General Scott Part 18

"_To the Honorable Secretary of War, Was.h.i.+ngton_:

"SIR: From the arbitrary and illegal conduct, the malice and gross injustice, practiced by the general officer, commanding in chief, this army, Major-General Winfield Scott, I appeal (as is my right and privilege) to the const.i.tutional commander in chief, the President of the United States. I accuse Major-General Winfield Scott of having acted in a manner unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. He has availed himself of his position to publish by authority to the army which he commands, and of the influence of his station to give the highest effect to an order bearing date November 12, 1847, and numbered 349--official printed copy herewith--calculated and designed to cast odium and disgrace upon Brevet Major-General Worth; to bring that general officer into disrepute with the army, to lessen, if not destroy, his just influence and proper authority with those officers over whom he is placed in command; that he has, without inquiry or investigation, in the said order published to the army and the world, falsely charged Brevet Major-General Worth with having written, or connived at the writing, a certain letter published in the United States, and to which he has been pleased to apply the epithet of 'scandalous,'

'malignant,' etc.; that he has made these statements to the world, giving to them the sanction of his high authority and the influence of his position, while he has had no information as to the authors.h.i.+p of the letters in question; and when respectfully and properly addressed upon the subject by the undersigned appellant, he has declined to reply whether or not he intended to impute to Brevet Major-General Worth conduct which he had characterized as 'scandalous,' 'malignant,' etc.; be pleased to refer to correspondence herewith marked from A to E. I do not urge present action on these accusations, because of their inconvenience to the service in withdrawing many officers from their duties, but I do humbly and respectfully invoke the President's examination into the case, and such notice thereof and protection from arbitrary conduct of said Major-General Scott as he may deem suitable.

"I have the honor to be, etc.,

"W.J. WORTH,

"_Brevet Major General, United States Army_."

Upon receipt of the above communication at General Scott's headquarters, General Worth was placed under arrest and charged "with behaving with contempt and disrespect toward his commanding officer,"

or words to that effect; and the specification to the charge was to the following effect: "Under pretext of appeal he charged his commanding officer to be actuated by malice toward him [Worth] and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman."

It must have been under a painful stress of duty that General Scott preferred charges against General Worth; they had been friends for over thirty years, and the latter had been aid-de-camp to the former.

Worth was the first general officer ordered from General Taylor's army to report to General Scott on his arrival in Mexico.

It was shown that General Pillow had given a written account of the battles of Contreras and Churubusco to the correspondent of a newspaper about August 25th, expressing a desire that it should go off with first impressions and form a part of the correspondent's letter.

The general told the correspondent he had prepared it for him. The latter examined the paper submitted by the general, found it incorrect in many details, and did not send it as requested. When, however, the mail from New Orleans brought the newspaper with the "Leonidas letter," the correspondent compared the letter with the memorandum or statement given him by Pillow and p.r.o.nounced them almost identical.

The arrest of General Pillow was ordered. He was charged: 1. With a violation of a general regulation or standing order of the army. 2.

With conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.

The specification to the first charge was, that he [Pillow] wrote or caused to be written an account of military operations between the United States forces and those of the Republic of Mexico, August 19, 1847, in and about Contreras and Churubusco, in which operations said Pillow bore a part, and which account was designed by said Pillow and in due time, over the signature of "Leonidas," partially printed and published in the New Orleans Delta of September 10, 1847, and reprinted entire in the Bulletin and the Daily Picayune of the 15th and 16th of the same month, all this pending the campaign between the forces before mentioned. There were eight different specifications to the second charge, and under the first there were eight different items or headings. The specifications cover eleven printed pages.

Their substance and effect was that General Pillow's account was not correct in the very many particulars specified.[B]

Colonel Duncan was charged: 1. With violation of the 650th paragraph (revised), General Regulations of the Army; and the specification cited the "Tampico letter," which he confessed to have written. The second charge had relation solely to matters of fact set forth in the "Tampico letter."

On January 13, 1848, the Secretary of War addressed a communication to General Scott in which he said: "The President has determined to relieve you from further duty as commanding general in Mexico. You are therefore ordered by him to turn over the command of the army to Major-General Butler, or, in his absence, to the officer highest in rank with the column under you, together with all instructions you have received in relation to your operations and duties as general in chief command, and all records and papers properly belonging or appertaining to general headquarters.

[Footnote B: See Ex. Doc. No. 65, Thirtieth Congress, first session.]

"Desirous to secure a full examination into all matters embraced in the several charges which you have presented against Major-General Pillow and Brevet Colonel Duncan, as well as the charges or grounds of complaint presented against you by Brevet Major-General Worth, and deeming your presence before the court of inquiry which has been organized to investigate these matters indispensably necessary for this purpose, you are directed by the President to attend the said court of inquiry wherever it may hold its sittings; and when your presence before or attendance upon the court shall no longer be required, and you are notified of that fact by the court, you will report in person at this department for further orders."

General Scott while in Puebla had asked to be relieved from command of the army because of the want of sympathy and support of the home Government. He thought active operations would cease in November, and the pa.s.sage through Vera Cruz would be safe by that date. The Secretary, in reply to this request of General Scott, said:

"Regarding the inducement you have a.s.signed for begging to be recalled as deserving to have very little influence on the question, it will be decided by the President with exclusive reference to the public good. When that shall render it proper in his opinion to withdraw you from your present command, his determination to do so will be made known to you."

And further:

"The perusal of these communications by the President has forced upon his mind the painful conviction that there exists a state of things at the headquarters of the army which is exceedingly detrimental to the public service, and imperiously calls upon him to interfere in such a way as will, he sincerely hopes, arrest and put an end to the dissensions and feuds which there prevail.... The doc.u.ments show that General Worth felt deeply aggrieved by your General Order No. 349....

With this view of the import and object of the order, his attempt by all proper means to remove from himself the ignominy of these imputations can not be regarded as an exceptionable course on his part. If he was actually aggrieved in this matter, or believed himself to be so, he had an unquestionable right to have the subject brought to the consideration of his and your common superior--the President.

He prepared charges against you, for his letter of November 16th to the Secretary of War can be viewed in no other character, and endeavored to send them through you, the only channel he could use without violating established regulations to his common superior....

General Worth having preferred charges against General Scott before the latter preferred charges against him, both law and natural justice require that the order of events should be pursued in such cases. The charges which he prefers against you should be first disposed of before proceedings can be inst.i.tuted against him for malice in preferring charges, or for presenting such as he did know or believe to be well founded."

The President was evidently laboring under a misapprehension in regard to the condition of affairs at the headquarters of the army.

Everything was quiet, industry prevailed, and constant watchfulness for the comfort of the men of his command was being observed by the general in chief. The public interests under his charge received his constant care. No feuds were known to the army, and it was expected that if there was anything done by the President it would be to sustain the commanding general. At the time the order was issued relieving General Scott, both Generals Quitman and s.h.i.+elds were in Was.h.i.+ngton, but they were not consulted by the President or Secretary of War. General Quitman wrote from Was.h.i.+ngton to his aid, Lieutenant Christopher S. Lovell: "You are long since informed of the course the War Department has thought fit to pursue in relation to the difficulties between some of the generals. Though General s.h.i.+elds and myself were at Was.h.i.+ngton when the information came, we were not consulted."

It was believed by a large number of persons both in and out of the army that considerations of public good had not in themselves caused the President to relieve General Scott from command of the army. It was well known that his political opinions were not in harmony with the Administration, while those of his successor were. There had been anything but that amenity which should exist between a commissioner to negotiate a treaty of peace and the commanding general. General Scott did not think that Mr. Trist treated him with the consideration his position required--rejecting all overtures on the part of the general. General Scott ascribes Trist's conduct to sickness, which is throwing the mantle of charity over a series of slights amounting almost to insults, which a general less solicitous for the cause he was engaged in, and less regardful of his country's good, would have resented in a manner that would have produced a crisis detrimental to the interests of the Government.

General Scott, commander in chief, being the accuser, and Pillow, Worth, and Duncan the defendants, the duty devolved upon the President to appoint the court, which he did, composed of Brigadier-General Nathan Towson, paymaster general, Brigadier-General Caleb Cus.h.i.+ng, and Brevet Colonel William G. Belknap, with Captain S.C. Ridgely, judge advocate and recorder.

The court organized and adjourned to the City of Mexico, where it met March 16, 1848, all the members present, the judge advocate and recorder. General Pillow was also in attendance. No objection being made to any member of the court, they were duly sworn. General Scott then read a paper, from which the following extracts are made:

"Having, in the maintenance of what I deemed necessary discipline, drawn up charges and specifications against three officers then under my command, I transmitted the papers November 28, 1847, to the Secretary of War, with a request in each case that the President, under the act of May 29, 1830, would appoint a general court-martial for the trial of the same. This court of inquiry is the result. I am stricken down from high command; one of the arrested generals is pre-acquitted and rewarded, and of the other parties, the judge and his prisoners, the accuser and the accused, the innocent and the guilty, with that strange exception, all thrown before you to scramble for justice as we may.

"In the case of Major-General Pillow I preferred two charges: the first with one specification, respecting a prohibited publication in the newspapers of the United States, and the second embracing a great number of specifications.

"Considering, Mr. President, that I asked for a general court-martial to try and definitely determine cases specifically defined and set out, and that this preliminary court has no power beyond the mere collection of facts and giving an inoperative opinion thereon; considering that, if we now proceed, the whole labor must be gone over again at least by the parties and witnesses; considering that the court will be obliged to adjourn to the United States in order to have the least hope of obtaining the testimony of these important witnesses, now retired to civil life, and therefore not compellable to attend a military court even at home, or to testify before a commission duly appointed by such courts, and the parties will not be able to leave this country for home without peril of life. Considering that there is a near prospect of peace between the United States and Mexico, which may be consummated in time to enable this whole army to return home at once in safety; considering immediately, on such consummation, that Major-General Pillow would, by express terms of the law under which he holds his commission, be out of the army, and therefore no longer amenable for his acts to any military tribunal; considering that, in preferring the charges against that officer, I was moved solely by the desire to preserve the discipline and honor of the army, not having even had the slightest personal quarrel or difficulty with him, and that the time had probably gone by for benefiting the service by a conviction and punishment--in view of these circ.u.mstances, I shall, Mr. President, decline prosecuting the charges and specifications against Major-General Pillow before this preliminary court, without its special orders, or further orders from the President of the United States."

In total disregard of the charges preferred against General Worth by the commanding general, the President ordered him to be released from arrest and restored to his command. General Worth, considering that the President had done him "full and ample justice," withdrew his charges against General Scott; to which the latter said that he "felt strong in conscious rect.i.tude, strong in all the means of defense, defied his accusers, and would not plead the letter withdrawing the accusations against him in bar of trial; that he challenged the writer of that letter to come forward and do his worst."

Colonel Duncan having admitted that he had written the "Tampico letter," thus pleading guilty to violating the army regulations, and the President having ordered a court of inquiry and not a court-martial, General Scott declined to prosecute him before this court or a court-martial without express orders from the President.

General Scott considered that it was not for him to attempt to uphold a regulation which the President had revived and then disregarded.

While Colonel Duncan no doubt believed all he had written to be true, the evidence of Colonel H.L. Scott, a.s.sistant adjutant general of the army, Colonel Hitchc.o.c.k, and Captain Lee shows that the direct attack, or that by Mexicalcingo, was never decided upon.

General Scott was informed that the court of inquiry would probably adjourn to await further orders from the Government. To prevent this delay, he [Scott] consented to prosecute the case of General Pillow.

With a probability of peace and the disbanding of the army, it was almost certain that there never would be a trial by court-martial should such a court be recommended.

On March 21st the investigation before the court of inquiry commenced in the City of Mexico and continued until April 21st, when the court, as General Scott had predicted, adjourned to the United States for the purpose of obtaining further testimony, and rea.s.sembled in Frederick, Md., May 29, 1848. General Pillow did not appear until June 5th, when General Scott was also present. The latter had been detained by sickness, and General Pillow had stopped in Tennessee to visit his family.

On July 1st General Scott submitted the following paper to the court, and withdrew the charges against Colonel Duncan:

"The reason given for withdrawing the first charge was, that the President seemed indisposed to enforce the revised paragraph 650, which he had ordered to be published, and enjoined all to obey and enforce.

"In regard to the second charge and specification, relating to matters of fact set forth in the 'Tampico letter,' and which Colonel Duncan had acknowledged over his own signature he had written, General Scott, believing that Colonel Duncan had fallen undesignedly into erroneous statements of fact in the letter, sent an officer to ask him if he was not ignorant, at the time of writing the letter,

"1. That before the army left Pueblo for the valley his [Scott's] bias and expectation were that the army would be obliged to reach the enemy's capital by the left or south around Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco.

"2. That after his headquarters were established at Ayotla, August 11th, he [Scott] had shown equal solicitude to get additional information of that route, as well as that of Penon or Mexicalcingo.

"3. That besides sending from Ayotla, August 12th, oral instructions to Brevet Major-General Worth to push further inquiries from Chalco as to the character of the southernmost route around the two lakes, he [Scott] had sent written instructions to General Worth to the same effect from his quarters at Ayotla.[C]

[Footnote C: General Worth wrote to Colonel Duncan from Tacubaya, March 31, 1848: "General Scott evinced a disposition to gather information as respected this route (Chalco) on the 12th.... As I have said, General Scott directed me to send and examine the Chalco route,"

etc.]

"4. That while at Ayotla, from the 11th to the 15th of August, he [Scott] sent a Mexican from Ayotla, independent of General Worth, all around the village of Xochimilco to report to him [Scott] whether there had been any recent change in the route, either in the matter of fortifications or from overflowing of the lakes.

"5. That in the evening of the 13th he [Scott] had ordered Captain Mason, of the engineers, to report to General Worth the next morning, to be employed in reconnoitering that same southern route, in which service he had already been antic.i.p.ated by the reconnoitering party under himself--Colonel Duncan."

The officer was authorized to say that if Colonel Duncan would state that he was ignorant of these facts, he would withdraw and abandon, upon his word, the second charge and specification.

To this Colonel Duncan replied that he "believed the facts therein ('Tampico letter') set forth to be substantially true, and still believed so; had no desire to detract directly or indirectly from the merits of any officer, and no one could regret more than himself if he had done so. If the statements of General Scott were facts, he learned them for the first time, and was ignorant of them when he wrote the 'Tampico letter.'" General Scott's reply was that "ample evidence, both oral and written, was at hand to substantiate his averments in respect to the route around Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco." He then withdrew the second charge against Colonel Duncan.

Following is the opinion of the court of inquiry in General Pillow's case: