Scott’s service in the War of 1812, which began in
July 1812, is heralded by his biographers. In October
that year, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and
saw action at the Niagara front against British forces.
He fought at Queenston Heights (13 October 1812),
a failed American offensive in Ontario, British Canada,
where he was taken prisoner. Exchanged back to the
American lines in January 1813, he then took part in the
fight at Fort George (26 May 1813). In March 1814, he
was promoted to brigadier general, and he participated
in battles at Chippewa (5 July 1814) and Lundy’s Lane,
also known as Bridgewater or the Battle of the Niagara
(25 July 1814). The latter engagement is considered the
fiercest land battle of the War of 1812. Scott’s leadership
of 1,200 American forces against some 4,500 British at
Lundy’s Lane, west of Niagara Falls, almost led to a di-
saster until his troops were reinforced by an army led by
General Jacob Brown, commanding some 1,700 men.
Although outnumbered two to one, the Americans re-
fused to retreat, holding their lines even though several
of their leading officers were wounded, including Scott.
The British were eventually forced to withdraw; their
casualties numbered 86 killed and 559 wounded, while
American casualties amounted to 171 killed and 571
wounded. Despite their heavier losses, the battle marked
a turning point for the Americans, who showed steadfast
courage in standing against numerical odds. For his valor
at Lundy’s Lane, Scott was brevetted a major general in
July 1814, awarded a gold medal by the U.S. Congress,
and given a ceremonial sword by the state of Virginia.
For the remainder of the war, Scott’s chief respon-
sibility was to oversee and administer the first U.S.
Army program of devising standard drill instruction and
regulations. Following the end of the war in 1815, he
oversaw a board that decided on the retention of officers
to the army. Later that year, he traveled to continental
Europe, where he spent two years studying the armed
forces of various European nations, most notably that
of the French. After his return to the United States in
1816, he took up the command of the Division of the
North and served as president of the Board of Tactics.
In 1828, Scott was passed over for promotion, and he
angrily resigned his commission, but this was refused.
Instead, he was given command of the Eastern Depart-
ment in 1829.
Scott served as commander of American forces in
the Black Hawk War (1832), begun by the Sac and Fox
Indian leader Black Hawk in an attempt to retain tribal
lands that had been taken from his people by devious
means. Initially, the Indians won a series of victories
against the American forces, which ended when they
were defeated by troops under General James D. Henry
at the Wisconsin River (28 July 1832). Scott then took
over from Henry and pushed Black Hawk’s forces toward
the Mississippi River. He confronted the Indians at Bad
Axe River (2 August 1832), where they were slaughtered
by the numerically superior American forces, ending the
war and forcing Black Hawk to flee. (He was eventu-
ally captured by the Winnebago and handed over the
Americans, who held him for a year but then released
him under an amnesty.)
Scott was put in charge of negotiating treaties with
several of the tribes in conflict with the United States,
including the Sac, Fox, Menominee, and Sioux (Lakota,
Nakota, Dakota). In the following years, he served as the
army’s emissary to inspect and strengthen the sea fortifi-
cations in South Carolina and to monitor the nullifica-
tion crisis there. He also served as the commander of a
short expedition against the Seminole Indians in Florida
(1836), and he oversaw the forcible removal of Chero-
kee Indians from Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina,
and Tennessee to other points in the American West in- The following year, he helped settle a dispute be-
tween settlers and British officers on San Juan Island in
Puget Sound in what is now Washington State and also
restored peace in a dispute along the Aroostook River in
Maine. In June 1841, Scott was promoted to the rank of
major general, and on 5 July, he was named command-
ing general of the United States Army, a post he held
until November 1861.
Scott served as commander of American forces dur-
ing the Mexican War of 1846–48. This conflict centered
on land claimed by American settlers in what is now the
southwestern United States, specifically Texas. In 1846,
American forces invaded Mexico, with General Zach-
ary taylor, hand-picked by Scott, as the commander
in the field. When Taylor’s troops slowed, Scott led an
American force in a seaborne invasion of the city of Vera-
cruz, also known as Veracruz (29 March 1847). Moving
inland toward Mexico City, he then led his troops in
winning two important victories. In the first, at Cerro
Gordo (17–18 April 1847), Scott’s men defeated the
Mexicans under General Antonio Lopez de santa anna
at the Cerro Gordo mountain pass, and in the second,
at Contreras-Churubusco (20 August 1847), they again
routed Santa Anna. This final battle allowed Scott to
Scott, winFielD