Born June 13, 1786 Petersburg, Virginia
Died May 29, 1866 West Point, New York
American military leader
Considered one of the greatest military leaders in U.S. history, Winfield Scott played an important role in the Mexican American War. Assigned the task of capturing the Mexican capital, Mexico City, Scott led a successful invasion that began with an amphibious (involving both army and naval forces) attack on the coastal city of Vera Cruz. In September 1848, after a series of bloody clashes that demonstrated Scott's skill both in planning battles and motivating soldiers, he marched triumphantly into Mexico City. This was, perhaps, the high point of a long career that spanned most of the major events and conflicts of nineteenth-century America.
Beginning a military career
Winfield Scott was born on his family's estate, Laurel Branch, located near the town of Petersburg, Virginia. He was one of four children born to Ann Mason Scott and William Scott, a successful farmer and veteran of the American Revolution (1775-83) who died when Scott was six. Educated at home until he was twelve, Scott attended several boardingschools as a teenager, growing into a strapping young man who stood 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighed 230 pounds. Due to a legal technicality, he did not inherit any of his family's estate or considerable fortune and had to borrow money to pay for his tuition at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia, which he entered in 1805.
Disappointed by his fellow students' lack of religious faith, Scott left William and Mary after less than a year. He studied law with a Petersburg attorney and passed the bar examination (the test that qualifies lawyers), but practiced law for only one year. In 1807—angered, like many young U.S. men of the period, by what he saw as Great Britain's crimes against U.S. ships, sailors, and trade rights on the high seas—he joined a Virginia militia unit (a private, volunteer army that could be called to assist the federal government in emergencies). The next year, Scott went to Washington, D.C., and met with President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and Congressional leaders, lobbying successfully to be commissioned a captain in the U.S. Army.
Scott was ordered to report to the staff of General James Wilkinson (1757-1825), stationed in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was widely admired as a promising young officer, but his sharp tongue soon got him into trouble when he called Wilkinson a "liar and a scoundrel." Although almost everybody agreed with Scott's judgment, insulting a superior officer in this way was a clear violation of army rules. A court-martial, or military trial, found Scott guilty and sentenced him to a one-year suspension from the army. Thus Scott spent 1810 as a civilian, during which period he made a great effort to educate himself about military practices.
The War of 1812 erupts
In 1811, Scott returned to military service, reporting to General Wade Hampton (1751-1835), who had replaced Wilkinson in New Orleans. Tensions between the United States and Great Britain had by now reached a head, and war was declared in June 1812. Promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, Scott was sent to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to recruit an artillery unit (a group of soldiers trained in the use of large guns, such as cannons). Scott then took his unitnorth to the Niagara region (located on the border between New York State and what was then the British colony of Canada), one of several parts of the country in which fighting was to take place.
At the Battle of Queenston on October 13, 1812, in which the United States was defeated by British troops after U.S. volunteers refused to participate, Scott was captured by the enemy. After several months, he was released in exchange for a captured British officer. Soon promoted to colonel, Scott led a successful attack on British-occupied Fort George in May 1813, receiving serious wounds in the process.
Training soldiers to fight well
In this period of U.S. history, most U.S. citizens looked down on the military as a profession, and little attention was paid to improving soldiers' skills. Scott's experiences in thegenerally disastrous first year of the war, however, had convinced him that the U.S. troops would need much more training and discipline if their performance was to improve. Thus, he took charge of a training camp established at Buffalo, New York. There he worked hard to prepare troops for the fighting that would begin in the spring of 1814. Scott not only drilled his soldiers for many hours to sharpen their military skills, but also taught them about sanitation, the best way to prevent the diseases that often killed more soldiers than did enemy troops, as well as proper military dress and behavior.
Scott's troops lived up to his high expectations, performing well in the Battle of Chippewa on July 3, a victory for the United States, and the Battle of Lundy's Lane on July 5, which ended in a draw. For the first time, U.S. regulars (professional soldiers in the U.S. Army) had held their own against British regulars, and Scott was given much of the credit. Although his role in this war was now finished, Scott was heralded across the United States as a hero and made the rank of major-general.
A busy mediator
One of only six generals chosen to remain on active duty after the war, Scott went to work writing the army's first training manual. In 1835, this manual would be revised and published as Infantry Tactics, establishing standards that remained in use for most of the nineteenth century. Scott also traveled to Europe and studied French military methods. In 1817, he married Maria D. Mayo of Richmond, Virginia. Around this time, he also became a leader of the temperance movement, whose members warned against the dangers of drinking alcohol. Scott was famous for the punishment he gave to soldiers arrested for drunkenness; they had to dig a grave, so that they could see where they would end up if they kept drinking.
Scott returned to battle in 1832 when he led 950 troops in the Black Hawk War, the government's action against an uprising of Sac and Fox Indians, who lived in what are now the states of Wisconsin and Illinois. Three years later he undertook a similar task, though with less success. Sent to subdue members of the Seminole and Creek tribes in Floridaand Georgia, Scott found his efforts limited by a lack of supplies and support from the government.
Perhaps even more than his accomplishments as a soldier, Scott earned praise for his skill as a mediator (someone who helps to work out disagreements between individuals or groups). In the decade before the Mexican American War, Scott played a key role in resolving disputes in South Carolina (where citizens had threatened to secede, or separate, themselves from the United States over a tax issue) and along the Canadian border. In 1838, he met with the Cherokee Indians and convinced them to move peacefully from their traditional home in Georgia to Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma), which the U.S. government had designated for them. The next year, the Whig Party considered Scott as a possible presidential candidate for the 1840 election, but instead they nominated General William Henry Harrison (1773-1841), another hero from the War of 1812.
The army's top commander
In 1841, President John Tyler (1790-1862) named Scott commander-in-chief of the U.S. Army, which made him the army's highest-ranking member. In this position, Scott introduced many reforms, such as making punishments for misbehavior less cruel, and discipline less harsh. At the same time, he lived up to his nickname "Old Fuss and Feathers," which referred to his preference for formal dress and polished manners. Although Scott was sometimes faulted for being egotistical and pompous, he also was known for his kindness and humane approach to leadership.
As the decade of the 1840s progressed, tensions between the United States and Mexico, its southern neighbor, increased. In 1836, U.S. citizens living in the Mexican state of Texas had declared their independence, forming the Lone Star Republic. Mexico had not accepted this action, and vowed to go to war against the United States if it annexed, or made Texas a state, as seemed likely. In 1845, the annexation of Texas did occur, and war loomed large on the horizon. President James K. Polk (1795-1849; see biographical entry) and others who supported expansionism (the movement of U.S. settlers into as much as of the north American continentas possible) actually welcomed war with Mexico, for they saw it as a means of acquiring more land for the United States. Polk had his eyes not only on Texas but on the Mexican territories of California and New Mexico.
The war with Mexico begins
Since Scott was in charge of the U.S. Army, he seemed the obvious choice to lead the coming struggle against Mexico. But Polk was eager for action, and he disagreed with Scott's more cautious approach to war preparation and planning. Furthermore, Polk was a member of the Democratic political party while Scott favored the rival Whigs. Polk knew very well that any fame and glory that Scott, who had already demonstrated his interest in attaining political office, might earn in a war with Mexico could land him in the White House. Thus Polk turned to another officer, General Zachary Taylor (1784-1850; see biographical entry), even though he too was thought to be a Whig sympathizer, to lead the war effort.
In the summer of 1845, Taylor took several thousand troops to Corpus Christi, Texas, located on the Nueces River, the traditional border between Texas and Mexico. In early 1846, Polk ordered Taylor to move about 100 miles south to the Rio Grande river, which the United States was now claiming as its border with Mexico. When Mexican troops crossed the river and attacked and killed some of Taylor's troops, Polk asked Congress to approve a declaration of war against Mexico based on the claim that American blood had been shed upon American soil. As a result of Polk' request, war was officially declared on March 15, 1846.
Though inferior in number to the Mexican army, Taylor's force had superior in weapons and leadership, and the United States won an impressive series of battles as the U.S. troops marched across northeastern Mexico. By the end of 1846, however, it had become clear that in order to win the war, the United States would have to strike directly at the heart of Mexico, its capital, Mexico City, located in the center of the country. To accomplish this goal, Scott proposed an amphibious attack on the eastern coastal city of Vera Cruz, followed by a 200-mile march along the well-constructed National Highway to Mexico City. Despite his reluctance to give Scott such a prominent role,Polk put him in charge of the attack and ordered half of Taylor's troops to be transferred to Scott's command.
The attack on Vera Cruz
By the beginning of 1847, Scott was in Tampico, Mexico, at the mouth of the Rio Grande. Tampico had come under U.S. control in October the previous year. Scott's army now numbered fourteen thousand, although several thousand of those soldiers were suffering from various diseases. In March, Scott launched what would become the largest amphibious assault the United States would undertake until World War II (1939-45). Using a specially designed, flat-bottomed "surf boat," Scott landed about ten thousand troops at a point about 3 miles south of the well-protected city of Vera Cruz.
Scott's advisors recommended an infantry assault, with armed soldiers advancing on foot to attack the town. But Scott's policy had always been to avoid unnecessary casualties, and he believed that such an attack would cost too many lives. Instead, he ordered the combined army and navy forces to bombard Vera Cruz. The bombing began on March 22, and resulted in the Mexican army surrendering the town six days later. While only nineteen U.S. lives had been lost in the attack on Vera Cruz, almost two hundred Mexicans, including many civilians, had been killed.
Having accomplished his first goal by capturing Vera Cruz, Scott was eager to move his troops inland. The month of April marked the beginning of the season when yellow fever (called "el vomito Negro," or Black Vomit by the Mexicans, in reference to one of its symptoms) would invade the coastal region, and Scott knew that his soldiers would soon be at great risk of contracting the deadly disease. Both reinforcements and supplies were slow to arrive, but Scott decided to push ahead, regardless. On April 8, he headed west on the National Highway with about eighty-five hundred troops.
Scott's force advances toward Mexico City
Meanwhile, the dynamic Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794-1876; see biographical entry) hadregrouped after being defeated by Taylor's force at the Battle of Buena Vista in February. On April 17, backed by an army of nearly twenty thousand, Santa Anna met Scott's troops at a narrow mountain pass near the village of Cerro Gordo, which would give its name to this battle. Thanks to a clever system for moving troops and supplies that was devised by future Civil War general, Lieutenant Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), the U.S. force was able to overcome the area's difficult, mountainous terrain and move into an advantageous position. As a result, the United States won a lopsided victory here, suffering only four hundred casualties to the Mexicans' one thousand. In addition, about three thousand Mexican soldiers as well as a large number of cannons, other weapons, and supplies were captured.
Continuing to move west, Scott's troops reached Jalapa on April 19, and captured the town with no bloodshed. They occupied Puebla in a similar manner on May 15. By now, Scott's force had dwindled by seven regiments, or about three thousand troops, as soldiers' enlistments expired and they returned to the United States. Thus, Scott and his men spent the next three months at Puebla, waiting for newly enlisted troops to arrive. Meanwhile, with Mexico City still 75 miles away, other problems plagued the force. Many soldiers were too ill to fight, and the route by which supplies were carried from Vera Cruz was constantly being attacked by guerilla soldiers (armed men operating apart from the regular Mexican army).
Because of these obstacles, many observers predicted that Scott would not be able to pull off the feat of capturing Mexico City. In fact, as quoted in David Nevin's The Mexican American War, the great British general, the Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), who had defeated French dictator Napoleon I (1769-1821) several decades earlier, declared that "Scott is lost!" Scott, however, would not give up, and decided that the time had come to attack the Mexican capital. With his army now at almost eleven thousand men, he set out for Mexico City on August 5. On August 11, his forces reached the Valley of Mexico, the volcanic crater (46 miles long and 32 miles wide) within which the capital nestled. Home to about two hundred thousand people, Mexico City was now defended by nearly thirty thousand troops under the command of Santa Anna, who had made surethat approaches to the city were well protected from the U.S. invaders.
The conquest of the Mexican capital
There was, however, one route that had been left unguarded, perhaps because the terrain it crossed was so rough that it seemed an unlikely choice by the U.S. troops. This was the route that Scott's forces took, circling around south of the city. When they came to a particularly difficult area of broken rocks and crevasses known as the pedragal, Scott again relied on Lieutenant Robert E. Lee to scout a passage. Lee met the challenge, and as a result, the U.S. troops met Santa Anna's forces at the village of Contreras on August 19. The two armies met again the next day at Churubusco, where the Mexicans were using a convent (a residence for Roman Catholic nuns) as a weapons storehouse. The fighting wasfierce and deadly for both sides, but the Mexicans were the losers, suffering about 4000 casualties to 950 on the U.S. side.
A brief armistice
On August 21, Scott sent Santa Anna a message in which he proposed that the two armies stop fighting and try to negotiate peace. The Mexicans agreed, and an armistice (a halt in the fighting) went into effect. After several weeks, however, it became clear that the Mexicans were only stalling for time in order to regroup, and the armistice was called off on September 7. The next day, Scott's forces fought an extremely bloody and costly battle at Molino del Rey, where the Mexicans were rumored to have a cannon factory. It turned out that no such factory existed, and the casualties from the battle were very high. In fact, 23 percent of those taking part in the battle were killed, wounded, or missing, the highest casualty rate of any battle of the war.
The Mexicans surrender
On September 12, Scott ordered a bombardment of Chapultepec, the steep hill that was now all that lay between the U.S. troops and Mexico City. Scott understood the importance of this site for the Mexicans, for it housed their beloved National Military Academy and had been a proud symbol of their nation since the days of the great Mexican ruler Montezuma (c. 1480-1520). It was now defended by about eight hundred soldiers, including a small group of young cadets from the academy who had refused to leave. After the bombardment came an infantry attack that ended with hand-to-hand fighting and the deaths of all Chapultepec's defenders, including los Ninoes Heroes (the boy heroes), as the cadets would be remembered.
After capturing Chapultepec, the U.S. troops poured into Mexico City, and the brutal fighting continued throughout the day on September 13, with casualties mounting to 850 for the U.S. side and 3,000 for the Mexicans. That night, knowing that defeat was inevitable, Santa Anna fled the capital for the small, nearby town of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Scottrode into Mexico City at dawn on September 14 to accept the Mexican surrender.
The work of peacetime
Now that the war was over, the difficult task of governing this chaotic nation began. As leader of the occupying army, Scott had to cope not only with the disorder within the city walls, but with such problems as the snipers who continued to shoot at his troops and the guerillas who continued to attack his supply line. But Scott's belief in protecting the rights of civilians in occupied territory won him many admirers among the Mexican people. In fact, a small group of them asked Scott to become the nation's leader. He turned down this offer, however, and after several months the Mexicans were finally able to elect a new president and begin peace talks.
Meanwhile, some of the top U.S. officers who had taken part in Scott's campaign, including generals William Worth and Gideon Pillow and Colonel James Duncan, argued amongst themselves about who deserved credit for the U.S. victory. They sent reports to Polk that were critical of Scott. Thus, when Scott returned to the United States in February 1848, he was ordered to face a court of inquiry to face charges of misconduct. Before this could take place, however, he enjoyed a hero's welcome from the public and from Congress, and the charges were soon withdrawn.
Scott had long harbored a wish to become president of the United States, and in 1852 he had a chance to pursue this dream when he received the nomination of the Whig Party. He was, however, badly defeated by the Democratic candidate, Franklin Pierce (1804-1869), who had served under Scott during the Mexican American War. In 1855, Scott was given the highly honored title of lieutenant general, which had previously been held only by the first president of the United States, George Washington (1732-1799).
A long career comes to a close
Once again at the helm of the U.S. Army, Scott set up his headquarters in New York City. In 1859, he returned tothe role of mediator when he helped to resolve a dispute with Great Britain over ownership of the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound (in what is now the state of Washington). In 1861, with the American Civil War about to begin, Scott moved the army's headquarters back to Washington, D.C., and went to work preparing the wartime defenses of the nation's capital. Now seventy-five years old, Scott was eclipsed by the military's younger leaders. Nevertheless, his plan for the war, which involved an "anaconda" (referring to the snake that squeezes its prey to death) approach that would isolate and thus weaken the Confederate states, was eventually the one used by the federal government.
In October 1861, after fifty-three years of public service, Scott retired from the army, receiving praise from President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) as someone to whom the nation owed a great debt. Scott spent the remaining five years of his life traveling to Europe and writing his memoirs. Upon his death, he was buried at West Point, the site of the National Military Academy whose values and practices he had helped to shape.
Scott's military career spanned the administrations of all the U.S. presidents from Jefferson to Lincoln. As a young soldier, he had joined an army that lacked efficiency and that was not much respected by the U.S. public. By the time he died, however, he had done much to bring professionalism and dignity to military service, helping to make it a career that young men (and eventually young women) could choose with pride. Scott's actions during the Mexican American War highlighted the leadership qualities that made "Old Fuss and Feathers" an influential and memorable figure.
For More Information
Books
Eisenhower, John S. D. Agent of Destiny: The Life and Times of General Winfield Scott. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.
Elliott, Charles W. Winfield Scott. New York: Macmillan, 1937.
Nevin, David. The Mexican War. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1978.
Periodicals
Schwarz, Frederic D. "Great Scott." American Heritage, 48, No. 2 (April1997): 99.
Schwarz, Frederic D. "The Halls of Montezuma." American Heritage, 48, No. 5 (September 1997): 105.
Web Sites
"General Winfield Scott and the Mexican-American War (1846-1848)." About North Georgia. [Online] Available http://www.ngeorgia.com/other/scottinmexico.html (accessed on January 31, 2003).
