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EULOGY 
 
 LIEUT. COL. MARTIN SCOTT, 
 
 DELIVERKD AT 
 
 BENNINGTON, VT., MARCH 3, 1848. 
 
 GEN. GEO. K DAVIS, 
 
 OF TROY. 
 
 TROY, N. Y.: 
 
 FROM THE STEAM PRESS OF J. C. KNEELAND AND CO. 
 1848. 
 

EULOGY. 
 
 Fellow Citizens, — 
 
 The occasion upon which we have met is one 
 of sad and mournful import. It appeals to the no- 
 blest, the purest emotions of humanity, and finds a 
 response in every heart whose pulsations own the 
 commonest attributes of human nature. 
 
 We have met to perform the last sad offices which 
 belong to friends, relatives, brothers and countrymen. 
 
 Lt. Col. Martin Scott has fallen, — and his cold 
 and voiceless remains now lie before us, to receive 
 the last sad honors that his grateful and sorrowing 
 townsmen and sympathizing countrymen can pay 
 them. 
 
 In the providence of that God who holds the earth 
 in the hollow of his hand, he whom we delighted to 
 honor and cherish in the holiest ties of friendship and 
 brotherhood, has been taken from us, to sleep in the 
 land of spirits. 
 
 The paths "that once knew him will know him 
 Ho more forever." The light of the family hearth- 
 
stone has been suddenly extinguished by the gloom of 
 death. The manly form has been prostrated, and 
 withers in the grasp of death. The social circle, 
 which brightened in the glow of valor and manhood, 
 has been darkened by a weeping sky and lowering 
 clouds. The vigor of life, bearing the noble impress 
 of a divine hand, — the sunshine of hope and happi- 
 ness — the ruddy glow of health and joy — is sudden- 
 ly succeeded by desolation, sadness and woe. 
 
 Society mourns the loss of one of its most highly 
 prized members, — whose high sense of honor and so- 
 cial qualities of head and heart, combined with those 
 rare virtues and excellencies which adorn and dignify 
 human nature, placed him pre-eminently high in the 
 estimation of all who enjoyed his acquaintance. 
 
 Patriotism weeps for the fall of one of her noblest 
 sons. And well she may ! For, in her long list of 
 illustrious heroes, she cannot boast of one whose most 
 ardent impulses and manly energies were more sa- 
 credly devoted to her holy cause, or whose arm was 
 readier to strike for her cherished principles. 
 
 Humanity mourns the death of a brave and gen- 
 erous heart, whose every chord vibrated with her 
 most hallowed emotions. Mino^led with the current 
 of manly courage and chivalrous daring, was an ex- 
 alted benevolence, which challenged the admiration 
 of all. 
 
 Friendship is called upon to-day to pay the last sad 
 tribute to one whose heart was always warmed by 
 its genial glow, — first and foremost with active en- 
 ergy in all her claims, — ready to give with an un- 
 sparing hand and a generous impulse, whatever tri- 
 
bute was asked in her cause, — quick to perform all 
 those kindly offices and social acts which adorn hu- 
 manity and smooth the rugged pathways of life, — she 
 mourns the fall of one who can never be replaced, 
 save in memory's waste. 
 
 But, the t^ars which Society, Friendship, Human- 
 ity and Patriotism drop upon the bier of the depart- 
 ed, contrast feebly with the heart-rent anguish of those 
 who, by the ties of consanguinity and more hallowed 
 associations,stoodin nearer and dearer relations of life. 
 To them, the remembrance of him whose remains 
 are this day to be consigned to the tomb, is hallowed 
 by a thousand associations of love, affection and at- 
 tachment. To them, he was not alone the hero and 
 gallant soldier, the possessor of manly virtues and 
 chivalrous daring, the patriot and the friend ; but he 
 added to those qualities which have placed him so 
 pre-eminently high in the public estimation, those 
 home virtues of the head and heart, which are prized 
 in the husband and brother above any other attri- 
 butes that dignify and adorn human nature. But 
 propriety forbids that we should enter into the sacred 
 circle around the family hearth-stone which death 
 has clothed in desolation. That infinite Beino- whose 
 omnipotent eye penetrates the darkest chambers of 
 gloom, is alone permitted to know the anguish, be- 
 reavement and sorrow, which are hidden in the re- 
 cesses of the human heart. But He has left them the 
 blessed assurance that " if he maketh sore, he will 
 bind up ; if he woundeth, his hand will make whole " 
 But not alone do friends and family mourn for the 
 departed. An honored country claims the right to 
 
pay the tribute due to one of her bravest sons, — a 
 country upon whose altar were consecrated the best 
 energies of life, — for whose liberties his arm was ever 
 ready to strike. That country places his memory 
 among an illustrious line of heroes, — among whom 
 she had not a nobler son, — and mourns* the loss of a 
 soldier brave in battle and wise in council. She will 
 cherish and honor the memory, and take care of 
 the reputation of those heroes who have sacrificed 
 their lives to maintain her integrity and national 
 honor mispotted; and placing their gallant deeds in 
 indelible characters upon her records, she will hand 
 them down to posterity among the "few, the im- 
 mortal names that were not born to die." 
 
 I need not recount the deeds of the deceased. 
 They are familiar to all. Who has not heard of the 
 name and gallant daring of the chivalrous Scott 1 
 A native of this town, he entered the army in 1814, 
 as Lieutenant, and rising lineally to the rank of Major, 
 was breveted Lt. Col., for his gallantry at Monterey, 
 in Worth's brigade. Whenever and wherever an 
 opportunity occurred, he was the first and foremost 
 in the fight, leading on his men to victory and glo- 
 ry. In the hard-fought battles of Palo Alto, Ros- 
 acea de la Palma and Monterey, his gallant bearing 
 was the subject of universal commendation. Lt. 
 Col. Scott fell in the action before the Moleno del 
 Rey leading his own favorite regiment, the gallant 
 5th, U. S. Lifantry, to which he had been attached 
 with more than brotherly devotion, since the year 
 1818. In the glorious battles before the walls of 
 Mexico, he was signally distinguished for the bravery 
 
and intrepidity which characterized himself and his 
 regiment. As the serried lines were mowed down 
 by the galling fire of the enemy, they closed up with 
 military precision, marching forward with undaunt- 
 ed spirit to the enemy's strong works before them. 
 The devotion of the men under his command was 
 unbounded in enthusiasm and respect. They all 
 loved and appreciated the valor of their leader, and 
 knew that victory, under his command, was certain. 
 When he fell upon the field of battle, before the 
 walls of Mexico, a soldier, seizing a cloak, covered 
 it over his body, and stood weeping over his remains, 
 determined not to desert in death the gallant soldier 
 whom he was proud to honor in hfe. " Who have 
 you there V asked an officer who had observed the 
 soldier. " The bravest man of the 5th regiment," was 
 the prompt reply of the faithful and devoted soldier. 
 
 In the same battle an anecdote is related of the 
 deceased, which illustrates his character. While 
 his command were sheltered for a moment from 
 the destructive fire of the enemy, he was noticed 
 exposing his whole front to their fire ; their balls 
 flying about him like hail. Some one remarked 
 to him, " Col., do fall down and shelter your body 
 from the balls of the enemy." His prompt and 
 characteristic reply was, "Col. Scott never stoops." 
 Nor did he. ever, until death, the leveler of all, did 
 its work, and brought him down. 
 
 As a tactician and disciplinarian, Col. Scott had 
 few equals and no superior, in the army ; and I have 
 the testimony of an officer of high rank and distin- 
 guished mihtary reputation, pronouncing him the 
 
8 
 
 f)est shot in the world. The fame of his unerring 
 rifle was not only as broad as the circle of his own 
 country, but had reached other lands. Death and 
 his rifle were familiar acquaintances. 
 
 In the despatches to the War Department, Lieut. 
 Col. Scott is frequently spoken of in terms of the 
 highest commendation. "I cannot close this report,"^ 
 says that distinguished ofHcer, Gen. Worth, " with- 
 out a passing tribute to the gallant dead, among 
 whom the service mourns the high-souled Scott, bre- 
 vet Lt. Col., 5th regiment, on whom the command of 
 the storming party devolved," and others who fell 
 that day. "All of these gallant men fell as, when 
 it pleased God, they would have wished to fall, fight- 
 ing bravely at the head of their troops, leaving a 
 bright example to the service, and spotless names to 
 the cherished recollections of their comrades." This 
 expression is but the tribute which a gallant soldier, 
 himself " the bravest of the brave," pays to his com- 
 rades who were his equals in personal bravery and 
 manly daring. 
 
 But we turn to a nobler, a more exalted spectacle 
 of respect for the honored dead. Who has not 
 heard that heart-felt voice of a nation's praise — of 
 a nation's gratitude — as it swelled across the broad 
 expanse of our country ! Who has not felt that 
 we owe to the honored dead a deep and lasting debt 
 of gratitude and respect ! The praises of the brave 
 have been the theme of every tongue. The winds 
 seemed to have whispered an anthem, as soft and 
 sweet as seraphs sing, over the distant and lonely 
 graves of our fallen countrymen. Every breath that 
 
ccmes from the sierras of Mexico, tell of valor, of 
 daring, of patriotism, as holy, as pure and exalted 
 as Greece could boast of in her palmiest days. 
 
 The lips of youth, fresh with the virgin innocence 
 of childhood, have learned to pronounce the i am?s 
 of our heroes in strains of praise. The grey-haired 
 patriots of other days, who did honor to our arms in 
 our last struggle with the mother country, with trem- 
 bhng voices and eyes dimmed in the lapse of age, 
 have looked up and blessed our gallant army in 
 Mexico ; and as they were gathered to their fathers, 
 have felt that they were leaving an honored and 
 beloved country in the hands of sons who have the 
 ability and spirit to prctect and defynd its liberties. 
 
 The poet has recounted in deathless numbers, the 
 praises of our heroes, and their hard-fought battles. 
 From the lowly cottage to the lordly mansion, — 
 from the humblest walks of life to the most elevated 
 circles of greatness and renown, — from the child 
 that lisps at its mother's knee, to the aged veteran 
 ripe with the fulness of years whose locks have been 
 frosted with the blasts of many winters, — through 
 all grades and all stations of society, there has been 
 but one unanimous feeling and sentiment, — that of 
 profound respect, admiration and sorrow, for the 
 brave who have fallen, and of honor and glory for 
 the living. This universal sentiment of gratitude 
 and esteem is bounded by no sectional lines ; is con- 
 fined to no state limits. It is a nation's voice, perva- 
 ding the whole expanse of our common country. It 
 comes from the rich savannas of the sunny South, and 
 stretches away to the green hills and cloud-capped 
 
10 
 
 summits of the North, — a swelhng burst of praise 
 and gratitude from the rock-bound coast of the East, 
 where the pilgrim fathers quietly repose in their olden 
 graves, it mingles its notes with the eternal voice of 
 the ocean, and borne to distant climes, finds an echo 
 in every American breast. It stretches across the 
 iVlleghanies and swells along the verdant prairies of 
 the West, to the farthermost bounds of civilization ; 
 and the fires of patriotism, although many an honor- 
 ed and noble son has been sacrificed upon its altar, 
 burn with a brighter, a steadier glow than ever. 
 
 It is no longer a problem whether America can 
 maintain her self-government and independence to 
 the remotest age. We have shown to the world 
 that our citizens are equal to any and every emer- 
 gency, whether it be in the tented field, or in the 
 councils of the nation. 
 
 Nations and people can do nothing more credita- 
 ble and honorable to themselves than in paying re- 
 spect to their gallant defenders and brave men. A 
 high appreciation of exalted talents and chivalrous 
 daring, is the first requisite to ttfe possession of those 
 noble qualities. And what a spectacle is presented 
 to challenge the admiration of the world, in the he- 
 roic achievments of our gallant army ; in the devo- 
 tion and patriotism which they have exhibited on all 
 occasions ! The fires of death as they swept through 
 the serried columns and thinned the ranks; the 
 death-rattle and shrieks of the wounded and dying ; 
 the certain danger and probable death ; — none of 
 these things, exhibited in their most frightful fea- 
 tures, served to retard the impulse, or to check the 
 
31 
 
 purpose of men, animated by the ardor of patriot- 
 ism and an exalted bravery. Sunken and degenerate 
 indeed must be that people who can be indifferent 
 to deeds like these. 
 
 The heroic age of Greece has passed away. Her 
 heroes have gone to their long homes, and centuries 
 have swept down the tide of time, crumbling in their 
 iron steps the monuments of her ancient art and re- 
 finement. The Delphic oracle no longer whispers 
 forth its mysterious and prophetic warnings. The 
 hero, the sage and the warrior, no longer pay their 
 devoirs at the sacred sanctuary, at the foot of Par- 
 nassus. Yet this age has stamped its impress, in in- 
 delible characters, upon the world's history. It was 
 the age of bravery and of daring; of heroism and 
 devotion ; and the world has awarded to it a death- 
 less fame, and has enshrined the memory of its an- 
 cient heroes in the brightest chaplets of glory. 
 
 But the history of Greece, though it boasts of a 
 long line of illustrious heroes, commencing with 
 mythological deeds of a Hercules, and embracing 
 the heroic and self-sacrificing devotion of a Leonidas, 
 and the death-contemning courage of Themistocles, 
 contains upon its deathless pages only a few of those 
 great and immortal names that have stood out like 
 landmarks on the track of time. 
 
 The Cato and Brutus of Rome ; the Hannibal of 
 Carthage ; the Sydney and Hampden of England ; 
 the Wallace of Scotland ; the Emmet of Ireland ; 
 the Tell of Switzerland ; the Kosciusko of Poland, 
 and the Vasa of Sweden ; and sublimely towering 
 above them all, our own immortal Washington, — are 
 
12 
 
 names that will live in the recollection of man as 
 long as freedom and liberty, high-daring and exalt- 
 ed bravery exist in memory's store-house. 
 
 But while the human mind rests with admiration 
 upon the personal bravery and daring of the heroic 
 age of Greece ; while it contemplates the chivalry of 
 the middle ages, and looks upon the achievements of 
 the daring martial nobles of that period, it seeks in 
 vain for that exalted devotion to the holy principles of 
 liberty, which have signalized the history of American 
 patriotism. The heroes and heroism of our own age 
 belong to an entirely different class, and owe their 
 oriorin to sentiments and emotions which were un- 
 known, or but faintly dreamed of, in the earlier 
 ages of human society. 
 
 The early heroes of Greece, like the lordly bar- 
 ons of the middle asjes, were the owners of the soiL 
 and held their followers in a subjection and depen- 
 dence at once deo-radinor to the finer emotions of 
 humanity, and destructive to all those exalted per- 
 ceptions of freedom which animate the heart of the 
 American hero and citizen-soldier. 
 
 They fought for power, for plunder, and extended 
 rule ; our own heroes for the undying principles of 
 liberty, the defence of which an All-wise Creator 
 has placed in our hands. From the daring of an- 
 cient Greece and the chivalry of the middle ages, 
 the human mind looks in vain for those wholesome 
 lessons of devotion to the holy principles of liberty 
 and equality which have guided the soldiers of our 
 country in their hard-fought battles. 
 
 The spectacle of personal bravery and a readi- 
 
13 
 
 ness to sacrifice life in defence of any principle, al- 
 ways challenges our admiratian and claims our re- 
 spect. The world has, from the earliest history of 
 man, placed upon its highest summit of fame, those 
 whose perso al daring was the most conspicuous. 
 Tiie heathen mythol:)_oy of the ancients owes its 
 orio^in to the admiration which was paid to those 
 most celebrated for extraordinary feats of valor, and 
 disregard of personal danger. 
 
 But how different is the adoration which we pay 
 to the heroes of our own country ! Our admiration 
 is excited by the spectacle of bravery and personal 
 daring of as high an order as any that belonged to 
 the most renowned heroes of ancient times ; and 
 linked with an expansive benevolence, an enlight- 
 ened Christianity, a nobleness of purpcs^, asacied 
 devotion to all those great principles which charac- 
 terize an enlightened age. 
 
 The hero who lays down his life upon the altar 
 of American freedom can look calmly to the broad 
 expanse of sky which canopies his head upon the 
 battle field, and conscious that his arm has been ani- 
 mated by an integrity of purpose at once sacred and 
 revered, can " die like the good man who wraps his 
 drapery about him and lies down to sweet and pleas- 
 ant dreams." 
 
 While the cloud of battle hovers around him ; 
 while war and carnage present a picture of desola- 
 tion which well may appal the stoutest heart, his vis- 
 ion is enraptured by looking down the tide of time 
 to that glorious future, when the enlightened march 
 of civilization and the universal extension of free 
 
14 
 
 principles and free government, with all their concom- 
 itants of learning, Christianity and brotherhood, shall 
 unite in one common purpose the whole race of man. 
 
 To the patriot who dies to perpetuate those hea- 
 ven-born institutions which have for their object the 
 elevation of the masses and the humanization of the 
 world, no cloud of battle is so dense as to obscure a 
 future, glorying in the highest excellencies and the 
 most exalted worth. To him there is the proud con- 
 sciousness of knowing that divine wisdom has de- 
 creed that man must pass through these initiatory 
 steps before he can stand up clothed in those exalted 
 attributes which make the perfect being. He dies with 
 the consciousness of knowing that the dark gloom 
 of error, superstition and ignorance, is to be suc- 
 ceeded by a future in which Christianity and liberty 
 are to attain their highest excellence. He is con- 
 scious that in the moral, as in the natural world, 
 these storms are necessary to purify an atmosphere 
 made noxious and deadly by ages of darkness and 
 gloom. He beholds, one by one, the old relics of 
 barbarism succeeded by new, holy and enduring in- 
 stitutions, which claim as their highest objects of 
 ffood, the final elevation and christianization of the 
 whole human family. The dying agony of the pat- 
 riot is softened by knowing that he falls a martyr to 
 the establishment of principles which become more 
 and more exalted, as man progresses to that higher 
 state of humanity which is his birth-right and destiny. 
 
 To the patriot governed by exalted perceptions 
 of freedom and humanity, death, though it comes in 
 its most appaling forms, has no terrors. Whether 
 
15 
 
 the principle for which he is contending shall then 
 succeed or fail, the consciousness that future gene- 
 rations will honor his memory, is ever present. 
 
 Human governments may rise and fall, and be ob- 
 literated in the desolating march of time ; nations 
 may glory in the pride of power and greatness, and 
 may wither and crumble in the grasp of ruin ; the 
 great and good may be consigned to the tomb in 
 ignominy and disgrace ; cities may sleep in desola- 
 tion and be blotted from the memory of man ; laws 
 and institutions, now sacred and hallowed, may die, 
 and sleep on the abyss without a surge ; — yet the 
 deathless fame of the hero shall outlive them all, and 
 be a watch-word of patriots and brave hearts in all 
 coming time. 
 
 The fame of heroic achievements asks no pillared 
 marble, proud monument or splendid mausoleum 
 to perpetuate its existence. It is the world's proper- 
 ty ; and, written in the story of valor and truth — pre- 
 served in the archives of every nation — it can only 
 be obliterated in the final desolation of all things. 
 
 There seems a mysterious, an All-wise hand in 
 the guidance of this immutable rule. The riches of 
 wealth may be snatched from us with the speed . of 
 thought; their perpetuity to those who succeed us, 
 hangs upon a brittle thread. The station and posi- 
 tion obtained only by exercise of exalted talents and 
 years of toil, may wither in the first hour of their 
 possession. But the memory of great deeds and ex- 
 alted worth will live through all time, brave every 
 storm and commotion which may agitate human so- 
 ciety, a lasting and enduring legacy for posterity to 
 
16 
 
 ifcOQDr azid imita3e. Like tiie pillar of fire which 
 y / ' ' je pati-PTBT of God 5 chosen people Through 
 : " " J ' " *'^? fame of great and Dohle 
 
 : .^red immorLalitT, will make 
 
 clear the path war of car, and Hg it the fi>oti;teps 
 of pu^teiitTT to aj3 emnlataoii of the exam le. Thus 
 iK>ble action? hecon^ a rich legacy, worth more 
 than tiie i^^ealih of eiBpires. oatlivicg in splendor and 
 gioTT the ino^t I'rilli&i:: achievements of Art and 
 Scienee- 
 
 BuT yrL.^-z '.Li occasion upon which we have this 
 dav asseiained- admonis-hes us of the nncertaintv o£ 
 bmn - out with unerring certainty our 
 
 duti*' - . _^_.^ - ^ .-_. - tne world in which we live, and 
 of a higher dutr to our God- 
 It ©eems to eay, in that still small voice which pen- 
 etrates the tecret springs of human action, " Wan- 
 derer on a stormy sea." be ever ready for duty to 
 your country, and above all '^ be prepared to meet 
 your God." Xegriect no opportunity to perform those 
 offices of honor, integrity, valor and self-devotion, 
 which heaven has ^ven you for an exalted purpose. 
 Be active while the Aa\' hsuSU, for the long night corn- 
 ed no man can work, — the golden opportu- 
 Lt/.-, T ^^--en you for bettering the condition of your 
 fellow man, cannot be too devotedly, too nobly spent 
 — ^ In the midst of life we are in death,'" — "stars 
 have their time to falli and flowers to fade and with- 
 er at th.e north wind'fc breath; but thou, thou hast all 
 f^- - -If; 01k Death/' 
 
 : - -- ; and go in their wonted times; the 
 
 tides of ocean, governed by immutable laws, have 
 
17 
 
 iheir ^bb and 1km. Yet Desu^ ike hmmk — -^ 
 eral vidi Unae>'-^€0-e%iiiteat ws^ eienigkj^. — 
 icy haaad npoa its rk:Um, stX iM hmm^ att iS, ^^v 
 in an cHmee, and osder :aE <:^'^nsai^b»i^:f»^ 
 
 ot die hsudj zod ihe hra.re~-^d^ }Mik.paef: m am 
 wbom we novr deplore; — dbefe lelk aaid residsstm. 
 vales which itretch awar zcatm joar «3ale — otio^ 
 azenowdodKdiallie^ciomof whiter^ mM esft'ifju^ 
 cast off dieir soabie kne ajid pat ok 1^. 
 sanaaaar. The flowen vindb vidbezei is £;i^ .^^ui^^': 
 of vintn-, wiH be levitified br die seasal ^ioar <^ 
 Spring. Tlie widieied Waadbae «£ ^e H2-afe( 
 win be elodied vxlii new veiiinFe. Tiis mgm-»jgsak 
 iialee dbaU again pot on anev^ tbeir eoKsaSS ^t^^k. 
 Bwd and flowezs, and leaf and Tine; ibe SCEO^sm^ 
 let, now CTvsbed beoeadioiir feet, dboS asaanp^ 
 fixlk newebamK, a£ 6e^ as dK»e ^92 dedbed 
 adon's nsHHS. The now descried wood asd sbb 
 ttaJk again rgoice in tbe sweet caz^ a ^isib 
 die mosie of natnze. Tbe seasams wafi 
 so, vkb seed time aad bar«7^L 
 nncbansinv oomses. Ciiifizasaoa v 
 widen, nnlil bounded cmhrb-rt^ ^aiast eoodraes «: 
 Creadon, it leacbes ererr r^zz.- ui 
 
 But die Dead, d^ - 
 leviatlbe aoenes of JL 
 
18 
 
 She there shall dress a sweeter sod, 
 
 Than fancy's feet have ever trod " 
 " By fairy forms their dirge is sung, — 
 
 By hands unseen their knell is rung ; 
 There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray. 
 
 To bless the turf that wrap= their clay : 
 And Freedom shall awhile repair 
 
 To dwell a weeping hermit there !" 
 
¥ 
 
 EULOGY 
 
 T 
 
 LIEUT. COL. MARTIN SCOTT 
 
 DELIVERED AT 
 
 BENNINGTON, VT., MARCH :i, 1848, 
 
 GEN. GEO. R. DAVIS 
 
 OF TROY. 
 
 TROY, N. Y. : 
 
 FROM THE STEAM PRESS OF J. C. KNEELAND AND CO. 
 
 1848. 
 
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