Hugh L. Scott

Major General Hugh Lenox Scott (September 22, 1853 – April 30, 1934) was a United States Army officer. A West Point graduate of 1876, he served as superintendent of West Point from 1906 to 1910 and as chief of staff of the United States Army from 1914 to 1917, which included the first few months of American involvement in World War I. Early life Scott was born in Danville, Kentucky, on September 22, 1853, the son of Reverend William McKendry Scott and Mary Elizabeth (Hodges) Scott. He grew up in Danville and in Princeton, New Jersey, where he was educated at The Lawrenceville School. He attended Princeton University, before being accepted into the United States Military Academy at West Point. Military career Scott graduated from West Point with the Class of 1876 (his Cullum number was 2628), and was commissioned in the cavalry. For some twenty years thereafter he served on the Western frontier, chiefly with the 7th United States Cavalry. He was assigned to the quarters only recently vacated by the widow of George Armstrong Custer. In fact, Scott was sent out to the Little Big Horn battle site to mark gravesites for Custer's men killed in the battle. He also had the opportunity to interview many of the Native Americans who fought on both sides of the battle on June 25, 1876. He saw action in campaigns against the Sioux, Nez Perce, Cheyenne and other tribes of the Great Plains and became an expert in their languages and ways of life. He was promoted to first lieutenant in June 1878. About 1889, while stationed with the 7th Cavalry at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, Scott made the acquaintance of an Indian scout named I-See-O (Plenty Fires) of the Kiowa tribe. I-See-O enlisted in the Indian Scouts in 1889 and taught Scott Native American sign language and techniques of frontier warfare. Scott was placed in command of Troop L of the 7th Cavalry on March 29, 1891, and of a detachment of Indian Scouts on September 18, 1891.