Cyclopædia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States

SCOTT

SCOTT, Winfield, was born near Petersburgh, Va., June 13, 1786, and died at West Point, May 29, 1866. He was educated at William and Mary college, and was admitted to the bar in 1806, but three years afterward obtained a captain's commission in the army. During the ensuing war he rose rapidly to the rank of major general. He remained in the army at the end of the war, becoming commander-in-chief in 1841. His peace service was varied by an abortive quarrel wrongfully forced upon him by Jackson; the latter accusing him of "pompous insolence," "slander," and "the designs of an assassin"; and by services during the nullification excitement at Charleston 1832-3, and on the Canadian and Maine frontier in 1837-41, in both of which he judiciously and successfully attempted to keep the peace. During the Mexican war he assumed chief command of the army, and captured Mexico. In 1852 he was the last candidate of the whig party for the presidency. In 1859 he was made lieutenant general of the army. He was too far advanced in years to come up to the high expectations of the public, and in November, 1861, he retired from active service. See his Autobiography, and Mansfield's Life of Scott.

ALEXANDER JOHNSTON.