Winfield Scott was born on the 13th of June, 1785, in the county of Dinwiddie, near Petersburg, Virginia. Designed for the profession of the law, he received a liberal education, and graduated at William and Mary College in that state. In 1806, having completed his studies, he commenced practice at the bar, with talents and acquirements which bade fair to introduce him to a very lucrative business. In 1807, the aggressions upon our defenceless commerce, by European powers, and the outrage upon the frigate Chesapeake, roused the indignant feelings of the nation. Redress was promptly called for, and the more ardent of our countrymen prepared for an immediate war. One of the first measures, at the next session of Congress, was to pass a bill for the increase of the army, and young Scott forsook the law, and was appointed a captain in a regiment of light artillery; in which capacity he remained prosecuting, with his usual zeal, his military studies, until the declaration of war in 1812, which opened a more arduous field for the exercise of his brilliant talents.

On the 6th of July, 1812, Scott was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the second regiment of artillery; and arrived on the Niagara frontier, with the companies of Towson and Barker, and was posted at Black Rock, to protect the navy yard at that place.

On the 13th of October, the attack upon Queenstown, under Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, took place.

On the day previous, Lieutenant-Colonel Scott had arrived with his regiment at Schlosser, twelve miles from Lewiston. The object of this movement was to dispossess the enemy from the fort and village of Queenstown Heights, and thus to make a lodgment for the American troops on the Canada shore, the invasion of Canada being then the leading object of the northern campaign. Anxious to be near the scene of action, Scott obtained permission to march his regiment to Lewiston, and to use his artillery as circumstances might direct. In the early part of the action which followed he bore no part; but Colonels Van Rensselaer and Fenwick having fallen severely wounded, Colonel Scott’s request to cross the river was finally acceded to. The enemy was driven from the heights, which were now in the possession of the Americans, who gallantly repulsed an attack under General Brock, who had come up with reinforcements, but was himself killed in the engagement.

On his arrival, Colonel Scott found the troops in great disorder. Announcing his name and rank, he immediately formed them into line. Colonel Scott’s attention was first directed to an eighteen pounder, which the enemy, in his retreat, had left in the hands of the Americans, after having hastily spiked it; and he proceeded in person to direct the measures for rendering the piece again useful. Returning in a short time, he was surprised to find a large body of Indians preparing to attack the American lines, while the troops, already in some confusion, were on the point of giving way. His presence soon changed the state of affairs, and the savages were compelled to make a hasty retreat. With an unanimous burst of enthusiasm, the line suddenly rallied from right to left, threw itself forward upon the enemy, putting him to precipitate flight, and leaving the ground strewed with the dead and wounded. In this manner successive conflicts were kept up, till a reinforcement of British arrived, under the command of Major General Sheaffe.

Colonel Scott now perceiving that a crisis must be near at hand, every effort was made by the commanding officers to induce the American militia, on the opposite side of the river, to cross over to the assistance of their countrymen, but in vain. Entreaty was wasted upon them, and as all the boats were upon the American side, the little band under Scott was left to await a fate from which there was no retreat. All had now been done that was required by honor, and longer resistance would only have sacrificed in vain the lives of brave men. Terms of capitulation being agreed upon, Colonel Scott surrendered into the hands of the enemy his whole force, now reduced to one hundred and thirty-nine regulars, and one hundred and fifty-four militia; in all two hundred and ninety-three men. Thus ended the battle of Queenstown Heights; an engagement desultory in its movements, but unfortunate in its results. From Queenstown, Scott was sent to Quebec; whence, upon being exchanged, he soon after embarked for Boston. Previous to this, however, one of those scenes occurred in which the decision of character of Colonel Scott was most strikingly displayed.

When the prisoners were embarked on board the transport to be conveyed to Boston, they were first mustered on the deck by British officers, and every man whose accent 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 became aware of what was going on, he instantly forbade his soldiers to make further answer. Twenty-three had already been set apart for a shameful death. After the command from their Colonel, no threats from the British officer could induce the men again to speak. Scott, amidst constant interruptions from the British officer, addressed the men, encouraged them to be of good cheer, and solemnly 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 prisoners in the hands of the Americans. These twenty-three men, all Irish, were, nevertheless, put in irons and sent to England, bearing with them the pledge of a gallant soldier, who, they knew, would not fail them. His first care, on his arrival at Boston, was to lay the whole circumstances before the secretary of war, who communicated the same to Congress. A law was passed vesting the President with the power of retaliation, and two months after, at the capture of Fort George, Scott having made many prisoners, true to his pledge, selected twenty-three of his prisoners, and confined them to abide the fate of the twenty-three naturalized Americans. In making this selection, Scott was careful not to include a single Irishman.

The British authorities saw the peril, and, it may be presumed, the injustice of the step they had taken, and not one of the prisoners was tried or harmed. The sequel to the foregoing narrative is told by his biographer, and must be read with interest. In July, 1815, when peace had been some months concluded, and Scott (then a major-general), was passing along on the East River side of the city of New York, he was attracted by loud cheers and bustle on one of the piers. He approached the scene, and great was his delight to find that it was the cheer of his old Irish friends, in whose behalf he had interfered at Quebec, and who had that moment landed in triumph, after a confinement of more than two years in English prisons! He was quickly recognized by them, hailed as their deliverer, and nearly crushed by their warm-hearted embraces! Twenty-one were present, two having died natural deaths. Scott had not then recovered from the wounds he had received in the bloody battle of the Niagara, and was about to embark on a voyage to Europe. Yet, in conformity with the promises of friendship he had made with these men, he found time to write to the departments at Washington, and solicit for them their patents for land bounties, and their long arrearages of pay. He was successful, and they were at length restored both to their adopted country and their promised rewards. Several of these brave sons of Ireland are yet alive, and can testify to the truth of this narrative.

Shortly after the capture of York, the capital of Upper Canada, in 1813, Colonel Scott joined the army at Fort Niagara. He joined in the capacity of adjutant-general, (chief of the staff,) under the command of Major-General Dearborn. Though thus engaged in staff duties, he insisted upon the right, and it was conceded, of commanding his own regiment on extraordinary occasions. On the British side of the Niagara was a peninsula, of which Fort George was the defence. This position General Dearborn was determined to carry. The first act of Colonel Scott was in leading the advanced column of the attack, which so completely succeeded that the enemy was driven from the work and the field; and but for repeated and peremptory orders, Scott would probably have captured the whole British force. Fort George, the colors of which had been taken down by Colonel 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 the St. Lawrence, in the summer of that year, to attack Montreal. The whole summer passed without any attack from the British, when Scott obtained permission to turn Fort George over to General McLure, of the New York militia, and to join the main army at Sacket’s Harbor; marching to the mouth of the Genesee river, where the commander-in-chief promised that transports should meet him. It is well known that the expedition, after exciting much expectation, finally resulted in utter failure. The troops endured great fatigue, and encountered considerable danger in the difficult and perilous navigation of the St. Lawrence, without obtaining an opportunity of distinguishing themselves or benefiting their country. This unlucky campaign was, however, brilliantly redeemed by that of the following year. On the 9th of March, 1814, Colonel Scott was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, and he joined General Brown on his route to Niagara, in the commencement of the next month.

Soon after General Brown was called to Sacket’s Harbor, and the command, in consequence, devolved upon General Scott, who immediately assembled the army and established a camp of instruction. His whole attention was now given to perfecting the discipline of the troops, to give them that celerity and combination of movement, which in modern times has made war a science, and rendered individual prowess of so little avail. For two months and a half the troops were drilled daily, from seven to nine hours each day, until finally they exhibited a perfection of discipline never before attained in our army. They were now prepared to meet on terms of equality the veteran troops of the enemy, and they soon had an opportunity of showing the advantages they had derived from their instruction. In June, Major General Brown reached Buffalo with reinforcements, and in the commencement of the next month the campaign was opened.

The Niagara was passed on the 3d of July in two brigades, Scott’s and Ripley’s, the former below, the latter above Fort Erie, which almost immediately surrendered. On the morning of the 4th, the army moved towards Chippewa, General Scott’s brigade being in advance; and on the evening of the same day, took up a position on the bank of Street’s Creek, about two miles distant from the British encampment. The stream was in front of the American position, having beyond it an extensive plain; its right rested upon the Niagara, and its left upon a wood. On the following day the British militia and the Indians having occupied the wood, commenced annoying the American piquets from it, until Brigadier General Porter, at the head of his brigade of militia and friendly Indians, drove the enemy from the wood back upon the Chippewa. The British regulars being here supported by their whole army, drawn out in line and advancing to the attack, General Porter, in his turn, was compelled to give way. The heaviness of the firing informed General Brown of the advance of the main body of the enemy. It was now about four o’clock in the afternoon. General Scott was at this moment advancing with his brigade to drill upon the plain, on which the battle was afterwards fought. On the march he met General Brown, who said to him, “The enemy is advancing. You will have a fight.” Beyond this brief remark, Scott received no further orders during the day. General Brown passed to the rear, to put Ripley’s brigade in motion, and to reassemble the light troops behind Street’s Creek. It was not till he arrived at the bridge over Street’s Creek, two hundred yards to the right of his camp of the night before, that Scott saw the enemy.

The army of Riall had crossed the bridge over Chippewa, and displayed itself on the plain before described. It was composed of the one hundredth regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel, the Marquis of Tweedale; the first, or Royal Scots, under Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon; a portion of the eighth, or King’s own regiment; a detachment of the royal artillery; a detachment of the royal nineteenth light dragoons; and a portion of Canada militia and Indians. The main body of these troops were among the best in the British army. This force was supported by a heavy battery of nine pieces, within point blank range of the American troops. Under the fire of this battery, the corps of General Scott passed the bridge in perfect order, but with some loss. His first and second battalions, under Majors Leavenworth and McNeil, after crossing, formed a line to the front, which brought them opposed respectively to the left and centre of the enemy. The third battalion under Major, (now General) Jessup, obliqued in column to the left, and advanced to attack the right of the enemy, which extended into the wood. Captain (now General) Towson with his artillery, was stationed on the right, resting in the Chippewa road. General Scott soon perceived that, although there were no intervals in the British line, yet their right wing outflanked his left.

To remedy this difficulty, the movement of Jessup was caused, and the interval between the battalions of Leavenworth and McNeil on the plain, was greatly enlarged. These evolutions were executed rapidly and with great precision, under the fire of both musketry and artillery. The action soon became general; Jessup, having engaged and broken off the right wing of the enemy, while their main body continued to advance, gave their army a new flank. Taking advantage of this circumstance, and assisted by the enlarged interval between the battalions of Leavenworth and McNeil, General Scott threw the battalion of the latter forward upon its right flank, so as to stand obliquely to the charge of the enemy, outflanking them upon the right. This movement, executed with precision, together with the steadiness of our troops and the heavy fire from the artillery, decided the fate of the day. The British army retreated a short distance in good order, then broke, and fled in confusion to their entrenchments, beyond the Chippewa. Thus was the whole British line fairly routed, in a field action, on an open plain. They fled to their entrenchments beyond the Chippewa, hotly pursued by Scott, to the distance of half-musket shot of Chippewa bridge. He took many prisoners, leaving the plain strewed with the dead and wounded of both nations. 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, I am indebted for the victory of the 5th of July.”

The fight was fierce and bloody in an unwonted degree, the killed on both sides amounting to eight hundred and thirty, out of about four thousand engaged—more than one in five. This gallant action 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 General Drummond from below; and when, on the morning of the 26th of July, General Scott, in advance, was on a march to attack General Riall’s forces, he suddenly came upon the British troops, which, reinforced that very day by Drummond, were themselves bent on attack. Scott had with him but four small battalions, commanded by Brady, Jessup, Leavenworth and McNeil; and Towson’s artillery, with Captain Harris’ detachment of regular and irregular cavalry. The whole column did not exceed one thousand three hundred men. With this small force, Scott found himself in the presence of a superior body. His position was critical, but it was one of those where promptness and decision of action must supply the want of battalions.

Dispatching officers to the rear to apprise General Brown that the whole British army was before him, General Scott at once engaged the enemy, who all the while believed they had to do with the whole of General Brown’s army, not at all expecting that a mere detachment of it would venture upon the apparently desperate course of encountering such greatly superior numbers as the British knew they had in the field. The battle began about half an hour before sunset. The armies were drawn out near the shores of that rapid river whose current mingles lake with lake; and as his able biographer beautifully observes:—“Hard by was the Cataract, whose world of waters rushes over the precipice, and rushing, roars into the gulf below! The ceaseless spray rises up, like incense, to the Eternal Father! The beams of sun, and moon, and stars, fall ceaselessly on that spray, and are sent back in many-colored hues to the source of light! So it was when, wheeling into the field of battle, the slant beams of the setting sun, returning from the spray, encircled the advancing column with rainbow colors! The sun went down, to many an eye, no more to rise on earth! With the darkness came the greater rage of battle—charge after charge was made. For a time the faint beams of the moon struggled with the smoke, and gave a little light to the combatants; but it was but little. The moon itself became obscured, and no light, save the rapid flashes of musket and cannon, pierced the heavy clouds. The fight raged in the darkness of the night. From the height on the ridge, the battery of the enemy still poured its deadly fire. It was then the gallant Miller said, ‘I will try.’ It was then that Scott piloted his column through darkness to Lundy’s Lane. It was then that brave regiment charged to the cannon’s mouth. The battery was taken. The victory rests with the American army.”

Twice had Scott charged through the British lines—two horses had been killed under him—he was wounded in the side—and about eleven o’clock at night, on foot, and yet fighting, he was finally disabled by a shot which shattered the left shoulder, and he was borne away about midnight from the battle—his commander, General Brown, having been previously, in like manner, carried away wounded from the field. The wounds of General Scott, which were severe, confined him for a long time; nor had he again an opportunity of distinguishing himself before the conclusion of peace put an end to all active service in the field. In the mean time his sufferings were alleviated by the testimonials of the approbation and gratitude of his countrymen. Congress ordered a vote of thanks, and a gold medal (See Plate V.). Virginia and New York each presented valuable swords. He was also elected an honorary member of the Cincinnati, and numberless states named new counties after him. In the long interval of comparative inaction which followed the close of the war, General Scott’s services were made available to the general government,—first, in that most painful task of reducing the army to a peace establishment, which necessarily imposed on the general great responsibility. The next important benefit rendered, and which, perhaps, was not the least of all 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 tactics. In the execution of this trust, his previous military studies gave him great facilities and advantages over his brother officers.

In March, 1817, General Scott was married to Miss Maria Mayo, daughter of John Mayo, Esq., of Richmond, Virginia—a lady whose charms and accomplishments are much admired both in this country and in Europe. They have had several daughters, but no living son.

Such is the brief memoir of General Winfield Scott, extracted from his life, so ably portrayed by Edward D. Mansfield, Esq. General Scott is now in the sixty-second year of his age, and retains, to a remarkable degree, all the vigor and buoyancy of youth. At the head of our armies at war with a neighboring republic, all eyes are directed to him as the chief of that gallant band upon whom must depend the honor and success of our arms.

DESCRIPTION OF THE MEDAL PRESENTED TO GENERAL SCOTT.

Occasion.—Battles of Chippewa and Niagara.

Device.—Bust of General Scott.

Legend.—Major General Winfield Scott.

Reverse.—Resolution of Congress, November 3d, 1814. Battles of Chippewa, July 5th, 1814; Niagara, July 25th, 1814. Surrounded by a wreath of laurel and palm entwining a snake.