History of West Point, (Orange County) New York United States of America

Winfield Scott, soldier, was born in the vicinity of Petersburg, Va., June 13, 1786; son of William and Ann (Mason) Scott, and grandson of a Scotch soldier, who engaged in the battle of Culloden, where he lost a brother, and fled to America, settling in the neighborhood of Petersburg, Va., where he practised law. William Scott died in 1791, and his wife in 1803; and Winfield, after attending a high school in Richmond, matriculated at the College of Willlain and Mary, and after a two years' course took up the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in Richmond, Va., in 1806, removed to Charleston, S.C. in 1807, where he was made captain of light artillery in the U.S. army, and was ordered to New Orleans in 1808, where General Wilkinson, after being unsuccessful in winning the youthful officer over to the questionable scheme of Burr, caused his court-martial and suspension from the service for twelve months. Captain Scott, however, obtained a remission of the sentence at the end of three months, and was complimented by a public dinner. On the declaration of war with Great Britain, June 18, 1812, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the 2d artillery, and ordered to the Niagara frontier; and at Queenstown Heights, Oct. 13, 1812, he was taken prisoner and exchanged after a few months. He was promoted brigadier-general, March 9, 1814; established a camp of instruction at Buffalo, and on July 3, 1814, transferred his brigade to British soil and on July 5, directed the battle of Chippewa, winning a signal victory, as he did at Lundy's Lane, July 25, where he had two horses shot under him, was badly wounded and finally gained the field, capturing General Riall and several other officers, and inflicting a loss of 878 men to the British, his own loss nearly equalling it. These were the only two American victories on Canada soil; and gained for him the rank of major-general. General Scott was removed to Buffalo, N.Y., where his wounds were dressed, and on his partial recovery he was transferred to Philadelphia by slow stages. He visited Europe in 1815, after declining the cabinet position of secretary of war, made vacant in President Madison's cabinet and held temporarily by James Monroe, secretary of state. On his return to the United States he was given command of the Atlantic seaboard, with headquarters in New York, and he made his home at Elizabeth, N.J., where he resided, 1816?36. He was married in March, 1817, to Maria, daughter of John Mayo of Richmond, Va. He took part in the Seminole war in Florida, and in the expedition against the Creek Indians, 1836?37. Criticisms of his conduct of the campaign caused him to be recalled in 1837, but a court of inquiry found no cause for his recall, and in 1838 he effected the peaceful transfer of the Cherokees to the Indian territory. He was also mainly responsible for the Webster-Ashburton treaty of 1842. On the death of Gen. Alexander Macomb, June 25, 1841, he became general-in-chief in command of the United States army, with headquarters at Washington, D.C. On the declaration of war with Mexico in 1846, he planned the campaign and accompanied the army to Vera Cruz, where he landed his force of 12,000 men under cover of the naval fleet of Commodore Conner. After a siege of twenty days, March 9?29, 1847, he captured the castle of San Juan de Ulloa, and 5,000 of the Mexican army. On April 17?18, he fought the successful battle of Cerro Gordo; that of Contreras, August 19?20; Churubusco, August 20; Molino del Rey, September 8; Chapultepec, September 13; and the assault and capture of the City of Mexico, Sept. 13?14, 1847, which ended the war. General Scott had been looked upon as an available candidate of the Whig party for President as early as 1839, when the national convention met at Harrisburg, Pa., Dec. 4, and again in 1844. In 1852 he received the nomination from the Whig national convention convened at Baltimore, June 16. In the election that followed, the Scott and Graham electors received 1,380,576 popular votes to 1.601,474 for Pierce and King, and 156,147 for Hale and Julian, and when the electoral college met in 1853 he received the 42 electoral votes of Vermont, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Kentucky; Pierce receiving those of all the other states and numbering 254. In 1859 he was commissioner on the part of the United States in the settlement of the northwestern boundary question, and he successfully accomplished the purposes of his government. He was in command of the U.S. army during the early part of the civil war, and succeeded in placing the national capital in a condition of defence and directed the early movements of the troops until succeeded, Nov. l, 1861, as general-in-chief, by George B. McClellan, and he was placed on the retired list, with the brevet rank of lieutenant-general, being seventy-five years of ago. He visited Europe in 1861?62, and on his return in 1862 made his home at West Point, N.Y. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from the College of New Jersey in 1814, and that of LL.D. from Columbia college in 1850, and from Harvard in 186l, and was elected an honorary member the Massachusetts Historical society. In November, 1814, congress ordered a gold medal struck in his honor, and an equestrian statue to his honor executed by Henry K. Brown was erected on Scott Circle, Washington, D.C. He was physically a man of stately proportions, possibly the most imposing of the illustrious soldiers of his time, if not of all modern times. In the selection of names for a place in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, New York university. October, 1900, his name in Class A, Soldiers and Sailors, received 16 votes, standing tenth in the class of 20 names. His published works include: a pamphlet against the use of intoxicating liquors (1821); General Regulations for the Army (1825); Letters to the Secretary of War (1827); Infantry Tactics (3 vols., 1835, 1847 and 1854); Letters on the Slavery Question (1843): Abstract of Infantry Tactics (1861); Memoirs of Lieut.-General Scott, written by Himself (2 vols., 1864). He died at West Point, N.Y., May 29, 1866.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

John Ferguson Weir, art educator, was born at West Point, N.Y., Aug. 28, 1841; son of Professor Robert Walter and Louisa (Ferguson) Weir. He was educated under the instruction of the U.S. Military academy, and studied art under his father until 1861, when be established himself as an artist in New York city, becoming an associate of the National Academy of Design in 1864 by his exhibition of The Interior of an Artist's Studio, and an Academician in 1866, by his canvas, The Gun Foundry, exhibited at the Paris salon, 1867. He was married, May 17, 1866, to Mary, daughter of the Rev. Dr. John William and Clara (Miller) French, of West Point. In 1868 he completed The Forging of the Shaft (subsequently destroyed by fire), of which be made a copy exhibit at the Paris salon, 1878, and which finally became the property of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He spent the years 1868-69 with his wife in Europe, and in the latter year became director of the Yale School of Fine Arts, and also professor of painting and design (named the William Leffingwell professorship in 1877), positions be still held in 1903. The honorary degree of M.A. was conferred upon him by Yale in 1871. His paintings, many of them exhibited in New York city, Philadelphia and Paris, include: Sunset at West Point (1859); The Christmas Bell (1860); The Culprit Fay (1861); By the Sea: Tapping the Furnace (1872); Returning from Work; Storm and Sunshine; The Confessional (1876); Christ on the Sea of Gennesaret; The Column of St. Marks, Venice (1887); and the portrait subjects: Dr. S. Wells Williams (1883); Admiral Farragut; Eliphalet Nott ; Col. Bradford Alden; Timothy Dwight, and many others of the Yale faculty. In addition to the above, he also executed a statue of Benjamin Silliman (1779-1861), placed on the Yale grounds (1884), and a seated figure of Theodore S. Woolsey, on the Yale campus (1891). He is the author of: The Way : the Nature and Means of Revelation (1889); John Trumbull and His Works (1901); Human Destiny in the Light of Revelation (1903).

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Andrew Ellicott, engineer, was born in Bucks county, Pa., Jan. 24, 1754. His father and uncle were the founders of Ellicott's Mills, Md., in 1774, and owned large tracts of land on the Patapsco river. He was brought up on this place and devoted his leisure time to the study of mechanics and the natural sciences. As a civil engineer he was commissioner for marking the boundaries of the states of Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia, and enjoyed the friendship of Washington, Franklin and Rittenhouse. He removed to Baltimore in 1785, and was a representative in the state legislature. In 1789 he was selected by President Washington to make the survey of Niagara river, and he determined the height of the falls and the descent of the rapids. He surveyed and laid out the city of Washington in 1790, and in 1792 President Washington appointed him surveyor-general of the United States. He built Fort Erie at Presque Isle in 1795 and laid out the towns of Erie, Warren and Franklin, Pa. In 1796 he was appointed to determine the boundary between the United States and the Spanish possessions, and completed this service in 1802. He was then appointed secretary of the state land office of Pennsylvania by Governor McKean and he resigned the office in 1808. He was professor of mathematics and engineering at the U.S. military academy, 1812-20, by appointment of President Madison. He was a member of the American philosophical society. He published his Journal (1803). He died at West Point, N.Y., Aug. 29, 1820.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Alfred Thayer Mahan, naval officer and author, was born in West Point, N.Y., Sept. 27, 1840; son of Dennis Hart and Mary Helena (O'Kill) Mahan. His father was professor of military engineering in the U.S. Military academy. He was graduated from the U.S. Naval academy and promoted midshipman, June 9, 1859; served on the Brazil squadron, 1859-61, and on the steamer Pocahontas of the South Atlantic blockading squadron, 1861-62; was promoted lieutenant, Aug. 81, 1861, was on duty at the Naval academy, 1862-63; on the steam sloop Seminole of the Western Gulf squadron, 1863-64, and on the steamer James Adger of the South Atlantic squadron, 1864-65; was promoted lieutenant-commander, June 7, 1865; served on the steamer Muscoota of the Gulf squadron, 1865-66; the steamer Iroquois of the Asiatic squadron, 1867-89; and commanded the steamer Aroostook of the Asiatic fleet in 1869; was stationed at the New York navy yard, 1870-71, and on the receiving ship at New York in 1872; was promoted commander, Nov. 20, 1872, commanded the Wasp on the South Atlantic station, 1873-75, and was stationed at the Boston navy yard, 1875-76. He was on duty at the Naval academy, 1877-80, at the New York navy yard, 1880-38; commanded the Wachusett on the Pacific station, 1883-85; was promoted captain, Sept. 23, 1885; was stationed at the Naval War college, Newport, R.I., in 1885, and was president of the Naval War college, 1886-89. He was president of a commission for selecting a site for a navy yard on the northwest coast in 1889, and was on special duty for the bureau of navigation from 1889 to July, 1892. He was president of the War college at Newport, from July, 1892, to May, 1893, and commanded the Chicago, 1893-95. He was retired at his own request, Nov. 17, 1896, having completed forty years of service. In accordance with the terms of his retirement, he was subject to duty in case of war, and at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war was recalled from Rome, and ordered into the naval strategy board in May, 1898, and served throughout the war. He was a delegate from the United States to the disarmament congress which met at the Hague, on May 18, 1899. He received the degree of D.C.L. from Oxford university in 1894; and that of LL.D. from Cambridge university, England, in 1894, from Harvard in 1895, from Yale in 1897, from McGill university, Canada, and Columbia university, 1900. He is the author of: Navy in the Civil War, Gulf and Inland Waters (1883); Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890); Influence of Sea Power on French Revolution and Empire (1892); Life of Farragut (1892); Life of Nelson (1897); Interest of America in Sea Power (1897); Lessons of the Spanish War (1899); The War in South Africa (1900); Problem of Asia (1900), and contributions to newspapers and magazines.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of West Point, (Orange County) New York

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