Scott's Rats

[JPK Huson 1863]

Found this tooling around LoC. McClellan made Scott out to be such an archaic old buffoon it seems even today his reputation has suffered dreadfully. In his prime Scott would have pinched the little pisher's head off. As it was, just because he'd become too rotund to get on a horse doesn't mean he'd lost his fight. This is pretty good. Must have been printed before Little Mac rubbed all the glitter from the general's shoulder boards.

 

[diane]

We need more on Scott! The Anaconda Plan. It did strangle the South - they could never get their holes unstopped! Scott was and is still considered THE American soldier.

 

[Dave G]

So that is why the South was fighting for their rats!

 

[diane]

Scott was quite the handsome, dashing warrior back in the day - at 6'5" he was more than impressive. Here he is at the top of his game, War of 1812:

Expired Image Removed

Sadly, time was not good to him! Here he's at Lincoln's White House:

Even if he could no longer get into the saddle without help, he could probably have still out-soldiered everybody in the field. But with age comes weakness, and the pups shoved the old dog out!

 

[Carronade]

He was still looking better than most people who had been born 75 years earlier

 

[virginiaworm]

Scott was quite the handsome, dashing warrior back in the day - at 6'5" he was more than impressive. Here he is at the top of his game, War of 1812:

Expired Image Removed

Sadly, time was not good to him! Here he's at Lincoln's White House:

Even if he could no longer get into the saddle without help, he could probably have still out-soldiered everybody in the field. But with age comes weakness, and the pups shoved the old dog out!

Amazingly he (Scott) was not the oldest Union soldier on duty when the Civil War broke out.

 

[Northern Light]

So that is why the South was fighting for their rats!

You beat me to the punch, Dave G.! First thing I thought of when I saw the title of the thread.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

I've mentioned elsewhere that I read several biographies of Scott and Zachary Taylor, with the hypothesis that Scott was a major influence on Lee and Taylor on Grant. (While Scott was unquestionably an influence on Lee, whom Scott saw as a sort of protege, I did not observe the same sort of influence on Grant from Taylor; their apparent similarities of style must be more coincidental, perhaps from living most of their lives in what was then considered "The West." So I can't say my hypothesis was borne out.)

Scott's a very interesting individual to read about. (I discovered that Taylor was at least as interesting, if not even more so.)

 

[BrrrBRRRR]

So that is why the South was fighting for their rats!

.
Hey, Rats Rule and Kinky, Lumpy and McScreamy all agree with me

 

[Carronade]

I don't get the cartoon. Why is Harpers Ferry at the center? It seems to suggest that the cat - the federal army based at Washington - will attack Harpers Ferry and the rats - rebels - will be unable to escape because their holes have been stopped. Five of the "holes" are major ports, presumably representing the blockade cutting off the Confederacy from the outside world, but why is Manassas Gap in that category? Or if stopping up Manassas Gap will keep the cat's prey from escaping from Harpers Ferry, what are the ports about? Must be some odd 1860s cultural thing

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

We need more on Scott! The Anaconda Plan. It did strangle the South - they could never get their holes unstopped! Scott was and is still considered THE American soldier.

Thank you Diane! Well, to you and others like you he is! McClellan's poison did it's work very well. That McClellan felt he had to take down a national hero in order to promote himself instead of simply proving himself a solid man for the job should have told the powers-that-be all they needed to know. He was turned into some ineffectual buffoon, a huge deal being made of stupid, pointless matters like his not being able to mount a horse any longer. That could easily have been age and not wholly girth anyway, gee whiz! The thing is, in 2015 it seems General Winfield Scott is still discounted, his name not really associated with the Union's eventual success- but when you look at it what on earth was the Blockade? Looks an awful lot like Winfield Scott's work? Does General Winfield Scott receive credit for a plan which succeeded in helping force and end to the war? No, not that I've seen. The Blockade does, not the Anaconda Plan. Is there a difference?

I mean, the man was as big a name as George Washington, as legendary to the nation- a national hero and treasure. Deserved it too. When the Rebellion dawned, no-brainer, all eyes turning to Winfield Scott. Why in heck does anyone think we had Winfield Scott Hancock? Same caliber man and soldier with Scott 1# edging Scott 2# out on sheer heroics- which is tough.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Eh... just a note of caution. I have a healthy appreciation for Scott's military and strategic prowess, but blockades were nothing new. If anything, Scott was adapting the grand strategy of the Mexican War to the conditions of the Civil War-- blockade, penetrate up rivers, and seize the capital.

Scott does deserve props for making the navy and combined operations an integral part of the plan; I don't know how many other generals would have seen that as quickly. But, after all, he had led the biggest American amphibious operation in history up to that time (Vera Cruz), so he clearly had practical experience in the field.

 

[diane]

Eh... just a note of caution. I have a healthy appreciation for Scott's military and strategic prowess, but blockades were nothing new. If anything, Scott was adapting the grand strategy of the Mexican War to the conditions of the Civil War-- blockade, penetrate up rivers, and seize the capital.

Scott does deserve props for making the navy and combined operations an integral part of the plan; I don't know how many other generals would have seen that as quickly. But, after all, he had led the biggest American amphibious operation in history up to that time (Vera Cruz), so he clearly had practical experience in the field.

It's true what Scott devised wasn't particularly original or brilliant, but effective takes up the slack from that. But Scott was a demi-god in the American military at that time, he was old enough to have personally known many of the founders of the country, and had been through the wars that confirmed the country was in existence and would stay that way. The CW was something he saw coming from afar and was expecting.

He was a Virginian and talked to all the Virginians he could get his hands on - one Virginian in particular! At this point he was kind of like the poem - he's big and old, and bent and grey, but show some caution, he's still the Bear. McClellan was not a bad man but he sure played the part of a weasel in taking Scott down. One side, old man, I'm stepping into your boots whether you're still wearing them or not!