On learning the particulars of the defeat of Marshal Ney at Dennewitz, says St. Cyr, in his Histoire Militaire,⁠[34] Napoleon remarked, that “he knew of but one general who had constantly gained by experience, and that was Turenne, whose great talents were the result of profound study.” A similar remark might, not inappropriately, be applied to Winfield Scott, the General-in-Chief of the Army of the United States. For more than forty years he has been in the military service of the American people, constantly improving in reputation, as in the knowledge appertaining to his profession,—the experience of each year furnishing new and useful lessons to its successor, which have not been permitted to remain unimproved,—and he now stands before the country and the world, occupying a high place among the heroes of modern times, and towering far above his compeers, in stature and in fame.

Among the Scottish gentlemen who rallied around Charles Edward, when he unfurled the banner of his kingly race on the hills of Glenfinnan, on the nineteenth of August, 1745, were two brothers, by the name of Scott. They adhered to “the young Chevalier” through weal and woe, through good and evil report, till the fortunes of the Stuarts sank forever on the bloody field of Culloden. The elder brother sealed his loyalty with his life on that fatal day; and the younger, being seriously compromised by his participation in the rebellion, emigrated to America, and established himself in the practice of the law, in the then Colony of Virginia. His son William, a farmer by occupation, married into one of the most respectable families in Virginia, and died in 1791, leaving two sons and several daughters. The elder son, James, commanded a regiment of Virginia militia, at Norfolk, in 1812; the younger was Winfield, the subject of this biographical notice, who was born near Petersburg, Virginia, on the thirteenth of June, 1786.

Within two years after the death of his father, young Scott was also deprived of his mother, and, at the age of seventeen, was left his sole master, possessed of but limited means, to make or mar his fortune, as he himself decided to guide the little bark freighted with his boyish hopes and aspirations. Happily, he had been early accustomed to habits of self-government and self-reliance. He was frank and ingenuous by nature; ardent, ambitious, and chivalric, in his temperament; gifted with a superior intellect; industrious by inclination, as well as from a consciousness of its importance; quick to perceive, and ready to learn. Qualities like these, properly improved and directed, are always sure to reward their possessor a hundred fold; for mind, like water, will, sooner or later, find its own appropriate level.

Scott was originally designed for the legal profession. He pursued a regular course of instruction in mathematics and the classics, in the High-School at Richmond, then in charge of a distinguished teacher of the name of Ogilvie, and afterwards repaired to William and Mary College, where he spent between one and two years, and attended a course of law lectures. His legal studies were completed in the office of David Robertson, a learned and able lawyer, and in 1806 he was admitted to the bar. He spent the following year in his native state, riding the circuit two terms in the vicinity of Petersburg, and residing most of the time with Benjamin Watkins Leigh, subsequently one of the most eminent counsellors and advocates in Virginia. In the fall of 1807, he visited South Carolina, intending to establish himself in practice in the city of Charleston. Failing, for want of time, to procure the passage of a bill by the legislature, specially exempting him from the statutory provision requiring a year’s residence in the state, he returned to Virginia.

This was, perhaps, the most fortunate disappointment he has ever experienced. The whole country was then in a complete ferment of agitation. The attack on the Chesapeake took place in June previous, and a war was confidently predicted as the inevitable result. President Jefferson issued a proclamation prohibiting British armed vessels from entering the harbors of the United States, and bodies of militia were called out for the defence of the coast, and the enforcement of the prohibition. The first blast of the trumpet roused young Scott from his studies, and dissolved many of his gayest and brightest dreams of future eminence and distinction among the gentlemen of the gown and wig. He enrolled himself as a member of a volunteer troop of horse raised in Petersburg, and, in the summer of 1807, performed a tour of duty on Lynnhaven Bay.

Visions of military greatness and renown danced constantly before him, while on his visit to South Carolina, which more than half compensated for his disappointment. He took a deep interest in the progress of the difficulties with England and France, and his sympathies were warmly enlisted in behalf of his country. His voice and his pen were both employed in defence of the administration of Mr. Jefferson, and of that of his successor, Mr. Madison; and from the time of the attack on the Chesapeake, till the declaration of war, he was an active and energetic supporter of war measures.

Immediately after his return to Virginia, he determined to abandon his profession and enter the army. Accordingly, he applied to the President, for a commission in one of the new regiments proposed to be raised by a bill introduced in Congress at the session of 1807–8. The bill lingered sometime on its passage, and, in the meanwhile, Scott returned to his circuit. It finally became a law in April, 1808; and on the third day of May following, through the influence of his friend, the Hon. Wm. B. Giles, then a senator in Congress, and afterwards governor of the State of Virginia, he was commissioned, by President Jefferson, a captain of light artillery. Briefs and black-letter tomes, red tape and parchment, were now thrown aside; his company was raised and organized; and early in 1809, he joined the army under General Wilkinson, at New Orleans.

The character of the connection of Wilkinson with the intrigues of Colonel Burr, as indicated by the testimony elicited on the trial of the latter, which took place while Scott was in Virginia, had not produced a very favorable impression on his mind. General Wilkinson, however, was pleased with the appearance and talents of his subordinate; he mentioned him as a young man “who could speak, and write, and fight”, and made repeated attempts to attach him to his interest. Scott calmly, but firmly, declined to meet his advances in a similar spirit, and took no pains to conceal the opinions he had formed. In the autumn of 1809, General Wilkinson was relieved by General Hampton, in the command of the southern army,—the main body of which was stationed near Natchez. Scott was now more unguarded in his conversation, and on one occasion, perhaps unwisely, though his sincerity cannot be doubted, indulged in the strongest terms of reprehension. Charges were soon after preferred against him,⁠[35] and in January, 1810, he was tried and found guilty, of having uttered disrespectful language towards his superior officer, General Wilkinson. The sentence of the court was, that he should be suspended “from all rank, pay, and emoluments, for the space of twelve months.”

The following year was spent by Captain Scott, at Richmond, in the family of his friend, Mr. Leigh, who tendered him the free use of his large library. The opportunity thus afforded, for benefiting his mind, was faithfully improved. The greater part of the period of his suspension was spent in the careful and diligent study of works on military science; and he thus laid the foundation of that vast and comprehensive information, which subsequently embraced every department of knowledge belonging to, or connected with, his profession.

A further augmentation of the army, consequent upon the declaration of war against Great Britain, was made in the summer of 1812, and in the month of July, upon the urgent recommendation of the Virginia delegation in Congress, Scott was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the 2nd artillery. He at once proceeded to the Niagara frontier, with two companies of his regiment, and took post at Black Rock, to protect the naval dépôt at that place.

It is well known that the venerable Albert Gallatin, whose varied learning, and great abilities, are so highly honored and esteemed at home and abroad, was decidedly opposed, as a member of Mr. Madison’s cabinet, to the war with England, or to a war with any foreign power; and the younger, and more ardent and ambitious, members of the party to which he belonged, often complained that he did not render that hearty support to the administration, in the management of the affairs of his department, necessary to the vigorous prosecution of hostilities. On one occasion he is reported to have doubtingly inquired of Lieutenant Elliott, of the navy, what they were to do for vessels on Lake Erie, when they had none, and there was no money to build any? “Take them!” said the lieutenant, in whose patriotism calculations of dollars and cents had no place.—The theory of the young officer was gallantly put in practice on the night of the eighth of October, 1812, on the shores of the Niagara. The Caledonia, a British brig of war, the next year employed in Perry’s squadron, and the Detroit, formerly the Adams surrendered by Hull, were cut out from under the guns of Fort Erie, where they were lying at anchor, and brought off with their crews, by a party in two boats, headed by Elliott in person. Captain Towson, of the 2nd artillery, and a portion of his company, belonging to Scott’s command, took part in the expedition. Scott himself volunteered to accompany his men, but was not permitted to go; he rendered important assistance, however, by the fire of his guns, in preventing the recapture of the Detroit, which grounded on Squaw Island. It being found impossible to get her off, she was subsequently burned, by order of General Smythe.

Early in the month of October, 1812, there were near fifteen hundred regular troops at Buffalo and Fort Niagara, under the command of General Smythe; and General Stephen Van Rensselaer, of the New York militia, the commander of the united force, known as the Army of the Centre, had concentrated about twenty-five hundred men at Lewiston. Nothing was talked of but the invasion and conquest of Canada. The successful enterprise under Elliott infused new zeal into the breasts of the really patriotic, but raw and undisciplined militia; and all that was then required to have terminated the campaign, and perhaps the war, by a bold and successful stroke in the upper province, was the presence of resolute and energetic general officers. General Smythe possessed few of the qualifications requisite in a skilful and successful soldier, and there was very little cordiality of feeling existing between him and General Van Rensselaer,—when, had they zealously coöperated together, and made a vigorous irruption into the enemy’s country, at the head of their combined forces, the power of England in Upper Canada, would have been at an end in three weeks.

General Van Rensselaer was high-minded and patriotic, and not deficient in ability or personal bravery, but he was, to some extent, jealous of the regular officers, and did not infuse that energy into his operations, which, after all, is the great secret of converting militia into reliable troops. Day after day passed by, and the army still remained inactive. Action and excitement are always necessary to keep up the spirits of a newly organized militia force. Nothing was done in this respect, until the men threatened to return home, when an attack was planned on the British post at Queenston, nearly opposite Lewiston; it being understood that the greater part of the enemy’s forces had been withdrawn from the peninsula, for the defence of Malden.

The morning of the eleventh of October was fixed upon for the attack; but on account of the violence of the weather, and the want of a sufficient number of boats, it was postponed to the thirteenth, when it was arranged to take place in two columns, one of militia, and the other of regulars, each to consist of three hundred men. Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, of the New York militia, and Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie, of the 13th infantry, were selected to command the two columns. Lieutenant Colonel Fenwick was to follow the movement with a force of two hundred regulars, under Major Mullaney.

The arrangements for storming the heights of Queenston were completed on the twelfth of October, and late in the evening of that day Lieutenant Colonel Scott hastened to Lewiston, through mud, and rain, and sleet, and entreated General Van Rensselaer to permit him to serve as a volunteer with the attacking force. His services were declined, but he was authorized to bring his command to Lewiston, there to act as circumstances might require. He instantly returned to Schlosser, where his men were posted, ordered them under arms, and just before daylight arrived at Lewiston, bringing with him two pieces of artillery which were conveyed down the river in a boat, in consequence of the bad state of the roads. The troops under Van Rensselaer and Chrystie had already passed the river,—though with not much regularity, on account of the deficiency of boats,—under a heavy fire from the enemy’s batteries; and they were now warmly engaged on the opposite bank. Colonel Van Rensselaer and Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie were both known to be severely wounded, and Scott was finally ordered to cross over and take the command. The detachment under Major Mullaney, had previously attempted the passage, but their boats being seized by the eddies, they were driven below the point designated for the landing, and directly under the British batteries; the whole detachment, therefore, with the exception of Major Mullaney and a few of his men, who made their escape, were obliged to surrender themselves as prisoners of war.

Leaving his train in battery on the American shore, under the command of Captains Towson and Barker, who opened an effective fire on the enemy, Scott crossed the stream, about eight o’clock in the morning, when he found that the British force, consisting of two flank companies of the 49th, and a body of militia, had been driven from their position; that Captain Wool had stormed the heights south of the town, with three companies of the 13th infantry, and carried the enemy’s batteries; and that the British commander, General Brock, had been killed in an unsuccessful charge, which he had gallantly headed in person. He also ascertained that General Wadsworth, of the New York militia, had reached the Canada shore, though without the knowledge of General Van Rensselaer, and, of course, was entitled to the command. General Wadsworth, however, magnanimously waived all claims of superior rank, and requested Scott to make such dispositions as he thought proper.

Although the American detachments, who had made a lodgment on the Canada shore, remained for several hours unmolested, it was not doubted that the enemy would rally again before night. Scott arranged his men, therefore, so as both to cover the ferry, in order that he might be reinforced if necessary, and to repel an attack. About the middle of the day, General Van Rensselaer came over, and having examined and approved of his arrangements, returned to superintend the crossing of the remainder of the troops. But the sight of the action in the morning had cooled the ardor and impatience of the militia. Some few parties were induced to cross over,—though most of them might as well have remained behind; but the great body of the command had entirely forgotten their former boisterous professions of patriotism. General Van Rensselaer alternately coaxed and threatened, but it was all to no purpose. Every circumstance was calculated to discourage them; many of the boats, originally too few in number, had been crippled, the current was rapid, the stream one complete sheet of eddies, and the weather cold, wet, and stormy. They would not, and they did not go; but they stood still, and with the utmost unconcern and indifference, saw their countrymen sacrificed on the opposite shore of the river, when their presence would have changed the fate of the day.

Between two and three o’clock in the afternoon, small parties of the enemy were seen hovering along the slopes of the hills, and, shortly after, the action was fiercely renewed by the rallied militia and grenadiers, and about four hundred Indians, under Norton, who had heard the previous firing, and had hurried down from Chippewa. With a mixed command of regulars and militia, not far from three hundred and fifty strong—nearly four hundred of the militia being seized with a panic, and refusing to take part in the action—Scott boldly encountered the enemy. A sharp conflict ensued for a few moments, and the assailants were then driven back, and put to flight, by a forward movement of the bayonet.

The protection of the ferry rendered a pursuit impossible. Scott therefore reformed his line, in readiness for another attack. He had just returned to the rear, to direct his men how to unspike a captured cannon, when the enemy rallied again, and forced in the advanced picket. The main line, too, had commenced a retreat ere he could reach them. Instantly springing to the front, by great exertions, in which he was ably seconded by General Wadsworth and Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie, he brought the retreating line to the right about. His earnest enthusiasm produced a sudden revulsion of feeling, and the enemy were soon a second time repulsed.

Meanwhile, General Sheaffe, who commanded the troops at Fort George, had hastily collected all his disposable forces, and the provincial militia in the neighborhood, and was rapidly approaching the scene of action. About four o’clock, his column, numbering rather more than eight hundred men, emerged into open view just below the village of Queenston. He advanced with much caution, though fully aware that the Americans were greatly inferior to his own force in point of numbers, especially when he had effected a junction with the light troops and Indians. Leaving Queenston on his left, he took a wide circuit through the woods, gained the heights, and opened the action anew, with a rapid fire of musketry and artillery. For half an hour, the little band headed by the dauntless and heroic Scott, manfully held their ground, and breasted the volleys that met them on every side. All that bravery and skill could do, was nobly performed,—but performed in vain!

Scott fearlessly exposed his person to the enemy’s bullets. His tall form, six feet and five inches in height, was the most conspicuous object on the field. He was arrayed in full uniform, and was entreated again and again to cover up or change some part of his dress. “No, no!” said he, smiling; “I will die in my robes!” Others were constantly falling around him, but he escaped unharmed.—After the action, when he had surrendered himself a prisoner of war, an Indian warrior came up to him, and surveying him attentively, said—“You are not born to be shot; so many times—(holding up all the fingers of both hands)—so many times did I fire at you!”

The bloody and desperate contest was soon ended. Overpowered by superior numbers, and nearly surrounded on all sides, the Americans retreated to the bank of the river, under cover of the precipice, where they found the faint-hearted militia concealed in the clefts and fissures. Retreat was hopeless; the troops were disheartened; there were no boats in which they could cross the river; and the twilight was fast settling over the field of combat. General Wadsworth and the other principal officers now held a consultation, and it was decided that they should surrender themselves to the enemy. Several messengers were sent with a flag, but they failed to reach the British commander, as they were shot down on the way by the Indian rifles. Scott then volunteered to go himself. He attached a white handkerchief to his sword, and, accompanied by Captains Totten and Gibson, made his way to the enemy’s rear, by taking a circuitous route under cover of the precipice overlooking the river. He and his companions had all the while been exposed to a random fire from the Indians, and on approaching the road leading up from the village to the heights, they were suddenly beset by two warriors, who discharged their rifles at them, and were preparing to rush forward with their knives and hatchets,—paying no heed to the sacred character of the flag which they carried,—when a British officer came up with a file of men, and compelled them to desist.

The three officers were forthwith conducted to the presence of General Sheaffe, and terms of capitulation agreed on. The force surrendered with Wadsworth and Scott, consisted of one hundred and thirty-nine regulars, and one hundred and fifty-four militia; about four hundred militia, who had taken no part in the engagement, were afterwards included in the surrender; and there had been about one hundred killed during the day—making a total of casualties, including the two hundred regulars under Major Mullaney, who surrendered in the morning, of near one thousand.

This disastrous action was the first, as it was the most unfortunate, in which Scott was engaged. His conduct throughout the day was worthy of all praise. He was but a few years older than young Condé, when the latter routed the famous corps of Spanish infantry; yet he exhibited the skill and intrepidity of a veteran officer, and had he been supported by anything like an equal force, it can scarcely be doubted that the setting sun would have witnessed the American banners floating in triumph on the heights of Queenston.

After the surrender, the American prisoners were taken to the village of Niagara, or Newark, under an escort, and the officers temporarily lodged in an inn. While there, a message was brought in that some one at the door wished to see the “tall American.” Scott, presuming, of course, that he was intended by the designation, went out into the hall, where he was surprised to find the two warriors who had so cowardly attacked him when bearing the flag of truce. Both were distinguished chiefs—one being the son of the renowned Mohawk leader, Joseph Brant, and the other known by the name of Captain Jacobs. They eagerly commenced questioning him in regard to his wounds, and attempted to examine his person. Scott bore with them for some time, but they soon became angry and insulting, and at length Jacobs seized him by the arm to turn him round. Scott promptly resented the indignity, and hurled the savage from him, with ease, exclaiming, “Off, villain!—you fired like a squaw!”

The savages at once clenched their knives and tomahawks, and sprang towards him, crying out—“We kill you now!—we kill you now!” Fortunately, in one corner of the hall, underneath the staircase, stood the swords of the American officers. Scott darted back, caught up a long heavy sabre, turned upon his heel, and in a breath stood on his defence; with an unflinching eye and look regarding the dark warriors, whose painted visages lowered fiercely upon him. At this moment, Captain Coffin, a member of General Sheaffe’s staff, entered from the street; he instantly cried out for the guard, caught Jacobs by the arm, and placed his pistol at the head of young Brant. This had the desired effect. The Indians were intimidated, and on the appearance of the guard, retired from the inn. Their people, however, were so much excited, that Scott could not venture out into the street, during his stay at Niagara, even to dine with the British commander, without a strong escort.

General Brock was buried on Queenston Heights, immediately after the surrender of the American troops, and at the request of Lieutenant Colonel Scott, who so well knew what was due to the memory of the gallant dead, minute guns were fired from Fort Niagara, on the American shore, during the sad ceremony.

Scott was sent to Quebec with the other prisoners, where he was placed on a cartel to be conveyed to Boston; and in January, 1813, he was regularly exchanged. When the transport was about leaving Quebec, a party of British officers came on board, and commenced mustering the prisoners, with a view of selecting those who were ascertained to be Irishmen, by their speech, to be sent to England for trial. Great Britain has ever denied the right of expatriation in the subject, and hence these men, if found in arms against her authority, were liable, according to her laws, to be convicted of the crime of treason. Scott was seated in the cabin; but hearing the tumult, he rushed upon deck. By this time, the British officers had selected twenty-three men from the detachment. On learning the cause of the disturbance, he forbade the remainder of the prisoners to utter a single syllable, when questioned. The men readily obeyed him; the British officers threatened to use violence, but he was in nowise intimidated by their menaces; he felt, justly, that the honor of his country was for the time in his keeping, and, in spite of threats and frowns, persisted in the order he had given.

The British officers were finally obliged to retire with the twenty-three prisoners, but before the latter left the side of the vessel, Scott pledged himself to secure their liberation, if it were possible; but if not, he solemnly declared that he would retaliate, on the first prisoners whom the fortune of war should place in his power. He faithfully kept his word. On his return to the United States, he made a full and faithful report of the transaction to the Secretary of War, and in May, 1813, at the capture of Fort George, selected twenty-three prisoners to be held as hostages for the unfortunate Irishmen. The British government persisted in their determination to try the men and execute them; consequently, they ordered forty-six other prisoners into confinement; the Americans reciprocated their conduct, in kind; but after venting a great deal of spleen and ill humor to no purpose, the British ministry finding their braggadocio of no avail, tacitly surrendered their position, and shortly after the peace, the twenty-three prisoners taken to England from Quebec, were sent home to the United States. Twenty-one of them—the remaining two having died natural deaths—landed in New York, in July, 1815. Almost the first object which they encountered, was the tall form of the gallant Scott, upon whose brow the laurels were yet fresh and green which he had won at Chippewa and Niagara. They eagerly hailed him as their deliverer, caught him in their arms, and nearly overwhelmed him with their enthusiastic manifestations of gratitude.

At the opening of the campaign of 1813, Scott was appointed adjutant general in the staff of General Dearborn, the head of the army, and the commander of the ninth military district. It was stipulated, however, on his part, that he should be entitled to his command in the line, on all extraordinary occasions. On the second of March, he was promoted to the colonelcy of the 2nd artillery, a double regiment, consisting of twenty companies.

The campaign of this year opened auspiciously. The forests of Canada were scarcely robed in the bright array of spring, when the American soldiers precipitated themselves on her shores. On the twenty-seventh of April, York capitulated to the surviving comrades of the heroic Pike.⁠[36] General Dearborn remained for several days in the vicinity; but on the fifth of May he reëmbarked, and, having been joined by successive reinforcements, increasing his command to about five thousand men, effected a landing on the American shore, at Four Mile Creek, on the evening of the eighth instant. Colonel Scott joined the army shortly after the capture of York. The duties devolving upon him, as chief of General Dearborn’s staff, were intricate and multifarious, as the army was newly organized, or composed of different corps recently brought together; but they were performed with untiring zeal and industry, and in a manner that gave satisfaction to all parties concerned.

The next object of attack, was the British post of Fort George, situated opposite Fort Niagara, at the mouth of the river. The boats built for the occasion were launched on the afternoon of the twenty-sixth of May, and their stations assigned; and careful reconnaissances were made of the Canada shore, in order to ascertain the most feasible points for landing. The movement in the American camp being discovered by the enemy, a severe cannonade was opened on Fort Niagara and the adjacent batteries. The roar of the howitzers was incessant; and peal on peal of heavy ordnance reverberated along the beach, with a loud crashing noise, and then died away, in deafening echoes, among the distant hills and ridges. The fire was soon returned from the American fort; shells were rained without intermission on the enemy’s batteries, and balls sent whistling through the lanes and streets of the village of Niagara.

At three o’clock in the morning of the twenty-seventh of May, all was in readiness for the expedition, and the signal was given for the flotilla of boats to get under weigh. The descent was to be made in six divisions of boats, though, in consequence of the early retreat of the enemy, all the troops were not landed. In the first division was the advanced guard, or forlorn hope, of five hundred picked men, led by the intrepid Scott; in the second was the field train, under Colonel Porter; and these were followed, in the order of attack, by the brigades of Generals Boyd, Winder and Chandler, and a second reserve under Colonel Macomb. Owing to a strong wind then prevailing, the rapid current, and the heavy surf, the landing on the Canada shore was not effected as easily as had been anticipated. Under cover of the guns of the fleet and of Fort Niagara, which opened a terrible fire, that crushed down the walls and batteries in and about Fort George, in huge masses, at nine o’clock in the morning, Colonel Scott gained the beach, and prepared to land. General Vincent, the British commander, had previously disposed his whole regular force, about nine hundred strong, with five or six hundred militia, in a ravine near the shore; and as the Americans approached, they were met by several warm volleys of musketry.

With shouts and cheers, the American advance leaped into the water, and waded to the beach. They instantly formed on the shingle, covered by an irregular bank, from seven to twelve feet high, above which flashed the bristling bayonets of the enemy. Colonel Scott forthwith ordered a charge. The first attempt to scale the bank was unsuccessful; on the second, the men clambered up in spite of resistance,—Scott himself being among the foremost, and knocking up the British bayonets with his sword. The enemy retired a short distance, and stoutly maintained the ground for twenty minutes; but on the arrival of Colonel Porter and General Boyd, with their commands, portions of which participated in the skirmish near its close, they commenced retreating in haste, in the direction of Queenston,—having already laid trains to their different magazines. Scott pushed his column after them, without delay, and, at the village of Niagara, was joined by the 6th infantry, under Colonel Miller.

On approaching Fort George, one of its magazines exploded. The sad calamity that befel the American troops at York, had produced its probably natural effect; and a similar mishap was the bête noire which they always dreaded throughout the early part of the campaign. Colonel Scott was struck by a piece of timber, thrown from the horse which he had borrowed from a British colonel taken prisoner, and considerably bruised; but he sprang to his feet in an instant, and accompanied by a few equally brave spirits, forced the gate, and entered the fort.⁠[37] Captains Hindman and Stockton extinguished the lighted matches, and General Boyd and Colonel Scott made their way to the flag staff. The British standard soon fluttered in the wind,—Captain Hindman being the fortunate individual who first seized it, though the staff was cut down by Scott,—and the stars and stripes speedily rose in its place.

Colonel Scott continued the pursuit for some distance beyond the fort,—Lieutenant Riddle, with his party, following the enemy almost to Queenston, and picking up a number of stragglers—but he was soon recalled by General Boyd, in conformity with the directions of General Lewis, who had assumed the command on shore. With the return of the advanced corps, the battle terminated. The Americans had thirty-nine killed and one hundred and ten wounded in the attack; while the British lost one hundred and eight killed, and one hundred and sixty wounded,—and there were one hundred and fifteen regulars, and five hundred militia, taken prisoners.

After the loss of Fort George, General Vincent withdrew all his forces from the peninsula, including those previously stationed at Chippewa and Fort Erie, to Burlington Heights; and the Americans established themselves in a solid manner on the Niagara frontier. This lodgment would undoubtedly have been permanent, had it not been for the inaction—the pest and bane of the northern army during the campaigns of ’12 and ’13—which characterized the subsequent operations of our principal officers in that quarter.

It has been said that the campaign of 1813 opened auspiciously. So, indeed, it did,—but it terminated in disaster and disgrace. The bold stroke of Lieutenant Colonel Harvey, which resulted in the capture of Generals Chandler and Winder, on the third of June, and the defeat and surrender of Colonel Boerstler on the twenty-fourth of the same month, were, in themselves, affairs of no great importance; or rather, they would not have been considered such, had they been relieved, as might, and should have been the case, by those successes which it was in the power of the American army to have achieved. Immediately after the surrender of Boerstler, General Dearborn was recalled, and subsequently resigned his commission. General Boyd succeeded to the command, during the summer, but the War Department refused to give him authority to act offensively; consequently, he remained cooped up the whole season in Fort George, with four thousand men, when General Vincent had very little over two thousand.

General Dearborn surrendered the command on the fifteenth of July, and Colonel Scott then returned to his duty in the line, and took charge of his regiment. In September, an expedition was projected against Burlington Heights, and he volunteered to command the land troops. Embarking on board Commodore Chauncey’s fleet, he proceeded to the Heights, but found neither enemy, nor stores, at that point. On his return, he landed at York, burned the barracks and storehouses, and brought off a large quantity of provisions, clothing, and ammunition, together with eleven armed boats and several pieces of cannon.

Upon the resignation of General Dearborn, the command of the army was given to General Wilkinson, under whose auspices the famous expedition down the St. Lawrence, in the fall of 1813, was conducted. In the original arrangements of Wilkinson, Colonel Scott was to be left in command at Fort George, which had been considerably enlarged and strengthened after its occupation by the American troops. At the urgent request of the latter, who ardently desired to take part in the great movement of the campaign, his orders were made so far discretionary, that he was authorized to give up the fort to General McClure, of the New York militia, when it had been placed in a proper state of defence, provided it was not seriously threatened by the enemy. The works were soon completed, and the enemy retired to Burlington Heights, and afterwards concentrated at Kingston, which post they supposed to be threatened by General Wilkinson. On the thirteenth of October, General McClure took charge of Fort George, and Colonel Scott proceeded with the regular troops, who had previously garrisoned the post, to the mouth of the Genesee river, where he expected to find transportation for his men. Disappointed in this, he marched his column, with all possible expedition, to Utica, and then directed his course towards Sacketts Harbor. A short distance north of Utica, he met General Armstrong, the Secretary of War, who informed him that the expedition had already set out, but gave him permission to leave his command with Major Hindman, and to join Wilkinson, in person, on the St. Lawrence, at whatever point he could.

Thirsting for distinction, Scott eagerly availed himself of the permission granted, and dashed off on horseback, through the rain and mud. On the sixth of November, he joined the army at Ogdensburgh, and accompanied General Brown in the descent of the river, with the flotilla, under the heavy fire of the British batteries at Prescott. Being without a command, Colonel Macomb magnanimously surrendered to him one of his battalions, which he had reserved for himself in case the regiment was divided; and, on the seventh instant, he was regularly assigned to the corps d’élite. He commanded the advanced guard during the subsequent movement of the army down the river, almost daily encountering and defeating large or small parties of the enemy. He was not concerned in the action on the eleventh of November; but, on the following day, he engaged a detachment of the enemy, under Colonel Dennis, about equal to his own command in numbers, at Hoophole Creek, near Cornwall, routed them with ease, captured a number of prisoners, and hotly pursued the remainder of the enemy till dark. The army now retired into winter quarters at French Mills,—the young and ambitious officers, like Brown and Macomb, Gaines and Scott, literally overcome with mortification and chagrin.⁠[38]⁠

Not long after this memorable expedition terminated, Colonel Scott was relieved from duty, and made a visit to his friends in Virginia, and at the seat of government. By the direction of the president, he spent a part of the winter at Albany, engaged in making preparations, in connection with Governor Tompkins, for the ensuing campaign.

On the ninth of March, 1814, when scarcely twenty-eight years of age, Colonel Scott was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, and immediately joined General Brown, then moving with his column from Sacketts Harbor to Buffalo. At the latter place, a camp of instruction was established by General Scott,—General Brown leaving him temporarily in the command, while he returned for a few weeks to Sacketts Harbor, with authority to adopt such measures as he thought proper, to secure the efficient discipline and instruction of the troops, preparatory to taking the field.

New officers,—more active, more ambitious, and more enterprising,—were now at the head of affairs on the Niagara frontier. General Brown properly appreciated the skill and abilities of the talented Scott, and gave him almost unlimited power. The latter infused new spirit and energy into every corps belonging to the army; superannuated, infirm, or incompetent officers, no matter how high in rank, were relieved from duty; the strict rules of military discipline were rigidly enforced; and the whole command was daily paraded for instruction. All were drilled, from the highest to the lowest, officers as well as men, under the eye of Scott himself,—first in squads, then in companies, then in battalions, and, finally, carried through the evolutions of the line. The brilliant, but practical genius, of the youthful general, his unwearied efforts and exertions, accomplished wonders. When General Brown crossed the Niagara on the third of July, he crossed it with an army of soldiers, not merely of men!

The fruits of the camp of instruction at Buffalo, established and directed by General Scott, were witnessed on the plains of Chippewa,—on the blood-stained heights of Niagara,—when “Greek met Greek,” when steel clashed against steel, and the American soldiers stood firm and unflinching as the rocks beneath their feet. They may still be witnessed, in the wide-spread renown and eminent glory indissolubly connected with the achievements of the gallant army which Brown and Scott led out to battle,—in the noble deeds and feats of lofty daring, paralleled only on the brightest pages of by-gone martial story.

The incidents of the campaign on the Niagara frontier, in the summer of 1814, have been so fully detailed in the memoir of General Brown,⁠[39] that it seems unnecessary to recapitulate them here. On the third of July, the American commander crossed the Niagara with his whole army, little more than three thousand strong, consisting of the regular brigades of Scott and Ripley,—the former leading the van,—and the militia under Porter. Fort Erie was reduced on the same day, and, immediately thereafter, he proceeded against the position of General Riall, at Chippewa. On the fourth of July, General Scott had a running fight for more than sixteen miles, with the 100th British foot, under the command of the Marquis of Tweedale, whom he drove at full speed across the Chippewa.

On the fifth of July, the battle of Chippewa was fought,—mainly by the first brigade, under General Scott. “To him more than any other man,” said General Brown, in his official dispatch, “am I indebted for the victory.” This was high praise; but it was well deserved by the personal intrepidity, the chivalric bearing, and the dashing and dazzling manœuvres, which decided the result of the action. The day had opened with skirmishes of light troops, but the main action was brought on about four o’clock in the afternoon, when Scott dashed across Street’s creek, and engaged the British army on the plain south of the Chippewa. The light troops on the left of the field were in the meantime warmly engaged, but the principal struggle took place in the open field, which was as brief as it was decisive.

Scott’s brigade numbered only about fourteen hundred men, consisting of three small battalions, and the battery of Captain Towson. After crossing Street’s creek, he continued alternately to advance, halt, and fire, till he was not more than eighty yards from the enemy’s line. It being evident that preparations were making to outflank him, he detached one of his battalions into the woods on his left, to protect that flank. With the remainder of his small force, he prepared to meet the enemy, who were making ready to charge,—their artillery having been already silenced. Spurring his horse through the dust and smoke, he dashed up to the side of Captain Towson, who was posted on the Chippewa road, on the right of the field, and directed him to maintain his ground, and pour a raking fire into the British columns as they came up.

This order being given, he returned to his place in the rear of his two infantry battalions. He now directed them to throw forward their outer flanks, so as to form a reëntering angle, but taking care to flank the enemy on the left.⁠[40] The two battalions did not touch each other; but the interval would be every instant lessened by the movement which he contemplated. Having given the necessary orders, he cried out to the battalion of Major McNeil—the 11th infantry, which had not a recruit in it—on the left,—“The enemy say we are good at long shot, but cannot stand the cold iron! I call upon the Eleventh instantly to give the lie to that slander!”—“Charge!” he added, as the shot from Towson’s guns ploughed through and through the British ranks. “Charge!—Charge!” he repeated in thundering tones, rising up in his stirrups, and waving his men on with his sword.

This masterly charge, so well conceived and executed, put an end to the contest. The front lines of the enemy staggered, and rolled back in a confused mass on the reserve. All caught the infection of defeat, and the slope leading down to the Chippewa was soon darkened by a cloud of fugitives. The pursuit was ordered, but was checked when the Americans reached the stream, by the hostile batteries that frowned on the opposite shore.

The bloody battle on the heights of Niagara followed, on the night of the twenty-fifth of July.⁠[41] General Scott opened the action with his brigade, and for nearly two hours gallantly sustained himself against the vastly superior numbers of the British army. When the enemy’s batteries were ordered to be stormed, he piloted Colonel Miller, who was directed to execute this daring enterprise with the 21st infantry, through the smoke and darkness, and the iron shower that swept unceasingly down the hill-side. Twice, during the height of the engagement, after being relieved by the troops under Ripley and Porter, Scott precipitated his brigade on the British left and right. Two horses were shot under him—one literally torn from its rider. Though badly wounded in the side by a spent ball, he persisted in remaining on the ground, wading on foot through the blood and carnage, and his clear ringing voice ever and anon heard above the roar of artillery, as he cheered and encouraged his men. At length, about eleven o’clock, he was finally disabled by a musket ball, which shattered his left shoulder; and at midnight, just as the battle closed, he was borne from the field, with his aid, Lieutenant Worth, also severely wounded.