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Winfield Scott Quotes

Winfield Scott served as a general in the U.S. Army longer than any other person in American history. He is rated as one of the Army's most senior commissioned officers, and is ranked by many historians as the best American commander of his time. Scott was also a candidate for the Whig Party presidential nomination three times; selected in 1852, he lost the general election to Franklin Pierce.

Over the course of his 53-year career, he commanded forces in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, the Mexican–American War, and the Second Seminole War. He was the army's senior officer at the start of the American Civil War, and conceived the Union strategy known as the Anaconda Plan, which was used to defeat the Confederacy. He served as Commanding General of the United States Army for twenty years, longer than any other holder of the office.

Scott was born and educated in Virginia; after brief attendance at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia and study in a law office, he attained admission to the bar. Scott practiced law briefly, and served in the Virginia Militia during the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair of 1807. In 1808, Scott was commissioned as a captain in the Light Artillery of the United States Army. He rose to prominence during the War of 1812, and attained promotion to brigadier general. Scott remained in the Army after the war, served in several command positions, and carried out high level staff tasks, including frequent updates to the Army's field regulations. After missing out on appointment as the Army's commanding general in 1828, he received it in 1841; he served in this post until his retirement in 1861, shortly after the start of the American Civil War.

Known as "Old Fuss and Feathers" and the "Grand Old Man of the Army", Scott was a national hero after the Mexican–American War, where he led one of the two invading armies; he later served as occupying military governor of Mexico City. His stature was so high that in 1852, the Whig Party passed over its own incumbent President, Millard Fillmore to nominate Scott as their candidate in that year's presidential election. Scott lost to Democratic Party nominee Franklin Pierce in the general election, but remained a popular national figure, receiving a brevet promotion to lieutenant general in 1855, becoming the first American since George Washington to hold that higher rank.At the start of the Civil War, Scott took steps to defend the national capital city of Washington, D.C. and ensure the successful inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as the 16th president in March 1861. Though too old and infirm to take the field, Scott served as Lincoln's principal military adviser at the start of the war, and conceived of the Anaconda Plan; though dismissed by critics who regarded the plan's extended and prolonged blockade of southern ports as too passive, Scott's idea was incorporated into the overall Union strategy which brought about the eventual defeat of the Confederacy.

During his years as commanding general, Scott took great interest in the development of the United States Military Academy. Following friction with Federal senior field commander of the Army of the Potomac, George B. McClellan, Scott retired to West Point, New York. He died at West Point on May 29, 1866 and was buried at West Point Cemetery.

✵ 13. June 1786 – 29. May 1866
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Winfield Scott: 6   quotes 0   likes

Famous Winfield Scott Quotes

“Major-General McClellan has propagated in high quarters the idea expressed in the letter before me, that Washington was not only "insecure," but in "imminent danger."
Relying on our numbers, our forts, and the Potomac River, I am confident in the opposite opinion”

Winfield Scott

Letter to Secretary of War Simon Cameron, detailing some disagreements with the actions and policies of General McCellan, and requesting to be granted a retirement (9 August 1861).
Context: Major-General McClellan has propagated in high quarters the idea expressed in the letter before me, that Washington was not only "insecure," but in "imminent danger."
Relying on our numbers, our forts, and the Potomac River, I am confident in the opposite opinion; and considering the stream of new regiments that is pouring in upon us (before this alarm could have reached their homes), I have not the slightest apprehension for the safety of the Government here. … I must beg the President, at the earliest moment, to allow me to be placed on the officers' retired list, and then quietly to lay myself up — probably forever — somewhere in or about New York. But, wherever I may spend my little remainder of life, my frequent and latest prayer will be, "God save the Union!"

“Say to the seceded States, "Wayward sisters, depart in peace."”

Winfield Scott

Letter http://www.familytales.org/dbDisplay.php?id=ltr_wfs1343&person=wfs to William H. Seward (3 March 1861); though the only suggestion from this letter commonly quoted, this was actually the last and final alternative of what he considered to be 4 options available to President Abraham Lincoln in dealing with the secessionist states.

“Lee is the greatest military genius in America, myself not excepted.”

Winfield Scott

As quoted in Life of General Robert Edmund Lee (1870) by C. Stoctly Errickson, p. 35.

“Men of the eleventh! the enemy say we are good at a long shot, but cannot stand the cold iron. I call on you to give the lie to that slander. Charge!”

Winfield Scott

Address to the 11th Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Chippawa (14 June 1814) in the War of 1812, as quoted in The Military Heroes of the War of 1812 (1849) by Charles Jacobs Peterson, p. 152
Variants:
The enemy say that the Americans are good at a long shot, but cannot stand the cold iron. I call upon the Eleventh to give the lie to the slander. Charge!
As quoted in Primary History of the United States (1913) by Waddy Thompson, p. 282
The enemy say that Americans are good at a long shot but cannot stand the cold iron. I call upon you to give a lie to the slander. Charge!
As quoted in Dictionary of Military and Naval Quotations (1966) by Robert Debs Heinl, p. 48
The enemy say that Americans are good at a long shot, but cannot stand the cold iron. I call upon you instantly to give a lie to this slander. Charge!
As quoted in From the Ashes : America Reborn (1998) by William W. Johnstone, p. 54
The enemy says that Americans are good at a long shot but cannot stand the cold iron. I call upon you instantly to give a lie to the slander. Charge!
As quoted in Quotes for the Air Force Logistician (2001) by United States. Air Force Logistics Management Agency, p. 73.

“Peace won by compromise is usually a short lived achievement.”

Winfield Scott

As quoted in The Iron Man of India (1951) by S. Jaysbee, p. 57

“Brave rifles! Veterans! You have been baptized in fire and blood and have come out steel!”

Winfield Scott

Address to US forces after the of Battle of Chapultepec in the Mexican-American War (September 1847) as quoted in The Life and Military and Civic Services of Lieut-Gen. Winfield Scott (1861) by Orville James Victor, p. 106.

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