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Life and Services of General Winfield Scott (1852)
Life and Services of General Winfield Scott - 1852 Author:Edward Deering Mansfield Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 20 Scott's Parentage.—Early Character. CHAPTER II. 1786 To 1808. Scott's Parentage.—Education —Early Character.—Choice of a Profession.—Entrance into th... more »e Army.—Political Opinions. Winfield Scott was born the 13th of June, 1786, near Petersburg, in Virginia. His descent may be traced from a Scottish gentleman of the Lowlands, who, with his elder brother, was engaged in the Rebellion of 1745. The elder was slain on the field of Culloden. The younger, involved in the consequences of that severe disaster, emigrated to America, and, bringing with him little except a liberal education, commenced the practice of the law in Virginia. He married there, and was successful in his profession; but died young. His son William married Ann Mason, a lady of one of the most respectable families of Virginia. He lived a farmer by occupation, and died in 1791, leaving two sons and several daughters. The eldest of the sons was James, who commanded a regiment at Norfolk, in 1812, and the youngest Winfield, the subject of this Memoir. At the death of his father; the care of the family and the education of the children devolved upon the widow, who is reputed to have discharged her duties in the most exemplary manner. She died in 1803, leaving Scott, at seventeen years ofage, in the very outset of active life. At this time, his character is described, by one who ADMISSION TO THE BAR. 21 well knew him, as distinctly formed. He was full of hope, and animated by a just sense of honor, and a generous ambition of honest fame. His heart was open and Kmd to all the world, warm with affection towards his friends, and with no idea that he had, or deserved to have, an enemy. The particulars of his early education are not fully known; but it seems that he was intended for one of the learned...« less