and this is what winfield scott wanted to do. he wanted to see what was going on even though he was no longer in a position, he weighed almost 300 pounds at this point and couldn't ride a horse, to go see what the army was actually about. finally it became obvious to winfield scott and those around him it was time for him to turn over the reins to a younger man, much younger, and so his request for retirement was approved in late october, 1861. as he left on a train up to west point, the military academy where he would live out his days, a new order arrived for mcclellan. he was now appointed commanding general of the entire united states army. remember, he's only 35 years old. he's now commanding all of the federal forces. in response to president lincoln's express concern, here's your commission, and i'm really worried that you can't do all this. the young general looked back at the president and said simply, i can do it all. and so given that, the assurance that i can do it all, they moved forward together. but it wasn't long

winfield scott hancock was superb. giving hancock, of course, that hancock was superb that would last the rest of the war, all the generals north and south came out of that experience understanding that leading a troop of cavalry in texas in 1858 was a lot different than commanding a division of 6,000 soldiers all of whom are looking to you for guidance, inspiration, and development on the field at williamsburg. they all had a lot to learn. as the union forces followed up on that success at williamsburg and followed joe johnston's forces retreating up the peninsula, they encountered one of the rainiest months of may on record. and they struggled with maps, u.s. army topographic service maps that bore little if any relation to reality. mcclellan received a note from colonel george stoneman whose cavalry found him at new kent courthouse on the 10th of may. solomon says, the map is wrong with regard that this road and every road! mcclellan then sent a telegram up to edwin stanton at the war department saying that he has a

i mean, when winfield scott is approaching the gates of mexico, a bunch of indiana volunteers, their team is up, and nobody even questioned the fact that they're going to go home. and scott even worked to get them home before the yellow fever season, to get them through veracruz and get some reinforcements in to replace them. i mean, they factored this into military thinking in the united states. and the confederate states shared this tradition. so, if you don't have a draft or some kind of legislation, you don't have an army to defend the confederate states of america. well, lee said everybody has an obligation to serve, and 18 to 35, later raised to 45, and there had to be exemptions. and realize what this does, this makes the war department -- puts them in control of the confederate economy, the industrial war industry economy. because you control labor just like the war department would control raw materials and also try to control transportation. it set the stage for the closest thing to a managed economy that the american continent had ever seen. i think. and this from the confe

. >> winfield scott is another one of those discoveries and by the time of the civil war winfield scott is essentially shuttered aside. scott spends the rest of the civil war as sort of this daughtering old man. but there's a real good story about winfield scott that has nothing to do with the civil war and that's why i wanted to write about him. this is a man who is a lieutenant general in the army and no one other than george washington has ever achieved that rank until you police sl y s. grant. this is one of the hard sells i had to do to the publisher. the mexican war? who wants to -- what is the mexican war? it's a story that involves the civil war characters not in the civil war but just as interesting. >> you mentioned jefferson writing the declaration with adams and franklin looking over your shoulder. was mccullough looking over your shoulder in this? >> i appreciate you asking me about mccullough. is there a conspiracy of publishers, i mean do you guys all get together and say, you know, let's make the revolution hot, and so everybody gets together and writes -- i was not awar

winfield scott was a virginiaen when he stayed with the union.as great adulation because he was the great military mind. look what he had done in previous wars. but the people who all went to west point got to know each other and when the war began, some one one way, some went the other way, the problem was that they did know each other and they were all the same training. they had the same ideas, many, many of them. so, as a result, when the war began, they all thought in terms of fighting about the same way. and consequently, when you fight the same way and you know what the other guy is going to do theoretically, it's difficult not to react -- pardon me. it's difficult to react in an appropriate way. and west pointers were all prepared in the same particular sort of way. and what happened in west point, and, of course, this fact that some people left meant that west point bore the stigma of traitorism, before and after the war for a long time. that had an enormous impact and development on military policy. >> that's an interesting concept. eve

i like to use the example of winfield scott. you know, winfield scott was there. he was a great military mind. great military hero. but he does very little preparation for this war that, well, it may come, may not come, until george mclelland comes up with this idea of the trans-montana campaign, going across the mountains and capturing richmond from behind and it will all be over very, very quickly. well, it's then that winfield scott comes up with what comes to be known as the an con da plan. he basically says, now, george, you know, that's an interesting idea but those kind of campaigns don't work. but i've got this better idea. of course, i'm going to want you to be a leader in all of this. well, the war comes, doesn't it? what happens at first bull run? both sides have the same battle plans. they're both going to hit the other one's flank. and i used to do this in a classroom on a blackboard or whiteboard, whatever it is today, show the two sides and show them if both battle plans had worked at the same time, what would have happened is they would have been c

now he's second in command only to his wartime commander from mexico, old general winfield scott in washington. as someone who moved at a considerably more sedate pace up the scales, i can tell you moving from captain to major general in that short of time's really moving at warp speed. and it was major general u.s. army and the commander of the department of ohio that mcclellan would lead union forces across the ohio river into there around clarksburg, virginia. today if you look for it on the map you'll have to look over in west virginia. clarksburg, virginia, on the 27th of june, 1861, so the summer of '61 sees him moving into action assisted by his old antebellum army friend william rosecrans. they would bump into forces from john peagrum and they would defeat the confederates in july of 1861. although it was rosecrans that did the heavy lifting in this campaign it was mcclellan's name that had access to all the reporters. it was mcclellan's name that got into all the newspapers, and immediately after the union defeat at manassas junction, first bull run as they called it in the northern p

during those battles and oft repeated anecdote had lincoln speaking with the tired now general winfield scott during a visit to the military academy at west point in the late spring of 1862. and lincoln is said to have asked this question -- general scott, why is it that you were once able to take the city of mexico in three months with just 5,000 men and we've been unable to take richmond with 100,000 men? i will tell you, relied general scott. the men who took us into mexico city are the same men who are keeping us out of richmond. as mcclellan withdrew down the james and occupied berkeley and the west overplover plantationss prepared to reinitiate offensive operations. as you know, this would not happen. mcclellan was ordered to move his army to northern virginia in the next month. now, i can see that by the clock on my wall and the watch on my wrist i'm dangerously close to using up more than my time. how much time do i have, john? five minutes max. so, let me hustle, hurry through the remainder of my points. mcclellan at this point had established himself as the architect of a grand army

the name old guard was actually given to us by general winfield scott.n he said, the members of his staff, the 3rd infantry marches by him, he said, gentlemen, take off your hats, there goes the old guard of the army. >> thank you very much. we must travel along to visit other activities here in the military district of washington. now, here is a job you wouldn't expect to find in our modern army, and it's just about the only job of its kind left. but here at fort myer, it's a very important job. it's about the only job left in the cavalry army. they draw the caissons, and it gets its share of attention. polish and elbow grease is in perfect order as it bears the casket of the fallen hero. this is the comparison horse, riderless with cavalry boots turned backwards in the stirrups of the empty saddle. it follows behind the caisson in the funeral procession. case we've now moved to a position immediately adjacent to arlington national cemetery here at north post, fort myer. off to my left is a cemetery. we have asked the noncommissioned officer of a detail

of april 15, there were 5,000 federal troops in the district of columbia under the command of winfield scott. they even put together a plan where scott would locate the troops around the federal treasury building and they would hold lincoln within that building to defend it in case they were met with forces. there was a great concern that maryland was going to secede. so railroad tracks were torn up, lines to philadelphia had been cut and so lincoln orders merriman's arrest and he's put in ft. mchenry. and roger taney took exception to that, and brought a writ of habeas corpus, which general cadwaller refused to honored. this enraged taney and there's just one paragraph i want to read to you. the case then is simply this, a military officer residing in pennsylvania issues an order to arrest a citizen in maryland, upon vague and indefinite charges without any proof as far as appears. under this order, his house is entered in the night about 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. he's seized as a prisoner and conveyed to ft. mchenry. and when habeas corpus is served on the commanding officer, in order t

he has a great soldier in winfield scott but the fellow is frankly passed it, both physically and mentally. he has charles halleck who is intellectually gifted but not a good general. he has mcclellan's who knows everything about training and nothing about fighting. he has this funny guy the ones in a while had alcohol problems out in the west who seems to win. and he has this old cacophony of experts and relatives being thrust upon him, and somehow through several years of trial and error, he keeps making mistakes until he comes up with grant and sherman and thomas and he finally gets people who can beat the confederate generals. and it is a wonderful lesson because, you know, he does not have a revelation. he does not come in and get it right. and even when he had doubts about a general, he knows there are political issues about removing him. it is a wonderful lesson in a truly great man pursuing great ends with huge constraints. and what makes it great as he does not do it flawlessly but he does it adequately. >> after lincoln we mentioned in the same brand churchill and lincoln -- chur

, my gosh, now he's second in command only to his war-time commander from mexico, old general winfield scott in washington. as someone who moved at a considerably more sedate pace up the scales, i can tell you moving from captain to major general in that short of time is really moving at warp speed. and it was as major general u.s. army and the commander of the department of ohio that mcclellan would lead union forces across the ohio river into the area around claksburg, virginia. today if you look for it on the map you have to look over to west virginia. clarksburg, virginia, on the 27th of june, 1861. so the summer of '61 sees him moving into action. assisted by his old antebellum army friend william

16, 1861, there were but 5,000 federal troops in the district of columbia under the command of winfield scott. and in fact, they even put together a plan where scott would locate the troops around the federal treasury building and they would hold lincoln within that building to defend it in case they were met with forces from the confederacy. and there was a great concern that maryland was going to secede. so lincoln -- railroad tracks were torn up. the telegraph lines going to philadelphia had been cut. and merriman was viewed as part of this group that had done it. and so finally, lincoln orders merriman's arrest, and he's put in fort mchenry. and roger tanny took exception to that, and brought a writ of habeas corpus, which colonel george cadwaller refused, who is the custodian of mr. merriman. refused to honor. and in fact informed judge tanny that it was not just the president but cadwaller himself was the one delegated with presidential authority to suspend the writ if he saw so fit. this enraged tanny. and there's just one paragraph that i want to read to you, because i can just see ta

and one of them was named winfield scott, and it was, it was these army generals who ran the army after the war, another one, another famous leader was named brown, general brown. and they are the ones who trained the people who fought in the civil war. so it had a huge impact on them. the united states army right at the end did quite well against the british. they redeemed themselves for the earlier defeats under this new leadership. >> when did this war become known as the war of 1812? >> well, i think right from the beginning. it was called, also, the second war of independence. and a lot of, a lot of historians have pooh-poohed it in the sense that we for the first time fought a war, the first big war under the institutions that had been created in, under the new constitution and did it successfully and did it under that constitution without us becoming a military dictatorship. and we changed our whole relationship with the english. in that sense it really was a war of independence. it really solidified america's independence in the world. we were now in control of our own destiny.