Winfield Scott

About Winfield Scott

“Men of the eleventh! the enemy say we are good at a long shot, but cannot stand the cold iron. I call on you to give the lie to that slander. Charge!”
— Address to the 11th Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Chippawa (14 June 1814) in the War of 1812, as quoted in The Military Heroes of the War of 1812 (1849) by Charles Jacobs Peterson, p. 152
“Brave rifles! Veterans! You have been baptized in fire and blood and have come out steel!”
— Address to US forces after the of Battle of Chapultepec in the Mexican-American War (September 1847) as quoted in The Life and Military and Civic Services of Lieut-Gen. Winfield Scott (1861) by Orville James Victor, p. 106.
“Say to the seceded States, "Wayward sisters, depart in peace."”
— Letter to William H. Seward (3 March 1861); though the only suggestion from this letter commonly quoted, this was actually the last and final alternative of what he considered to be 4 options available to President Abraham Lincoln in dealing with the secessionist states.
“Lee is the greatest military genius in America, myself not excepted.”
— As quoted in Life of General Robert Edmund Lee (1870) by C. Stoctly Errickson, p. 35.
“Peace won by compromise is usually a short lived achievement.”
— As quoted in The Iron Man of India (1951) by S. Jaysbee, p. 57

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.