General Winfield Scott Retires

150 years ago today General Winfield Scott retired as commander of the United States Army. There had been increasing tensions between Scott and George B. McClellan, commander of the main Union army. Scott wrote this in his letter of resignation:

“For more than three years I have been unable, from a hurt, to mount a horse or walk more than a few paces at a time, and that with much pain. Other and new infirmities, dropsy and vertigo, admonish me that a repose of mind and body, with the appliances of surgery and medicine, are necessary to add a little more to a life already protracted much beyond the usual span of man. It is under such circumstances, made doubly painful by the unnatural and unjust rebellion now raging in the southern states of our so late prosperous and happy Union, that I am compelled to request that my name be placed on the list of army officers retired from active service.” 

He passed over the tensions with McClellan, but they were certainly a large part of his decision to resign. It had come to the point that McClellan referred to it as a war between him and Scott. Scott told McClellan this: "When I proposed that you should come here to aid, not supersede, me, you had my friendship and confidence. You still have my confidence.”

Scott retired as a man who had spent his life in service to his country. He had fought with high rank in both the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, but by the time of the Civil War he had outstayed his welcome. It was believed that new blood was needed to win the war, but just how well that new blood would preform still remained to be seen.

The Anaconda Plan

Yesterday, George B. McClellan, commander of the Ohio troops, wrote to Winfield Scott, head of all the Union armies, about a plan he had devised for subduing the Southern rebellion. Scott objected to his plan on several points, and proposed his own, which would later be called the Anaconda Plan. He said:

We rely greatly on the sure operation of a complete blockade of the Atlantic and Gulf ports soon to commence. In connection with such blockade we propose a powerful movement down the Mississippi to the ocean... the object being to clear out and keep open this great line of communication in connection with the strict blockade of the sea-board, so as to envelop the insurgent States and bring them to terms with less bloodshed than be any other plan. ... In the progress down the river all the enemy's batteries on its banks we of course would turn and capture, leaving a sufficient number of posts with complete garrisons to keep the river open behind the expedition. Finally, it will be necessary that New Orleans should be strongly occupied and securely held until the present difficulties are composed.

A word now as to the greatest obstacle in the way of this plan - the great danger now pressing upon us - the impatience of our patriotic and loyal Union friends. They will urge instant vigorous action, regardless, I fear, of consequences ....

Scott's plan relied on the naval blockade of the Southern ports which was already coming into action. He would then move down the Mississippi river and secure New Orleans, and then wait for the South to surrender. This plan was derided at the time, and armies began to move for Richmond. As Scott predicted, they were time after time defeated in battle with heavy casualties. Many of Scott’s strategies were used, such as a strict blockade and an attack down the Mississippi river in conjunction with other attacks. While it is still debated today how effective Scott’s plan would have been if used as he intended it, elements of it did contribute greatly to the ultimate defeat of the Confederacy.

Relief for Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter

After receiving the reports from the men he had sent to Fort Sumter to check on the situation, President Lincoln now had to decide what to do about Fort Sumter so that he could take action before April 15th, at which point they would run out of supplies. Everyone expected that he would order Fort Sumter to be evacuated to prevent a Civil War. The slave states which had not seceded insisted that it should be evacuated. A Virginian who was against secession said, "The United States must instantly evacuate Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens, and give assurances that no attempts shall be made to collect revenues in Southern ports." While they did not desire to leave the Union, they wanted the right of secession to be upheld. General Winfield Scott, the longest serving general in American history and a military hero, advised strongly against a relief effort. President Lincoln consulted his Cabinet again, and a majority were for attempting to resupply the fort. Agreeing with them, he ordered Gustavus Fox, who had been sent to Fort Sumter, to organize the relief effort.

By these plans Lincoln was trying to force the Southerners into firing the first shot. He told the commanders in Charleston that no troops would be sent, only provisions. However, a sizable force of troops were included in the expedition in case they were not allowed peaceable entry. He was peacefully maintaining a fort on Southern territory so that the Confederacy would be forced to fire the first shots of the war.