Is received and entertained by prominent civilians and military men in
Europe--Marries Miss Mayo--Offspring--Thanks of Congress--Thanks of
the Virginia Legislature voted, and also a sword--Controversy with
General Andrew Jackson and correspondence--Prepares general
regulations for the army and militia--Controversy with General Gaines
and the War Department about rank--In command of the Eastern
Division--War with the Sac and Fox Indians--Black Hawk--Cholera breaks
out among the troops.
General Scott received great attention from prominent military men in
Europe. He was also treated with much respect by men of letters and
science. On his return home, in 1816, he was assigned to the command
of the seaboard, and established his headquarters in the city of New
York. On March 11, 1817, he was married to Miss Maria D. Mayo, of
Richmond, Va., daughter of Colonel John Mayo. She was a lady of many
accomplishments and a belle in Virginia society. The issue of this
marriage who lived to maturity were Virginia, who died unmarried;
Cornelia who was married to Colonel Henry L. Scott, General Scott's
adjutant general for many years, and who, dying, left one son,
Winfield Scott, now a resident of Richmond, Va.; Camilla, who married
Gould Hoyt, of New York, and died leaving children; Ella, who married
Carroll McTavish, and has several daughters. She is now (1893) a
resident of Baltimore. Mrs. Scott died June 10, 1862. Two sons and
two daughters died before reaching maturity. Mrs. Scott's remains were
buried by the side of her illustrious husband at West Point.
In November, 1813, Congress passed a joint resolution complimenting
General Scott for his skill and gallantry in the battles of Chippewa
and Niagara and for his uniform good conduct throughout the war, and
directed the striking and presentation to him of a gold medal. This
was presented to him in a speech of great feeling and high compliment
at the Executive Mansion in the presence of the members of the Cabinet
and many other distinguished persons. On July 4, 1831, General Scott
watched the last moments and closed the eyes of President Monroe in
New York city. In February, 1816, the Legislature of Virginia passed a
resolution unanimously returning thanks to General Scott for his
services to his country, and also voted him a sword. This was followed
by like action by the Legislature of New York. In 1815 he was elected
an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati.
In April, 1817, General Andrew Jackson issued from Nashville, Tenn.,
an order reciting that "the commanding general considers it due to the
principles of subordination which might and must exist in an army to
prohibit the obedience of any order emanating from the Department of
War to officers of the division who have reported and been assigned to
duty, unless coming through him as the proper organ of communication."
At a dinner party in New York soon after the publication of this order
Governor Clinton desired to know General Scott's opinion of it. He
expressed views in opposition to General Jackson, and added that its
tendency was mutinous. An anonymous writer published the details of
this conversation in a New York paper called the Columbian, and a copy
of it reached General Jackson, who wrote General Scott as follows:
"HEADQUARTERS DIVISION OF THE SOUTH,
"NASHVILLE, _September 17, 1817_.
"SIR: With that candor due the character you have sustained
as a soldier and a man of honor, and with the fairness of the
latter, I address you. Inclosed is a copy of an anonymous letter
postmarked New York, August 14, 1817, together with a publication
taken from the Columbian, which accompanied the letter. I have not
permitted myself for a moment to believe that the conduct ascribed
to you is correct. Candor, however, induces me to lay them before
you, that you may have it in your power to say how far they be
incorrectly stated. If my order has been the subject of your
animadversions, it is believed you will at once admit it, and the
extent to which you may have gone.
"I am, sir, respectfully,
"Your most obedient servant,
"ANDREW JACKSON.
"_General_ W. SCOTT, _U.S. Army_."
General Scott replied to this letter denying the authorship of the
article, and said: " ... I gave it as my opinion that that paper was,
as it respected the future, mutinous in its character and tendency,
and as it respected the past, a reprimand of the commander in chief,
the President of the United States; for although the latter be not
expressly named, it is a principle well understood that the War
Department, without at least his supposed sanction, can not give a
valid command to an ensign.... Even if I belonged to your division I
should not hesitate to repeat to you all that I have said at any time
on this subject if a proper occasion offered; and what is more, I
should expect your approbation, as in my humble judgment refutation is
impossible."
General Jackson replied to this in a very angry manner, and intimating
that General Scott might, if he chose, call him to the field. Scott
replied, and declined to write the challenge, "as his ambition was not
that of Erostratus," intimating that he ruined his only chance of
acquiring distinction by killing a defender of his country.
For years afterward Scott heard reports that General Jackson had made
threats of personal chastisement whenever they should meet. In 1823,
soon after General Jackson took his seat in the United States Senate,
Scott made frequent visits there, and was entitled to the floor.
Wearied at last with this state of things, he addressed General
Jackson as follows:
"WASHINGTON, _December 11, 1823_.
"SIR: One portion of the American community has long
attributed to you the most distinguished magnanimity, and the other
portion the greatest desperation in your resentments.
"Am I to conclude that both are in error? I allude to circumstances
which have transpired between us and which need not here be
repeated, and to the fact that I have now been six days in your
immediate vicinity without having attracted your notice. As this is
the first time in my life that I have been within a hundred miles of
you, and as it is barely possible that you may be ignorant of my
presence, I beg leave to state that I shall not leave the district
before the morning of the 14th inst.
"I have the honor to be, sir,
"Your most obedient servant,
"WINFIELD SCOTT.
"_The Hon._ GENERAL A. JACKSON, _Senator, etc._"
The following answer was promptly returned:
"MRS. O'NEIL'S, _December 11, 1823_.
"SIR: Your letter of to-day has been received. Whether the
world is correct or in error as regards my 'magnanimity' is for the
world to decide. I am satisfied of one fact: that when you shall
know me better you will not be disposed to harbor the opinion that
anything like desperation in resentment attaches to me.
"Your letter is ambiguous, but, concluding from occurrences
heretofore that it was written with friendly views, I take the
liberty of saying to you that whenever you shall feel disposed to
meet me on friendly terms, that disposition will not be met by any
other than a corresponding feeling on my part.
"I have the honor to be, sir,
"Your most obedient servant,
"ANDREW JACKSON.
"_General_ W. SCOTT."
General Scott was gratified at the reply, and called at once on
General Jackson, who received him kindly and graciously, and the next
day he departed for the West. In mentioning these facts General Scott
adds that "it is painful to reflect that so amicable a settlement only
meant with one of the parties a postponement of revenge to a more
convenient season."
This remark is in allusion to Scott's recall from the Indian War in
1836. General Jackson died the 8th of June, 1845, General Scott being
then at West Point. He was president of the Board of Examiners, which
was in session when the news was received. He at once arose, and,
addressing the board of visitors and academic staff, said:
"Ex-President Jackson died at the Hermitage on the 8th inst. The
information is not official, but sufficiently authentic to prompt the
step I am about to take. An event of much moment to the nation has
occurred. A great man has fallen. General Jackson is dead--a great
general, and a great patriot who had filled the highest political
stations in the gift of his countrymen. He is dead. This is not the
place, nor am I the individual, to pronounce a fit eulogy on the
illustrious deceased. National honors will doubtless be prescribed by
the President of the United States; but in the meantime, and in
harmony with the feelings of all who hear me, and particularly with
those of the authorities of this institution, I deem it proper to
suspend the examination of the cadets for the day, and to await the
orders of the Executive of the United States on the subject."
General Scott in his early training had studied the science of war,
using the works of the greatest and best-known authors. He was in his
early life a close student, and when he entered the army was, better
equipped, in the knowledge of the standard authors on the science of
war than most men in the army. In 1821 he prepared a work entitled
General Regulations for the Army, or Military Institutes. This was
the first book published in the United States which could be accepted
as a manual for both the regular troops of the army and the militia.
He had formerly, in 1814-'15, been president of a board of army
officers which compiled a system of infantry tactics, a copy of the
system which he had used in the camp of instruction at Buffalo in
1814. This was revised by another board, of which he was president,
and was published in 1825.
In 1826 a board of army and militia officers was convened by order of
the Secretary of War, of which he was made president, for the purpose
of reporting a plan for the organization and instruction of the
militia of the United States, a system of tactics for the artillery, a
system of cavalry tactics, and a system of infantry and rifle tactics.
The reports on the plan for the organization and instruction of the
militia and that on the system of infantry and rifle tactics were
written wholly by General Scott, and adopted by the board. Under a
resolution of Congress in 1835 there was published a new edition of
infantry tactics prepared by him.
General Scott was one of the pioneers in what is known as the
temperance reform, and preceded Dr. Lyman Beecher in his celebrated
discourses on this subject. In December, 1821, General Scott published
his "Scheme for restricting the use of ardent spirits in the United
States." It was first published in the National Gazette. He did not
take ground for total abstinence, but against the use ardent of
spirits, brandy, rum, and whisky. He was also a member of the society
formed in New York in 1821 "for the prevention of pauperism, vice, and
immorality."
General Scott, in 1823, took great interest in having the sons of
General Paez, of Colombia, South America, admitted as students at the
military academy at West Point, which drew from General Paez letters
of thanks to General Scott and President Monroe.
A very serious controversy arose in 1828 between General Scott and
General Edmund Pendleton Gaines on a question of rank. General Macomb
had been appointed by President Adams major general of the United
States army. There was at that time but one major general, and Scott
held the rank of brevet major general, with an older date than
Macomb's appointment, and he addressed a memorial to Congress claiming
his superiority in rank to Macomb. He argued that from the beginning
of the Revolutionary War down to the time of his appointment brevet
rank was uniformly held to give rank and command, except only in the
body of a regiment, etc.; that there existed in law or in fact no
higher title or grade in the army than that of major general, there
being no such thing as a commander in chief, except the President.
That he [Scott] held a commission as major general, July 25, 1814, of
older date than that of either Generals Macomb or Gaines. Congress did
not pass an act, however, sustaining his claim, and the result was a
construction by the authorities that a brevet appointment did not
confer additional rank.
General Scott, on this decision of Congress, tendered his resignation,
which was not accepted. When he was informed that the President and
others high in authority sustained the action of Congress, he
addressed a letter to Mr. Eaton, the Secretary of War, as follows:
"NEW YORK, _November 10, 1829_.
"SIR: I have seen the President's order of the 13th of
August last, which gives a construction of the sixty-first and
sixty-second articles of war relative to rank or command.
"Humbly protesting that this order deprives me of rights guaranteed
by these articles, and the uniform practice of the army under them,
from the commencement of the Government down to the year 1828, when
the new construction was first adopted against me, in obedience to
the universal advice of my friends, who deem it incumbent on me to
sacrifice my own connections and feelings to what may, by an apt
error, be considered the repeated decision of the civil authority of
my country, I have brought myself to make that sacrifice, and
therefore withdraw the tender of my resignation now on file in your
department.
"I also ask leave to surrender the remainder of the furlough the
department was kind enough to extend to me in April last, and to
report myself for duty. WINFIELD SCOTT.
"_The Hon._ J.H. EATON, _Secretary of War_."
To this the Secretary of War replied:
"WAR DEPARTMENT, _November 13, 1829_.
"SIR: Your letter of the 10th instant is received, and I
take pleasure in saying to you that it affords the department much
satisfaction to perceive the conclusion to which you have arrived as
to your brevet rights. None will do you the injustice to suppose
that the opinions declared by you upon this subject are not the
result of reflections and convictions; but since the constituted
authorities of the Government have, with the best feelings
entertained, come to conclusions adverse to your own, no other
opinion was cherished or was hoped for but that, on your return to
the United States, you would adopt the course your letter indicates,
and with good feelings resume those duties of which she has so long
had the benefit. Agreeably to your request, the furlough heretofore
granted you is revoked from and after the 20th instant. You will
accordingly report to the commanding general, Alexander Macomb, for
duty. J.H. EATON.
"_To Major-General_ WINFIELD SCOTT."
General Scott, on reporting to General Macomb, was assigned to the
command of the Eastern Department, while General Gaines was assigned
to the Western. From the assignment of General Scott to the command of
the Eastern Department, for a period of nearly three years, his duties
were those of an ordinary department commander, with no incidents
necessary to be ingrafted into his biography.
A treaty had been made by the United States Government in 1804 with
the chiefs of the Sac Indians, in which their lands east of the
Mississippi were ceded to the Government, but with the reservation
that so long as they belonged to the Government of the United States
the Indians should have the privilege of occupying and hunting on
them. The Sacs and Foxes were contiguous and friendly tribes, and
their principal village was on a peninsula between the Rock River and
the Mississippi. Their principal chief was known as Black Hawk. The
United States Government in its treaty acquiring the title to these
Indian lands made a guarantee that the Indians should be free from
intrusion from any white settlers.
Their lands were very fertile, and soon white men in large numbers
began to encroach on them, and no adequate steps were taken by the
Government to protect the Indians in their treaty rights. In 1829 the
Government ordered a public sale of lands which included a part of the
Sac village. It was purchased by an Indian trader. This greatly
disturbed the Chief Black Hawk, but he was assured that if the lands
purchased by this agent had not actually been sold to the Government
that the sale would be canceled and the Indian occupants allowed to
remain. Nothing more was done in the matter until in the spring of
1831, when the corn planted by a number of Indians was plowed up by
white settlers, and many annoying trespasses made by the whites upon
the Indian occupants. The Chief Black Hawk then announced to the white
settlers in the village that they must remove. This resulted in a
memorial from some of the white settlers, in May, 1831, to the
Governor of Illinois, stating that the Indians were committing
depredations on them. The Governor called out seven hundred militia to
remove a band of the Sac Indians, and so notified General Gaines.
General Gaines, on May 29th, replied to the Governor that he had
ordered six companies of troops from Jefferson City to Rock Island,
and four other companies from Prairie du Chien, to assist the
Governor's militia in repelling the Indians. When the United States
troops reached Fort Armstrong a conference was held with some of the
Indian chiefs, but with no practical results. On receiving this
information General Gaines called on the Governor of Illinois for
additional forces, and on June 25th Governor Reynolds and General
Joseph Duncan arrived at Rock River with sixteen hundred mounted
militia. The Indians from the Sac village, being informed of this
movement, deserted their homes with their wives and children and
crossed the Mississippi. The next morning General Gaines occupied the
Sac village without opposition.
A treaty was then made (June 30th) by General Gaines and Governor
Reynolds with the Sacs, by which the Indians agreed to take up their
abode west of the Mississippi River. In April, 1832, Chief Black Hawk
and his tribe recrossed the Mississippi, in violation of the treaty
previously made, for the purpose of joining the Winnebagoes and making
a crop of corn and beans.
General Henry Atkinson at this time was in command of Fort Armstrong.
He notified Black Hawk that he must recross the river or be driven
back. The Indians refused to obey the order. Black Hawk endeavored to
enlist some of the Northwestern tribes to join him, but failing to
gain their assent, resolved to recross the Mississippi. He was
encamped with his tribe at a place which the Indians called
Kish-wa-cokee.
Some of the Illinois mounted militia were at Dixon's Ferry, on Rock
River, not far from the Indian encampment. Major Stillman, commanding
some three hundred volunteers, moved from Dixon's Ferry to Sycamore
Creek on a scouting expedition. Black Hawk, being apprised of their
approach, sent three of his young Indians bearing a white flag to meet
them. One of these young Indians was captured and killed. Another
party of five Indians, following the flag-of-truce bearers to assist
in pacific negotiations, were met by the whites and two of them
killed. The Illinois militia moved on and crossed Sycamore Creek.
Black Hawk, who was exasperated at the killing of his men whom he had
sent under flag of truce, advanced with his warriors on May 14th, met
the Illinois militia, engaged and defeated them, and forced them to
recross the creek.
This success greatly encouraged the Indians, but created great alarm
and excitement with the white people of Illinois. Many small battles
took place after this between the whites and Indians, and the war was
brought to a close by the delivery of Black Hawk to the Indian agent,
General Street, August 27th, by two of his followers who betrayed him.
This war created necessarily great excitement and alarm in Illinois.
It was the general expectation that the Winnebagoes and Pottawattomies
would sympathize with Black Hawk, and the result would be a general
Indian war. At this juncture General Scott was ordered to proceed to
Illinois and take command of the forces to bring the Indians into
subjugation. In July, acting under this order, he left Buffalo with
about one thousand troops, destined for Chicago. The general and his
staff, with about two hundred and twenty men, embarked on the
steamboat Sheldon Thompson, and on July 8th it was announced that
several of the soldiers were attacked with Asiatic cholera. The vessel
arrived at the village of Chicago on the 10th with eighty sick men on
board, one officer and fifty-one soldiers having died during the
passage.
The fate of the troops who were embarked in other vessels was even
worse than those on the Thompson. Of the one thousand men who left
Buffalo only about four hundred survived. General Scott gave every
attention to the sick, exposing himself without fear day and night in
seeing to the wants of his men. Leaving Colonel Abram Eustis in
command, he proceeded to join General Atkinson at Prairie du Chien,
which he reached on the 3d of August. The engagement called the Battle
of Bad Axe had been fought before his arrival. He was here again
confronted with the plague of cholera, which had broken out in
Atkinson's command at Rock Island, and he devoted himself to the care
of the sick and the consolation of the dying.
In this connection an extract from the Richmond Enquirer of August 7,
1832, will be of interest:
"LOUISVILLE, _July 27, 1832_.--The following is the latest
official intelligence from Chicago. We are indebted to a commercial
friend for it.--_Advertiser._
"'HEADQUARTERS NORTHWESTERN ARMY,
"'CHICAGO, _July 15, 1832_.
"'SIR: To prevent or to correct the exaggerations of rumor
in respect to the existence of cholera at this place, I address
myself to your Excellency. Four steamers were engaged at Buffalo to
transport United States troops and supplies to Chicago.
"'In the headmost of these boats, the Sheldon Thompson, I, with my
staff and four companies, a part of Colonel Eustis's command,
arrived here on the 8th. All on board were in high health and
spirits, but the next morning six cases of undoubted cholera
presented themselves. The disease rapidly spread itself for the
next three days. About one hundred and twenty persons have been
affected.
"'Under a late act of Congress six companies of rangers are to be
raised and marched to this place. General Dodge, of Michigan, is
appointed major of the battalion, and I have seen the names of the
captains, but I do not know where to address them. I am afraid that
the report from this place in respect to cholera may seriously
retard the raising of this force.
"'I wish, therefore, that your Excellency would give publicity to
the measures I have adopted to prevent the spread of the disease,
and of my determination not to allow any junction or communication
between uninfected and infected troops.
"'The war is not at an end, and may not be brought to a close for
some time. The rangers may reach the theatre of operations in time
to give the final blow. As they approach this place I shall take
care of their health and general wants.
"'I write in great haste, and may not have time to cause my letter
to be copied. It will be put in some post office to be forthwith
forwarded. I have the honor to be
"'Your Excellency's most obedient servant,
"'WINFIELD SCOTT.
"'_His Excellency_, GOVERNOR REYNOLDS.'"
_From the Richmond Enquirer, October 12, 1832._
"In laying the following article before our readers, our own personal
feelings, as well as a just sense of gratitude to a meritorious
officer, prompts us to add that we have known Winfield Scott long and
have known him intimately, and that the conduct here attributed to
him is precisely such as we should have expected, from his ardent
patriotism, his humane disposition, and his distinguished
intelligence."
_From the Illinois Galenian, September 12, 1832._
"GENERAL SCOTT.--Perhaps on no former occasion has a more
arduous and responsible duty been confided to any officer of our
Government than that with which this gentleman has been clothed, in
prosecuting to final issue the savage war upon our borders. And we
hesitate not to say that in our estimation a better selection could
not have been made.
"It might suffice, in justification of this assertion, to instance the
promptitude of his movements to the scene of action, the ease with
which he overcame space, and the facility with which he surmounted all
obstacles opposed to the accomplishment of his object.
"But he had an enemy to encounter far more terrible than Black Hawk
and his adherents--an enemy that bid defiance to military prowess and
baffled all the skill of the tactician.
"That loathsome epidemic, the direful scourge of the Eastern
hemisphere, the cholera, invaded his camp. Here was a new foe that had
never yet been conquered. Victim after victim fell under its ravages.
The general might have retired to some healthy clime, where he would
have been freed from this pestilence, but not while his officers and
men were falling around him; humanity prompted him to remain and
succor a distressed army. During our stay at Rock Island the cholera
commenced its work of death; and seeing the general almost every day,
we had frequent opportunities of witnessing his untiring perseverance
in and constant personal attention to all those duties appertaining to
his official station, the calls of humanity, and the best interests of
the country.
"On the arrival of the companies from Chicago (among whom the cholera
had been severe) they were stationed on an island in Rock River,
several miles from the fort, and all communication prohibited by
special order. Some of his aids, on their way to Rock Island, having
violated this order (without knowing it was given), were immediately
ordered back to Rock River, while the general was left alone to
perform all their respective duties. When a soldier was attacked with
cholera he was the first to render assistance by the application of
friction to the extremities in order to attract the fluids from the
large internal vessels to the surface of the body. At the bake-house
we found him one day giving instructions how to make the most
wholesome bread, and on the next day we beheld one of his bakers
consigned to the tomb. And if we follow him on, we next find him
instructing those employed in the culinary art, so cautious is he
about everything that his men eat and drink. And in order to insure
temperance among the soldiers, he issued an order requiring every man
found drunk to dig a grave.
"In his orders he was bound to be severe, and in their enforcement he
was equally rigid. His whole soul seemed to be devoted to the benefit
of his army.
"On one occasion he observed that his own honor, the duty he owed his
country and his fellow-men, required his personal attention at his
post, and also the severity of his orders. And if, in attending to
his duties, he should be so unfortunate as to lose his life, the army
could get along as well without him, but he could not get along
without an army. Thus, with Roman firmness and a disinterested
devotion of life to his country, has he remained at his post of duty.
Such conduct deserves the highest praise, and we feel confident that
it will be awarded by a grateful and virtuous community."
The cholera having subsided by the middle of September, negotiations
were opened with the various Indian tribes at Rock Island. General
Scott and Governor Reynolds were the commissioners on the part of the
United States to make treaties with the Sacs, Foxes, Winnebagoes,
Sioux, and Menomonees. The leading man among the Indians was
Ke-o-Kuck, a Sac chief, who was of commanding appearance, eloquent in
speech, and a brave warrior. He was not, however, a hereditary chief,
and for this reason his tribe deposed him; but on General Scott's
request he was again replaced as chief. General Scott conducted the
negotiations in the way of speech-making at the request of his
associate, Governor Reynolds. The speeches of Scott and those of the
Indian chiefs were taken down by Captain Richard Bache, of the army,
and are to be found in the archives of the War Department at
Washington.
The result of the treaties was the cession to the United States by the
Sacs and Foxes of about six million acres of land, the greater part of
which is now included in the State of Iowa; and the United States gave
in consideration of this cession a reservation of nearly four hundred
square miles, on the Iowa River, to Ke-o-Kuck and his band, and agreed
to pay the Indians an annuity of twenty thousand dollars per annum
for thirty years to pay the debts of the tribe, and to employ a
blacksmith and a gunsmith for them. The treaty also provided for ample
space for hunting, and planting-grounds for the Indians and their
posterity. A similar treaty was made with the other Indians. General
Scott, on his return to Washington, was complimented by General Cass,
the Secretary of War, "upon the fortunate consummation of his arduous
duties," and he expressed his entire approbation of the whole course
of his proceedings during a series of difficulties requiring higher
moral courage than the operations of an active campaign under ordinary
circumstances.