Defending Union and Mount Vernon (General Winfield Scott c7-20-1861 LOC - LC-USZ62-37503)
From The New-York Times August 2, 1861:
THE GREAT REBELLION. … Important Orders Issued by General Scott. More Caution to be Observed in Searching for Arms and Making Arrests. The Rebels Desecrating Mount Vernon. …
WASHINGTON, Thursday, Aug. 1.
The following orders have just been promulgated: HEAD-QUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
WASHINGTON, July 30, 1861.
GENERAL ORDERS No. 12. — Searches of houses for arms, traitors or spies, and arrests of offenders to such matters, shall only be made in any Department by the special authority of the Commander thereof, except in extreme cases admitting of no delay.
By command of Lieut.-Gen. SCOTT.
E.D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General.
Mount Vernon c1861 (LOC - LC-DIG-pga-03139)
HEAD-QUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
WASHINGTON, July 31, 1861.
GENERAL ORDERS No. 13. — It has been the prayer of every patriot that the tramp and din of civil war might at least spare the precincts within which repose the sacred remains of the Father of his Country, but this pious hope is disappointed. Mount Vernon, so recently consecrated anew to the immortal WASHINGTON by the ladies of America, has already been overrun by bands of rebels, who, having trampled under foot the Constitution of the United States, the ark of our freedom and prosperity, are prepared to trample on the ashes of him to whom we are all mainly indebted for those mighty blessings. Should the operations of the war take the United States troops in that direction, the General-in-Chief does not doubt that each and every man will approach with due reverence, and leave uninjured not only the tomb, but also the house, the groves and walks, which were so loved by the best and greatest of men.
By command, WINFIELD SCOTT.
E.D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General.
Edward D. Townsend (LOC - LC-DIG-cwpb-05800)
Edward D. Townsend was the Adjutant-General from 1869-1880.
Winfield Scott “Scott served under every president from Jefferson to Lincoln, a total of fourteen administrations, and was an active-duty general for thirteen of them; a total of 47 years of service. Historians rank him highly both as a strategist and as a battlefield commander.” Even as the general-in-chief of the U.S. army, Scott could accept responsibility: “When Lincoln received news that the Union Army had been defeated at Manassas on July 21, 1861 he went to Scott’s residence. Scott assumed responsibility for the Union defeat.”
The image below is said to be “General Scott giving orders to his aides for the advance of the Grand Army”. Ironically, it is also said to have been published in the New York Illustrated News, July 22, 1861 – the day after that advance got decisively stopped at Bull Run.
General Scott and staff July 1861 (LOC - LC-DIG-ppmsca-22465)
