Editing Winfield Scott (section)

==Mid-career, 1815–1841==
===Post-war years===
{{Further|Presidency of James Monroe|Presidency of John Quincy Adams}}

With the conclusion of the War of 1812, Scott served on a board charged with demobilizing the army and determining who would continue to serve in the officer corps. [[Andrew Jackson]] and Brown were selected as the army's two major generals, while [[Alexander Macomb (general)|Alexander Macomb]], [[Edmund P. Gaines]], Scott, and [[Eleazer Wheelock Ripley]] would serve as the army's four brigadier generals.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=103–105}} Jackson became commander of the army's Southern Division, Brown became commander of the army's Northern Division, and the brigadier generals were assigned leadership of departments within the divisions.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|p=110}} Scott obtained a leave of absence to study warfare in Europe, though to his disappointment, he reached Europe only after [[Napoleon]]'s final defeat at the [[Battle of Waterloo]].{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=105–107}} Upon his return to the United States in May 1816, he was assigned to command army forces in parts of the [[Northeastern United States]]. He made his headquarters in [[New York City]] and became part of the city's social life.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=108–110}} He earned the nickname "Old Fuss and Feathers" for his insistence on proper military bearing, courtesy, appearance, and discipline.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|page=184}} In 1835, Scott wrote ''Infantry Tactics, Or, Rules for the Exercise and Maneuvre of the United States Infantry'', a three-volume work that served as the standard drill manual for the United States Army until 1855.{{sfn|"Civil War - Pre-War Tactical Doctrine"}}

Scott developed a rivalry with Jackson after Jackson took offense to a comment Scott had made at a private dinner in New York, though they later reconciled.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=112–115, 118}} He also continued a bitter feud with Gaines that centered over which of them had seniority, as both hoped to eventually succeed the ailing Brown.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=119–120}}{{efn|The dispute arose over whether regular or brevet promotions took priority.  Gaines argued for regular commissions because Scott and Gaines were both officially promoted to colonel on March 12, 1813, and brigadier general on March 9, 1814. Gaines's name appeared before Scott's on those orders, making him senior to Scott. Scott argued for brevets because he received his brevet promotion to major general on July 25, 1814, three weeks earlier than Gaines's August 15 brevet, making Scott senior to Gaines.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=200–200}}}} In 1821, Congress reorganized the army, leaving Brown as the sole major general and Scott and Gaines as the only brigadier generals; Macomb accepted demotion to colonel and appointment as the chief of engineers, while Ripley and Jackson both left the army.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=117–118}} After Brown died in 1828, President [[John Quincy Adams]] passed over Scott and Gaines due to their feuding, instead appointing Macomb. Scott was outraged and asked to be relieved of his commission, but ultimately backed down.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=121–123}}

===Black Hawk War and Nullification Crisis===
{{Further|Presidency of Andrew Jackson}}
[[File:General-Winfield-Scott-(1786-1866)1835.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Winfield Scott age of 49, 1835 portrait by [[George Catlin]]]]

In 1832, President Andrew Jackson ordered Scott to [[Illinois]] to take command of a conflict known as the [[Black Hawk War]].{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=125–127}} By the time Scott arrived in Illinois, the conflict had come to a close with the army's victory at the [[Battle of Bad Axe]]. Scott and Governor [[John Reynolds (Illinois politician)|John Reynolds]] concluded the [[Black Hawk Purchase]] with Chief [[Keokuk (Sauk leader)|Keokuk]] and other Native American leaders, opening up much of present-day [[Iowa]] to settlement by whites.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=128–132}} Later, in 1832, Jackson placed Scott in charge of army preparations for a potential conflict arising from the [[Nullification Crisis]].{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=133–135}} Scott traveled to [[Charleston, South Carolina]], the center of the nullification movement, where he strengthened federal forts but also sought to cultivate public opinion away from [[secession in the United States|secession]]. Ultimately, the crisis ended in early 1833 with the passage of the [[Tariff of 1833]].{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=136–139}}

===Indian Removal===
[[Image:Trails of Tears en.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Routes of Southern removals]]
{{Further|Trail of Tears}}

President Jackson launched a policy of [[Indian removal]], forcing Native Americans to move west of the [[Mississippi River]]. Some Native Americans moved peacefully, but others resisted, including many [[Seminole]]s. In December 1835, the [[Second Seminole War]] broke out after the [[Dade massacre]], in which a group of Seminoles ambushed and massacred a U.S. Army company in [[Central Florida]].{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=146–147}} President Jackson ordered Scott to take command of operations against the Seminoles personally, and the officer arrived in Florida by February 1836.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=150–152}} After several months of inconclusive campaigning, Scott was ordered to the border of [[Alabama]] and [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] to put down a [[Muscogee]] uprising known as the [[Creek War of 1836]].{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=159–161}} American forces under Scott, General [[Thomas Jesup]], and Alabama Governor [[Clement Comer Clay]] quickly defeated the Muscogee.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=164–165}} Some subordinates and civilians criticized Scott's actions in the campaigns against the Seminole and the Muscogee, and President Jackson convened a Court of Inquiry that investigated Scott and Gaines.<ref name="proceedings">{{cite book |last=U.S. Army Adjutant General |date=1836 |title=Proceedings of the Military Court of Inquiry, in the Case of Major General Scott and Major General Gaines |series=24th Congress, 2d Session; 224 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t9n29zm4v&view=1up&seq=5 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=U.S. Department of War |pages=732–734 |via=[[HathiTrust]]}}</ref> The court cleared Scott of misconduct; still, it reprimanded him for his language criticizing Gaines in official communications.<ref name="proceedings"/> The court was critical of Gaines' actions during the campaign, though it did not accuse him of misconduct or incompetence.<ref name="proceedings"/> It also criticized the language he used to defend himself publicly and to the court.<ref name="proceedings"/>{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=172–174}}

[[Martin Van Buren]], a personal friend of Scott's, assumed the presidency in 1837, and Van Buren continued Jackson's Indian removal policy.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=176, 185}} In April 1838, Van Buren placed Scott in command of the removal of [[Cherokee]] people from the Southeastern United States. Some of Scott's associates tried to dissuade Scott from what they viewed as an immoral mission, but Scott accepted his orders.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=184–185}} After almost all of the Cherokee refused to relocate voluntarily, Scott made careful plans to ensure that his soldiers forcibly but humanely relocated the Cherokee. Nonetheless, the Cherokee endured abuse from Scott's soldiers; one account described soldiers driving the Cherokee "like cattle, through rivers, allowing them no time to take off their shoes and stockings.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=187, 190–191}} In mid-1838, Scott agreed to Chief [[John Ross (Cherokee chief)|John Ross]]'s plan to let the Cherokee lead a movement west, and he awarded a contract to the Cherokee Council to complete the removal. Scott was strongly criticized by many Southerners, including Jackson, for awarding the contract to Ross rather than continuing the removal under his own auspices.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=192–193}} Scott accompanied one Cherokee group as an observer, traveling with them from [[Athens, Tennessee]], to [[Nashville, Tennessee]], where he was ordered to the [[Canada–United States border]].{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=193–194}}

===Tensions with the United Kingdom===
In late 1837, the so-called "[[Patriot War]]" broke out along the Canadian border when some Americans sought to support the [[Rebellions of 1837–1838]] in Canada. Tensions escalated after the [[Caroline affair]], in which Canadian forces burned a steamboat that had delivered supplies to rebel forces. President Van Buren dispatched Scott to [[western New York]] to prevent unauthorized border crossings and war between the United States and the United Kingdom.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=177–179}} Still popular in the area due to his service in the War of 1812, Scott issued public appeals, asking Americans to refrain from supporting the Canadian rebels.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=181–183}} In late 1838, a new crisis known as the [[Aroostook War]] broke out over a dispute regarding the border between [[Maine]] and Canada, which had not been conclusively settled in previous treaties between Britain and the United States. Scott was tasked with preventing the conflict from escalating into a war.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=196–197}} After winning the support of Governor [[John Fairfield]] and other Maine leaders, Scott negotiated a truce with [[John Harvey (British Army officer)|John Harvey]], who commanded British forces in the area.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=200–202}}

===Presidential election of 1840===
[[File:1839WhigPresidentialNomination1stBallot.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Scott (purple) won three states on the first ballot of the [[1839 Whig National Convention]], but the convention nominated [[William Henry Harrison]] for president.]]

In the mid-1830s, Scott joined the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]], which opponents of President Jackson established.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|p=141}} Scott's success in preventing war with Canada under Van Buren confirmed his popularity with the broad public, and in early 1839, newspapers began to mention him as a candidate for the presidential nomination at the [[1839 Whig National Convention]].{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=202–203}} By the time of the convention in December 1839, party leader [[Henry Clay]] and 1836 presidential candidate [[William Henry Harrison]] had emerged as the two front-runners, but Scott loomed as a potential compromise candidate if the convention deadlocked.{{sfn|Howe|2007|pp=571–572}} After several ballots, the convention nominated Harrison for president.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=206–207}}{{efn|During the balloting, Clay and Scott played cards with Whig politicians [[John J. Crittenden]] and [[George Evans (American politician)|George Evans]] at the [[Astor House]] hotel in [[New York City]].  When the group received word of Harrison's victory, Clay blamed his loss on Scott and struck him, with the blow landing on the shoulder, which had been wounded during Scott's participation in the [[Battle of Lundy's Lane]].  Afterward, Clay had to be physically removed from the hotel room.  Scott then sent Crittenden to Clay with Scott's challenge for a duel, but Crittenden reconciled them by convincing Clay to apologize.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1999|pp=205–206}}}} Harrison went on to defeat Van Buren in the [[1840 United States presidential election|1840 presidential election]], but he died just one month into his term and was succeeded by Vice President [[John Tyler]].