./ E 403 .1 .6^ lr3 Iif« ill J udlit^ty ci-inr^^ '^•n. Scatt, illustrated with j. anecdotes and spiritad sngravin-Bv, He-w York, 1847, \* Thevmost Entertaining Book of the ^ason! ^ J^'l THE LIFE AND MILITARY CHARACTER OF 3IAJ. GEN. SCOTT, Illustrated with Numerous Anecdotes and SPIRITED ENCRAVIIMCS. ICl 3. i if Together with his Views upon the Principal Moral, Social and Political Topics of the Age. Vv\6^ With full Particulars of the Surrender of the Castle and City of Vera Cruz, m NEW YORK; PUBLISHED BY S. FRENCH, 293 Broadway. "*v"''' 1847. Price 15 cents. !§ .<^P>^^J^^^. le»ed according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by John B. HaLL, in the Cler Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. oi ^-.VJ A ^ THE LIFE AND MILITARY CHARACTER OP MAJOR-GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT. " The enemy say we are good at lon:r sl.ot, bnt cannot stand the cold iron. Om, men! give the slanderers the lie. Charge I" — Command of Scott. Sceji.O. CHAPTER L Sirlh (inil EdiicnUon — ^ippaintrd a Captain of Light Jirtilhrij — Ordered to Louis- iund — Court Miirtiid — Spi:nd:i a year in the study of Military U'orhs — -ippoinled Lieean powers upon our rich and defenceless commerce, and especially the attack upon the United States frigate Chesa- peake, had roused the ardent spirits of the land and turned their hopes and aspirations to the career of arms. A bill to increase the army was passed by Congress in the winter of 1807-8, and Scott was appointed a captain of light artillery. But the rumor of war passed off — albeit, Scott, who was warmly in feeling with that party headed by Jefferson and Madison, believed and openly maintained that the dignity and honor, not less than the true interests, of the nation, required resist- ance by arms to the aggressions of England. Such, however, was not the decision of the country or the government, and Scott was, in 1809, ordered to Louisiana, where General Wil- kinson then held command. For this commander — of whose connection with Burr in what was deemed a traitorious enter- prise, Scott had the opportunity, during Burr's trial in Rich- mond, to form a distinct opinion — the young captain of artillery entertained little respect. Wilkinson, who needed support, at first tried to conciliate the young officer, who could write, speak and fight well, but failing therein, he resolved to ruin him. Scott's indiscretion soon furnished a pretext, and he was arrested and tried by a court martial, mainly for words spoken disrespectfully of his superior officer, in violation of the rules and articles of war. On this charge he was found guilty, and sentenced to one year's suspension : then came another charge, imputnig a fraudulent withholding of a small sum of money paid to him on account of clothing, &c., for his company ; but of the allegation of fraud the court, without hesitation, acquitted him. This year of suspension was to him a year of benefit, for he passed it in Richmond with Ins early friend Benjamin LIFE OF GES'ER.VI, SCOTT. S Walkins Lciqh, in close and assiduous study of military works and all others connected with his new career. Not a stain, nor shadow of stain, was left upon his name by the result of this trial; for his offence was one of patriotism, however indis- creet, when he denounced his commander as unworthy of public confidence, as he believed him to be — and the opinion of the nation, it may, we think, now be added, ratified the distrust expressed by Captain Scott. After rejoining his command, Scott went through the ordi- nary routine of a soldier's duty in lime of peace, till 1812, when war was declared against Great Britain. In a few weeks after the declaration, Scott was appointed Lieut. Colonel of the 2d regiment of artillery, and marched immediately to the Niagara fro. 'ier, so soon to become the theatre of his fame, though not without first tasting of adversity. At the battle of Queenstown, at which he was a volunteer, and vrhich but for the backwardness of the militia to stand by and succor their companions, his skill and gallantry would have converted into glorious victory ; Scott after displaying great resources as a soldier, was finally compelled to surrender to greatly superior numbers, and, with the whole of his small force, becom"; prisoners of war. He, with his fellow-captives, was sent to Q-uebec, whence upon being exchanged, he soon after em- barked for Boston. But before this occurred, one of those scenes in which the decision of character of Scott, and his impartial love for the soldiers who, with him, were serving their country, was strikingly displayed. When the prisoners were embarked on board the transport to be conveyed to Boston, they were mustered on the deck by British officers, acting under the express commands of Sir George Provost, and every man whose tongue, in answering to his name, betrayed his British birth, was set apart to be sent to England as a traitor, there to be tried and executed. As soon as Scott, who was in the cabin, became aware of what was going on, he sprang to the deck ; and, finding his men ranged in ranks, and answering to the roll called by the British officers, he forbade his soldiers to make further answer. Already twenty-three had been selected amd set apart for a shameful death. Silence followed Colonel Scott's command, and no threats of the British officer could induce the men again to speak. Scott, amidst constant inter- ruptions from the British officer, then addressed the twenty-three selected men — encouraged them to be of good cheer, and sol- emnly pledged himself to them, that if a hair of the head of one of them was touched because of their having served in the American army, retaliation should be made upon British D LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. prisoners in the hands of the Americans. These twenty-three men, all Irish, wore, nevertheless, put in irons, and sent to England ; but they bore with them the pledge of a gallant soldier, which, they knew, would not fail them; and accordingly, his first care on landing at Boston, was to repeat all the circum- stances to the Secretary of War, and tiie ejlect of this report, immediately comminiicated to Congress, was, that a law was passed vesting the President of the United States with the power of retaliation, (March 3d, IS 13,) and two months after, at the capture of Fort George, Scott iiaving made many prisoners — true to his pledge to the Irish soldiers sent in irons to Great Britain — selected twenty-three of his prisoners, and confined them to abide the fate of the twenty-three natmalized Americans. In making this selection, Scott was carel'nl not to include a single Irishman. This step led to the confinement on both sides, as hostages, *of many men and olRcers, the lives of all of whom were of course dependent upon the fate of the original twenty-three. The British authorities saw the peril, and, it may be pre- sumed, the injustice of the step they had taken, and not one of' these prisoners was tried or harmed. There is a poetical jus- tice, rare in real life, in the setpicl of this story, which is thu3 told by his biographer: ■ In July, 1S15, when peace had been some months con- cluded, and Scott (then a Major General) was passing along on the East River side of the oity of New York, he was attracted by loud cheers and bustle on one of the piers. He, approached, and great was his delight to fiiid that it was the cheers of his Irish soldiers, in whose behalf he had interlered at (Quebec, and who had that moment landed in triumph, after a confine- ment of two years in British prisons ! lie was quickly recog- nized by them, hailed as their deliverer, and nearly crushed by their warm-hearted embraces ! Twenty-one were present, two liaving died natural deaths." Scott, although then on the jwint of embarking for Enrojie, and sulTering still from the ell'ects of the wound received at the bloody battle of the Niagara, immediately wrote to the War De- partment, recalled the case of these men to notice, and claimed for them their arrears of pay and the bounty of land to which they were entitled. The claims in both respects were admitted and satisfied. As soon as e.vchanged, .Scott again sought active service, and appeared ^ adjutant-general of the army in)der General Dear- born, on t!ie Niagara frontier, in the si)riiig of 1813. His first act was in leading the advanced column of the attack, which I-IFE OF OENERAL SCOTT. 7 go completely succeeded, on tlie 27th May, on Fort George, at the mouth of the Niagara river. The enemy w^is driven from the work and the field : and but for repealed and peremptory orders of recall from his superior, Scott would probably have captured the wiiolc British force. The Ibrt. the colors of which had been taken down by Col. Scott himself, became the head- quarters of the American troops, and in command of it Colonel Scott was left when the main body of the army went down (he St. Lawrence, in the summer of that year, to attack Moulreal. The whole summer passed without any attack from the British, and, burning (or active operation, Scott was per- mitted by General Wilkinson to turn Fort George over to General McLure of the New York militia, and to join the mam army at Sacket's Harbor; marching to the mouth of the Gem- see river, where the commander-in-chief promised that trans- ports should meet him. In this, however, Scott was disaj)- pointed, and he was compelled to march over roads almost impassable along the whole distance from Niagara to the St. Lawrence. Leaving his column near Utica, under the command of Major Hindman, Scott hastened forward himself, reached the St. Lawrence at Ogdensburg on the f-lh November, in time to take part in the descent, and was appointed to com- mand the advance guard ; and owing to his being in advance, had no part in the indecisive battle of Chrystler's field, or the events which took place in the rear. He did, however, en- counter and overcome severe resistance at the Hoopholecreek, near Cornwall, where he routed a nearly coual British force*under Colonel Dennis — making many prisoners and pursuing the fugitives till night ; and also at Fort Matilda, erected to guard the narrowest part of the river. He took the fort, its com- mander and many of his men. But with victory v."ithin his gras]i — for there was no force between Scott and Montreal which could have arrested his march six hours, and no garriscn in Montreal that could have obstructed his entry — he was doomed, and the nation was doomed, to disappointment by the incompetency and the quarrels of two of its Generals — Wilkin- son and Wade Hampton: Wilkinson ordering a retreat because Hampton would not join him with his detachment, and Hamp- ton refusing to join, because, as he alle"ged, provisions were insufficient ; the campaign closed in disaster. But it was brilliantly redeemed by that of the following year. On the 9th March, 1814, Col. Scott was promoted to the rank of brigadier, and immediately joined General Brown, then in full march from French Mills to the Niagara frontier. Brown, who was an able but self-taught commander, perceiving the need of B LirE or GENERAL SCOTT. instruction and discipline, left the camp expressly for the pur- pose of giving the command to Gen. Scott, and enabling him to carry out a system of instruction and discipline with the troops as they assembled at Biiflfalo. For more than three months this duty was assiduously and most successfully dis- charged by General Scott. CHAPTER II. Scott rtpulsei a British regiment — Battle and Victory at Chippewa — Gtneral Brown s praise of Scott^ . title and triumph at Lundy's Lane — Description of the Battle — JV«ioJ of Peace — l>egrte of A M. conferred upon Scott bij the Faculty of Princeton College — Governor Snyder^ at the head of a division of Militia, marches out to welcome Scott to Philadelphia — Reduces the Army to a peace establishment — Scott sint to Europe by Government — Conrrrss presents Scott a a Gold Medal — Elected an honorary Member of the Cincinnati. fs^ ■'P« ^^i^J^ OW it was that the knowledge of the art of gg,"j-v'^ r^ig? war, which he had so sedulously acquired dur- t^l rrVl r» ^'^o '^'^ y^^^ °^ suspension, came into play. He ;/ LMJ U ^t personally drilled and instructed all the otlicers, *^'^Y^^^;v^ [^^ and then in turn superintended them as they instructed the soldiers. By assiduous labor, he ?a3i^S^ -.^^SsSffl succeeded, at the end of three months, in pre- seiitiiig in the field an army skilful in mancEuvres, and confident alike in their officers and in themselves. When all was ready for action. General Brown resumed the com- mand. The army was crossed over to Canada in two brigades, Scott's and Ridley's, the former below, the latter above Fort Erie, wliich almost immediately surrendered, and then marched to attack the main British army, lying behind the Chippewa river, under the command of Riall. On the morning of the 4th of July — auspicious day! — Scott's brigade, several hours in advance, fell in with the 10th regiment, British, com- manded by the Marquis of Tweedale, and kept up a running fight with it, till it was driven across the Chippewa. Scott encamped for the night behind Street's creek, about two miles from the British camp, behind the Chippewa ; with a leve> plain extending between, — skirted on the east by the Niagara river, on the west by woods. On the 5lh — a bright, hot day — the morning began with skirmishing in the woods, between the New York Volunteers, under Genoral Porter, and the British irregulars ; and it was not till 4 o'clock in the after- noon, and just as Scott, despairing of bringing on an action that day, was drawing out his brigade on the plain for drill, LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. V that General Brown, who had been reconnoitering on the left flank, and perceived that the main body of the British army was moving forward, rode up to Gen. Scott, and said, "The enemy is advancing ; you will have a fight ; " and without giving any order, such was his reliance upon Scott, proceeded to the rear to bring up Ripley's brigade. Scott immediately prepared for action ; and there, on the plain of Chippewa, with his own brigade only, consisting of the 9th, 11th, and 25th regiments of infantry, with a detachment of the 22d, Towson's company of artillery, and Porter's volunteers, — in all 1900 men, — encountered, routed, and pursued a superior force of some of the best regiments of the British service — the Royal Scots, the 8th and 10th regiments, a detachment of the 19th dragoons, another of the Royal Artillery, and some Canadian Militia, — in all 2100 men. Here it was that the discipline so laboriously taught by Scott, in the camp of instruction, told ; and this it was that enabled him, as at a turning point of the battle he did, in a voice rising above the roar of artillery, to say to McNeil's battalion of the 11th infantry: "The enemy say we are good at long shot, but cannot stand the cold iron. 1 call upon the Eleventh instantly to give the lie to the slander. Charge!" And they did charge; and, aided by Leaven- worth's battalion, they quickly put the enemy to rout, before the 21st of Ripley's brigade, which was hastening to take part in the battle, or any portion of that brigade, could get up. Justly, indeed, did General Brown, in his official report of the battle, say : " Brigadier-General Scott is entitled to the highest praise our country can bestow : to him, more than to any other man, am I indebted for the victory of the 5th July." The fight was fierce and bloody in an unwonted degree, the killed on both sides amounted to 830, out of about 4000 en- gaged — more than one in five. This action — which was chiefly valuable for the good efl"ect it produced upon the feel- ings of the nation, by proving that in the open field, and hand to hand, our troops were equal at least, and in this instance had proved themselves superior, to the best troops of England — was followed in just three weeks by another, yet more decisive of the courage and discipline of the American army — that at Lundy's Lane. General Riall, unknown to General Brown, had been largely reinforced by Gen. Drummond from below; and when, on the morning of the 26th July, Gen. Scott, in advance, as usual, was on a march to attack Gen. Riall's forces, he suddenly came upon the British troops, which, reinforced that very day by Drummond, were thcrnselves bent on attack. Scott had with him but four small battalions, commanded, 10 l;fh of general scott. re.s^':;ii.'ol/. b/ B;j..ly, Jossiip, Leavenworth, and JfcNeil ; aaJ Towso.i's arliller)', wiili C'jptaui Harris's detachment of ragnlarand irrc^nlar cavalry. — tlie whole column not exceeding .13JJ men. With Ihi.s small lorce, Scott found hnaself in presence' of a superior body. His position was critical, but it w.as precisely one of those wliere !ironii)tness and decision of action must supply the want of hutalioiis. Dispatcliiug offi- cers to the rear, to apprise Gen. lirown that the whole British army were before him, Gen. Scott at once engaged the enemy, ^vho all the while believed they had to do with the whole of General Brown's army, not at all expecting that a mere de- tachment of it would venture upon the ap|)arenlly desperate coiirsd of encountering such greatly superior numbers as the British knew they had in the field. The battle began about half an hour before sunset, within the spray, ulmost, of the everlasting Falls of Niagara, and beneath the halo of its irra- diated bow of promise and of hope. It is recorded as a fact, that the head of our advancing column was actually encircled by this beautiful bow, an^l all took courage from the omen. 'I'iie battle raged with unequal fortune and desjierate valor, till fir into the night. When Miller made his famous and decisive charge upon the battery of the British, which was the key of tlieir position, dirkness covered tlie earth ; and Scott, who knew the localitifs, piloted Miller on his way, till the fire from t!ie battery revealed its position com[)letely. Scott then re- sumed the attack in front, while Miller gallantly stormed and carried the battery, and Indd it against repeated charges from the oft-rallied, but as oft-dispersed, British troops. Twice, meantime, had Scott charged through the British lines — two horses had been killed under him — he was wounded in the side — and about 11 o'clock at night, on foot and yet fig'itiug, lie was finally disabled by a shot which shattered the left shoulder, and he was borne away about midnight from the liatlle, — his commander, Gen. Brown, having been previously, in like manner, carried away wounded from the field. The honors of the field belonged to the American arms, although, from the want of horses, they could not carry olf the British camion, captured with so much gallantry by I\Iiller. But the American troops retired to Chippewa, and thence lo Fort Erie, where they were soon besieged hy (ien. Druminond. Scott was absent, suirering under his wounds; but the spirit and the discii)line with which his elforts and liis example had inspired the army, failed not, though he was no longer with them, and after being beleagured near fifty days. Gen. Brown, who had sulficieutly recovered to resume the command, made LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 11 12 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. a sortie, on tlie 17th September, in which he defeated the troo[)s in the trendies, cajitiired and destroyed their works, and so elTectiially overthrew all that it had cost Ions weeks to accomplish, that the British commander, General Drummond, withdrew his troops, and soon after the American army went into winter-quarters at Buffalo. This was virtually, in this region, the end of the war; for peace was negotiated at (Jhont at the close of 1814, and was ratified early the ensuing Spring. Scott, who had been carried to Buffalo, where he was most knidly and cordially received and watched over, as soon as he could bear the motion, was borne in a litter from place to place by the citizens themselves, who would not commit to mer- cenary liands the care and comfort of a gallant soldier, still disabled by his wounds, until he reached the house of his old friend Nicholas, at Geneva. But his great desire was to reach Philartant benefit rendered, and which, perhaps, w.as not the least of ail the many he was capable of rendering, was to translate from the French, prepare, digest, and adapt to our service, a complete system of military tabetics. In the execution of this trust, his previous military studies gave him great' facilities and advantages; and the system thus introduced, carried into effort, bv those jewels of the nation, the \Vest-P(MUt Cadets, has recently proved itself at I'alo Alto and Flirt Brown, Rcsaca de la Palma, and Monterey. The frankness of his nature, and hw'high sense of subor- dination, and ever-present ami .active respect for the spirit as well as letter of the Constitution of his country, involved him, about th(^ year 1S17. in an unpleasant controversy, first with General Jackson, and second, as a coiiseiiuence of the first, with De Witt Clinton. The particulars of the controversy- have passed from memory, and it is not our purpose to revive them. In the lifetime before the presidency of General Jack- LirE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 15 son, a very complete and soldierly reconciliation took place between General Scott and himself. But we may add, in the way of caution and reprobation, that the whole difficulty arose from the unjustifiable and ungentlemanly repetition of some observations, made at a private dinner table by Gen. Scott. Another controversy arose between Gen. Scott and Gen. Gaines, on the subject of brevet rank, on occasion of the ap- pointment of General Macomb to the command of the army, after the death of General Brown. The government did not sustain the views taken by Gen. Scott of the rights of brevet rank, and this oflicer, in consequence, tendered the resignation of his conmrission, not from any mere personal feelings, birt because he thought that in his person a great military principle was violated. Happily, General Jackson (then become Presi- dent) would not act upon the proffered resignation ; and in order to allow time for reflection, and at the same time to pre- vent any damage to the service from an open collision on poiuts of duty between General Scott and his official superior, a furlough of one year was sent to him. Scott took advantage of the furlough to revisit Europe, and on his return, under the earnest advice of his friends, and, as is believed, with the unanimous approval of his brother officers, Scott withdrew his resignation, and reported himself for duty. The Secretary of War, Major Eaton, in acknowledging General Scott's letter, frankly and honorably says: "It affords the department much satisfaction to perceive the conclusion at which you have arrived as to your brevet rights. None will do you the injus- tice to suppose that the opinions declared by you on the subject are not the result of reflection and conviction; but since the constituted authorities of the government have, with the best feelings entertained, come to conclusions adverse to your own, no other opinions were cherished, or were hoped for, but that on your returu to the United States you would adopt the course your letter indicates, and with good feelings resume those duties of which your country has so long had the benefit." The General was ordered in conclusion to report himself at once for duty to Gen, Macomb. He was assigned anew to the Eastern Department, and there remained till called by the Black Plawk war in 1S32, to take command of that. It was in this command that Scott had the opportunity of showing himself a " hero of humanity," as he had before shown himself a "hero in the battle field." The Asiatic cholera in this year first reached this continent, and, sweeping with rapid but irregular strides from point to point, it manifested itself 16 LIFE OF CnSERAL SCOTT. most fatally on board the fleet of steamboats on Lake Erie, in which Gen. Scott, with a corps of about lOUO regulars, cm- barked for (/liicago. They left Buffalo in the beginning of July. Oil the 8th, the cholera declared itself on board the steamboat iikeldon Tkompsnn, in which Gen. Scott and staff, and 220 men wore embarked, and in less than siv days one officer and fifty men died, and eighty were put on shore sick at Chicago. It was amid the gloom atid the terror of this attack from an unknown disease, or only known by its fatal approaches, that Gen. Scott displayed those attributes o{ moral courage, of genuine philanthropy, which should weigh so much more in the scale of national gratitude, than the exercise of physical courage — that (juality connnon to our race in the battle-field. l''rom cot to cot of the sick soldiers, their General daily went, soothing the last moments of the dying, sustaining and cheer- ing those who hoped to survive, and for all, disarming the pestilence of that formidable character of contagion which seemed to render its attack inevitable, and almost synonymous with death, by showing in his own person that he feared it not. Of the numbers whom his heroic self-confidence and generous example, in such circumstances, saved from death, by dissipating their apprehensions, no human estimate can be made ; but such deeds and such devotion are not unmarked by the eye of Provi- dence, and cannot be without their reward. Of the 9.50 men that left Buffalo, not more than 400 survived for active service. On leaving Chicago, with this diminished command, Scott proceeded as rapidly as possible to the Mississippi, and there joined General Atkinson at Prairie da C/iien, who, in the battle of the Badaxe, had already scattered the forces of Black Hawk. In spite of all the precaution adopted by Scott and Atkinson, the cholera was communicated anew to the army assembled at Rock Island, and great were its ravages. Here again, as on board the steamboats, when the malady first ap- peared, Scott's self-sacrificing care and solicitude for his men were unceasing. A brother officer, an eye-witness of what he relates, thus describes the General's course of conduct : — '' It exhibited him not only as a warrior, but as a man ; not only as the hero of battles, but as the hero of humanity The General's duty, under the rirounistancos, clearly was to give the best direction he could for proper attendance on the sick, and for preventing the spread of the disease. When be had done this, his duty was jierformed, and he might have left the rest to his medical officers. But such was not his course. Ho thought he had other duties to perform; that his personal safety must be disregarded to visit ihe^sick, to cheer the well, LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. 17 to encourage the attendants, to set an example to all, to prevent a panic — in a word, to save the lives of others, at the risk of his own. All this he did faithfully, and when he could have no other motive than that of doing good. Here was no glory to be acquired ; here were none of the excitements of the battle field; here was no shame to be avoided, or disgrace to be feared, because his arrangements and directions to those whose part it was to battle with disease, had satisfied duty." It was far into September before the dread disease was extir- pated from the camp, and then commenced the negotiations with the Sacs and Foxes ; this was concluded by Scott with consummate skill, and resulted in the cession, for a valuable consideration, of the fine region which now constitutes the State of Iowa. Another treaty was made on the same terms by him with the Winnebagoes, by which they ceded some five million acres of land east of the Mississippi and between the Illinois and Wisconsin, now constituting a valuable portion of the Territory of Wisconsin. In reference as well to his suc- cessful negotiations as to his humane conduct under the calamity of pestilence, the then Secretary of War, Gen. Cass, wrote thus to General Scott : — " Allow me to congratulate you upon the fortunate consum- mation of your arduous duties, and to express my entire appro- bation of the whole course of your proceedings, during a series of difficulties requiring higher moral courage than the opera- tions of an active campaign under ordinary circumstances." Scarcely had Scott reached home and his family in New York, when he was detailed by President Jackson to a new, important and most delicate duty, that of maintaining at home the supremacy of the United States against South Carohna nullification. He immediately proceeded to Washington, and there, in personal interview with the President and the cabinet, becoming fully possessed of their views, and having fully ex- pressed to them his own, he was invested with very ample discretionary power to meet the perilous crisis. In no scene of his life, perhaps, has General Scott exhibited more thorough patriotism — more entire devotion to the laws and Constitution of his country — more anxious, and skilfully-conducted efforts to arrest that direst of calamities, civil war — more self-com- mand — more tact and talent — than while stationed at Fort Moultrie, in Charleston Harbor, and face to face, as it were, with nullification in arms. A single drop of blood shed at that moment might have deluged the nation in blood — and yet the laws of the United States, made in conformity with the Con- stitution, Scott was sworn and cotHmissioned to uphold, defend 18 LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. and enforce : the point of diflicnlty was to avert the bloodshed, and ycl maintain tlic laws; and he came off entirely sncccssful in both — nndor circnmslances, that history will do justice to, as those who remember the fearfnl apprehensions of thai day, did at the time, and still do. His next field of public service was in Florida, where the Seminolcs — in jjossession of the everglades, and havinjj taken our troops at unawares — owing to the wani of adeiinaie prepa- ration hy the administration, although timely warned of the danger by the gallant Clinch — seemed for a time to set the whole ellorts of our country at defiance. On the 20ih .Tamiary, 1636, (jieiieral Pcott was ordered lo the conmiand of ilie trocp^s in Florida, and he di.splayed his habitual jTomptiiudi in obey- ing the order. He was a[iprisrd of the will r f the President at 4 o'clock in the afterucoii, and asked when he could set foith ; "this night," was the reply. But a day's delay was required to draw up the requisite instructions, and he left Washingtcn the ilst. \Ve enter not here into an examinalion <;f the steps taken and plans devised by General Scott, to bring to a rapid and sure terniinalion those disastrous and discredilible hostili- ties, norinto the maimer or the motives of his nimiilitary recall, and of the subsequent investigation of his conduct by a Court of Inquiry ; these are among the historic archives of llie na- tion. (Hn- only concern here wilh them is to say, that this coin't luianimously ajiproved his eoi. duct — pronoui;ecd the jilau of his Seminole campaign '• well devised, ' and added thai it " was prosecuted " with energy, steadiness, and ability ; and so in regard lo the Creek war., which at ilie same lime fell »ipon his hands, the court found "that the ])lan (.f campaign adopted by Major-Ueueral Scott, was well calculated to lead to successlul results ; and that it was prosecuted by him. as far as practicable, wilh zeal and ability, until he v.as recalled frera the connnand." Mr. Van Ruren, who had now become President, aiiprovcd the fnidmg iu the court, and the nation al large ratitied ihe verdict. Public dinners wore tendered to General Scott by ib.c citizens of New York', of Richmond, and of other places, j-ll of which however he declined; and was in tlic discharge of i!ie ordinary 7/o dare t» stand?" "All!" was the answering cry. — Tiie Americans fought bravely, but of course unsuccessfully; and after their small but brave band was very much reduced, Scott surrendered his whole force wiili the honors of war. Several messengers were sent to the enemy with a Hag of truce, but none of them being heard from again, Scott went himselC, and narrowly escaped being mur- dered by two Indians who sprang upon him, and would have succeeded, but for the timely assistance of a British officer. Scott was froipiciitly advised to change liis dress, being in full unil'orm, and his tall stature, (six feet five inches in height,) making liim a conspicuous mark for the Indians, — "No," re- jilied he, " I will die in my robes." Scott attacked in prison by two Indians. — After flie sur- render of the .\merieans at Ciueenstown Heights, the prisoners were escorted to the village now called Niagara, where the officers were lodged in an imi, under strong guard, whose orders were that no prisoner should be permitted to pass out, but that otherwise they should not be restramed. A message soon came that a person wished to speak to the " tall Ameri- can," meaning Scott. The colonel came through the entry, and to his surprise, found the same two Indians, hideously painted, who made the attempt on his life while he was bear- ing the flag of truce. The Indians iiupiired how many wounds he had received, giving him to understand tlipy bad fired at him a great many times; and one of them seized him by the arm to turn him round, to look at his back. Indignant, Scott threw the savage from Iiim, exclaiming, '' OH", villain ! You fired like a squaw ! " — " Well," said the Indian, " we kill you now!" — Scoit ((iiickly seized a weapon which was near at hand, and prepared to defend himself, and was in a dangerous situation, just as aid was rendered by the timely arrival of a British officer, to whose assistance the preservation of his life was owing. One of these Indians was the son of the cele- brated Hrant. "^riie reason of this attempt to murder Scott, was that the Indians were greatly exasperated against him, on account of so many of their peo])le having been killed by the Americans in ihc battles; and so narrowly was he watched by them, that during his stay at Niagara lie was not safe, while out of the inn, without a Hritish escort. LIFE OP GENERAL SCOTT. 29 30 life of general scott. .« Scott allowed to view the Falls from the Canadiak SIDE ! — After Scott's capture at Queenstown, and while supping with the British General and officers, one of them, a colonel, inquired if he had ever seen the Niagara Falls. " Yes," replied Scott, "from the American side." The colonel replied, in a sarcastic manner, " Before you can view the cata- ract in all its grandeur, from the Canadian shore, you must have the glory of a successful fight." Among the prisoners taken by the Americans at the battle at Fort George, the fol- lowing year, was the same colonel, badly wounded. Scott gave orders that he should be treated with all possible kind- ness and attention, and afterwards obtained permission for hita to return to England on his parole, at a time when similar favors were refused by the enemy. The prisoner improved the earliest opportunity to return his thanks. "I have long owed you an apology," said he. " You have overwhelmed me with kindness. You can now, at your leisure, view the Falls in all their glory." Gen. Scott is represented as strict in enforcing vigorous discipline, and various anecdotes are told illustrative of his punctilious regard to military usage. The results at the hard- fought battles of Chippewa and Niagara show the advantage of this training. The following anecdote is given as a speci- men. He saw a captain pass a sentinel posted, the sentinel saluting him by carrying arms. The officer passed, and took no notice of the soldier. The General sent an aid to him to say, that he (the officer,) "would take care to repass the sentinel within half an hour, and repair the fault, or take a trial before a court-martial." CONGRESS PRESENTS GEN. SCOTT WITH A GOLD MEDAL. Resolution of Congress, approved Nov. 3- CO H r a o 12 G •-^ C d o &* o o H pi >■ O a 34 Lire or gcncrai. scott. CHAPTER VII. The Castle of Sati- Juan d' Ulloa. jHF/i^.ift taken by Gen. Scott in the Mex- ican war, and especially in reducing the Castle at Vera Cruz, render any informa- tion in relation to this noted fortress of great interest. ■_ The Castle of San Juan d' Ulloa is un- questionably the most celebrated of all '.merican fortresses. Its construction was commenced in the year 1582, upon a bar or bank in front of the town of Vera Cruz, at the distance of 1092 Caslilian varas, or yards, and it is entirely surrounded by water. The centre of the area occupied by this fortress is a small island, upon which Juan de Grijalva landed a year previous to the arrival of Cortez upon our con- tinent ; and at that period it accidentally received the name which it retains to this present day. It seems that there was a shrine or temple erected upon it, in which human victims were sacrificed to the Indian gods ; and as the Spaniards were informed that these offerings were made in accordance with the commands of the kings of Acolhne, (one of the provinces of the empire,) they confoiuided or abbreviated this name into the word Ulloa, which they athxed to the Island. Sixty-one years after the conquest, the building of the Cas- tle was commenced ; and although it seems to have been de- signed not only to defend Vera Cruz, but to attack it, in case of necessity, yet that city was sacked by the pirates, under the renowned freebooter, liorencillo, in the year 1683. The cost of the Castle has been estimated by various writers to have amounted to the sum of forty millions of dollars, and it may not be regarded as an exaggeration, if we consider the difficulty of obtaining some of the materials of which it is composed, and the fact that a large portion of it is built on foundations laid in the sea, whose waves it has resisted for more than two centuries. According to a report made in January, 177.', it was the opinion of a council of war, composed of distinguished oliicers, that this fortress, after all its defences were completed, would require a garrison, for eflective service, composed of 1700 in- fantry soldiers, 300 artillery soldiers, 228 soldiers, ajid 100 supernumeraries. f LIFE OF GENERAL SCOTT. S5 Vera Craz and the Castle taken, March 26. Full Particulars of the landing of the Troops, under General >feen published. March 5tk. The scene from the' deck this morning is a beautiful one. More than fitly vessels are in sight, twenty of which are under sa'l, and standing In for Anton Lizardo. Among-st them I observe four lartje steniners, two of which are propellers, one ship rigged, and the other a bark. The lioyal Mail Steamer passed through the midst of the fleet on her way to the city.'tSj, „' The Castle has opened a slow and irregular fire of shot and shells <^M one of our steamers, but none appear to have touched her, some passing ove^s and some falling short. The shells all burst too soon by several seconds, and they have stopped firing them. Several ships are in sight standing in. 2 o'clock, P. M. — The Peirita has just passed us, her hurricane deck pre- senting a most imposing array of military personel. We passed each other very rapidly ; but, with a glass, I observed General Scott, Commodore Connor and Lieutenant Raines, of the 4th Artillery, in the crowd. Smaller or less interesting objects were not easily distinguishable. 0th, At about eleven the fleet began to move, and before 2 P. M., came to anchor at Sacrificios in the following order: The Raritan frigate, containing 2800 troops, just inside Sacrificios ; the Spitfire followed, towing 20 surf boats ; the Princeton, with near 2000 men, came next ; the Massachusetts, bearing the broad flag of General Scott, and over 1000 troops; the propeller bark Edith, the head quarters of Gen Worth, also crowded, the propeller Endora, filled with troops, and the Albany cor- vette, with 900 soldiers, and towing eleven boats, next passed, in the order I have here given them, and came to anchor in beautiful style. Then came the Potomac frigate, crowded with soldiers "alow and aloft" I should say, full 3000 men ; then the old Petrita " drew her slow length along," followed by the bark " Floyd," stowed fore and aft with " rough al- lies," — tcamslers, I suppose. The "Vixen" steamer came next, filled with troops, and towing fourteen boats. To her succeeded the Oregon, (ship), full of "red coats," or red backs of some kind; the steamer "New Orleans," with Gen. Quitman and his brigade, or part of it, and Generals Jesup and Shields; next the steamer Virginia, I believe, (with four masts,) crowded ; next the Alabama steamer, crowded also ; then the ship Alabama, ditto ; then the U. S. brig Porpoise, full as a tick — a bed tick ; and the hrigantine Em pire, ditto. Next followed the transports Montezuma and Catharine, also crowded with troops, and the Huron, Maine, Columbia and others, with Mag- azines, Ordnance, Stores, &c., between thirty and forty sail in all. Not a single collision occurred. A number of gun boats had preceded the fleet, and taken up their position in a line above the Adams, in front of Sacrificios, at the same time with that ship. The Spitfire and Vixen subse- quently fell into the same line. Description of the landing of the Troops. — Before the shipping had all fairly anchored, the process of debarkation commenced with the first division ; Gen- eral Worth in command. The Spitfire and 4 gunboats then shifted their berths, and took a position as close in to the mainland as they could anchor ia with safety. In this movement the Spitfire got ashore, but suffered no injury of moment, and Captain Tatnall, her commander, at once passed with his boat to a point out of the way. It would take any quantity of paper to give a full efltct to description of the first landing of our troops on the afternoon of the 9th — a more stirring spectacle has probably never been witnessed in America. In the first line 36 tIFE OF SEN. SCOTT. there were no less than seventy surf boats, containing nearly 4,000 re^ula and all of them expected to tneot an enemy before they struck the shore. IVotnithstiindmg this, every man nns anxious to be first — they phinged ij the water waist deep a? they reached tlie shore — the " stars and strif were instantly fli)ating — a rush was made for the eand hills, and amid Ic shouts ibey pressed onward. Another account says, at 20 minutes past 5, P. M., at a signal from Massachusetts, the column, or rather, the ffeld of boats, began to movp, i at .Wminnles past 5 the whole l>ne groiin()ed, and the scene became onel >mlescribab)c interest. In an incredibly short ti-me, tlie American sland^ was seen wavinr; on Vhc .•iiininiit of an elevation a few rods from the bet and a regiment was .standing by it, complete and roclt-like. A neighborl hill at the »an>e instant presented the same magicaJ feature, nnd another another the same. The work was done. The soverergr* and indepen(^| State of Vera Croz was a chmtlel of Yankeeland. Three long and loud cheers arose from their comrades that were yet I boird, awaiting en>barkation, and meanwhile tlie tops and eyery portion| the foreitrn vessels were crowded with spectators- of the scene. Sol one ' witnrssed it will ever forget tlie landing. We are indebted to one of the officers of the Princeton for the fullow] summary of the proceedir>g8 in this most briUiant achievement, as achia Mient that will redound more to the glory of our Army and Marine among I nations abroad, than any tlvat has yet had place in our annals: — March 9//i. — Di.serabarkntion of troops commenced. l\lh — Investment of the city completed. }8lh. — Trfnchos opened at night. U.'i!h — Early in the morning the city proposed for a surrender. Commissioners on the American side, Generafs Worth and Pillow, i Colonel Totten. 2C/S. — Negotiations completed; city and castfe surrendered — Mexi4 troops marched out and laid down their arms — American troops occupied city and batteries of the town and castle. At noon on that day the Ami can ensign was hoisted over both, and saluted by our vessels; the garri/ of about 1000 men, laying down their arms, as prisoners of war. and bel sent to their home.-i on parole — .5 generals, CO superior officers, and 270 cq pany officers being among the prisoners. The total loss of the .Ainericnn army, from the day "f landing, March 9lhl Cj persons killed and wounrtcfJ. OfTicera killed: Capl. John R. Vinton, 2d tillery ; Capt. Afliurtis, 2d' Infantry ; Midshipman T. B. Shubrick. Woundi Col. Dickenson, of South Cnrohna Volunteers, severely ; Lieut. A. S. Baldv Wavy, slighily ; Lieut. Deforin, iid Infantry, s^ighl^y; Litnt. Lewis Ncill,| Dragoons, severely. All the wounded are ctoing well. Of the Mexicans the shoflrter is said to be immense. The commandl general was stationed in the city, wlii^ his second in-coiiunand held the ca& Their regiiUr forte v/.as about 3^0()(), and Uiey hail atwut tl»e same number irregulars. Oul-iide the city was Gen. Le Vega, with a forse of from & 10,000 cavalry. Col. Unrncy, with l)elween 2 and :!00 United Slates dragoci charired on and rep"''*'' "i'* immense force, with terrible carnage, ■catierl them ill alt directions. ' f Tlipy had barricaded a bridge to protect themselves, but oar artillery (J knocked away ihia obstacle, and gaw Harney's command a chance at thi| In the altack on the town and castle, oivly our smaller vessels, drawing over nine feet, were available ; bu-l few bhot and i