Sidenote: RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES.]
On the nineteenth of February, General Scott was relieved from duty
in Mexico, at his own request; and shortly thereafter he returned to
the United States, where he was received with the most flattering
demonstrations of respect. The thanks of Congress and a gold medal
were voted to him. Resolutions of congratulation were adopted by a
number of State Legislatures, and in the city of New York and other
towns, public processions and festivities were had, in honor of the
gallant commander and successful soldier.
The athletic frame and robust constitution of General Scott indicate
that his life may be prolonged for many years. While he is still
living, and occupying so high a place in the estimation of his
countrymen, it would, perhaps, be as unwise, as it is unnecessary,
to speak of his character more in detail. It may be, that he is
reserved for other and higher honors,--but whatever fortune befal
him, it will ever be a proud satisfaction to his friends, to point
to his triumphant march to the Mexican capital, as the most splendid
achievement recorded in modern history.