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Show Brief History of Win field Scott Now while the army and navy are ft being held, in, leash, waiting a decision whether war orMpeaco Is to follow( It is an opportune time to recall the name ot the man who received more honors than any oth,er,man In the war W of 1846 with Mexico.. General Scott, wa horn in Virginia in 1"S6, when the memories ot the war for independence were fresh in the minds of the people. Ho obtained a university training nnd then studied law and began Its practice. Uut ho soon turned from It and entered the army, obtaining a thorough military training. When the war ot 1812 wtto declared ho nas sent to the Niagara frontier under General Dearborn, but soon was made second in command to Gen eral Drown. He fought the battle ot Chippewa and restored in a small way the prestige that was lost by other armies on the Canadian frontier. That battle was fought on the fifth of July, 1814. On the 25th of the same month he opened the battle ot Lundj's Lane about six p. m. It raged until midnight It seems to us that historians have never done that battle full Justice. It was fought on the Canadian bank of the Niagara about one mllo and a half from the falls. When it raged most furiously the noise ot tho mighty cataract was still but In every lull ot the fight, tho roar of the falls wore heard as If to remind, mortals that while their furious moods could last but half an hour, Uiere was no halting of nature's tremendouB for- CCS. Tho British were strongly posted on somo heights. To carry tlioao heights, niis the object ot tho Amorlcati com. mander; to hold theni was tho purpose pur-pose of tho British commnndor. Charge after chargo was made, and aB often beaten back until General Brown with his command reached tho field. Then a final assault was planned plan-ned and Colonel Miller was asked It ho could storm those heights. Ho roplled that ho would try. When tho advanco began Scott started nu attack on one flank of tho enemy. Scott's horse was quickly killed when his aldo, Colonel Worth, tho famous Worth ot the Mexican war, sprang from his horse and said, General ako my horse; the column wavers for want of a leader. A few moments later la-ter a discharge of grape from a battery bat-tery of tho enemy shattered tha shouldor ot Scott, crippling him for life, and so wounded Worth, who ws following on foot, that it was believed be-lieved his wounds were fatal. In tho meantime General Brown had been seriously wounded. Miller carried car-ried tho heights and then the aggressors aggres-sors became defendants and the defendants de-fendants aggressors. Thrco times the British stormed thoso heights, took them twlco but they were retaken and Anally held by tho Americans. It was decidedly the most desperate desper-ate fight of the war. Much of It was hand to hand and next morning Brit-ish Brit-ish and Americans were found dead in pairs with the bayonet of each other In tho breast of tho other. The losses showed how equal was tho battle. On the American side 858 were killed and wounded, on tho British Brit-ish sldo 868. Tho loss of officers was appalling. When nullncation reached Its crest in South Carolina General Scott went there to make peace or carry on a war If necessary. Ho was a prominent promi-nent faotor In quelling tho disturbance disturb-ance without bloodshed. Then ho fought tho Somlnoles and Choctaws In Florida and finally superintended sup-erintended tho removnl of tho remnants rem-nants of tho tribes to Indian territory. terri-tory. Ho went back to the Black Hawk war, but no part of tho actual fighting fell to him. When ordered to Mexico he landed beforo Vera Crux;- In a few days took the ,qlty and fort and started on his march to tho capital. That advance was almost al-most unparalleled. Ho fought and won four tremendous battles against fearful odds. Cerro Gordo Molln del nay, Cherubusco, and Chapultepec and captured the Mexican capital. His orders before each battle read now more like prophecies than military mili-tary orders. . Tho ablest military critics unite In declaring that ho did not make one mistake. Never was thoro a war in which so large a proportion of officers wero killed and wounded. For years a) vicious press had been aerldlng the military school at West Point, In word3 and caricatures, picturing pic-turing It as but a nursery for dudes. Tho Mexican war stopped all that forover. When our great rebellion broko upon up-on the country, General Scott had grown old and feeble, but ho established estab-lished tho defenses for Washington and at a dlstanco directed tho preliminaries pre-liminaries of the battlo of Bull Itun led by old General Patterson. There has been a persistent rumor for fifty fif-ty years that the plans wero forwarded forward-ed to Richmond by n nephew of Gent eral Scott who was his secrotary, but who was secretly at heart In full sympathy sym-pathy with tho South. When McClollan was given full command of the army of the Potomac ho practically Ignored General Scott and ho soon resigned itnd retired. Congress mado him Lieutenant General Gen-eral the first to recolvo that honor after Washington. In person General Scott was tho Ideal of a perfect soldier. Six feet four inches In height and strongly built with a, leonine face which was most striking. Ho had one weakness which a great; many soldiers have possessed. Ho was vain beyond belief. At Lundy's Lane younger officers besought htm to put aside his conspicuous uniform and decorations to make him a less conspicuous malrk. He answered that it he was to die he would die In his robes. He was unbending in his discipline but his caro for his soldiers In camp and field novor relaxed. All in all ho was as perfect a soldier as tho country ever produced, and- ono ot tho ablest. Ho died at eighty, with tho record that his devotion to his country was Btrongor than his lovo ot llfo. tn ' |