o. 39,
page 203.]

WINFIELD SCOTT was born near Petersburg, Virginia, June 13, 1786. He
was graduated at William and Mary College, Virginia, studied law, and
for some time engaged in practice. He was appointed captain of light
artillery, May 3, 1808, and served in Louisiana under General
Wilkinson, but resigned on account of differences with him. He was
made lieutenant-colonel of the 2d artillery, July 6, 1812, and was
taken prisoner at Queenstown Heights, Upper Canada, in the following
October. He became colonel of the 2d artillery and adjutant-general
under General Dearborn, March 18, 1813, and brigadier-general March 9,
1814. He distinguished himself at Chippewa, July 5, and on July 25, at
Niagara (Lundy's Lane) where he was severely wounded. Congress gave
him a vote of thanks and a gold medal for Chippewa and Niagara, and he
was breveted a major-general, September 14, 1814. He went on a mission
to Europe in 1815; was sent to Maine to settle the boundary question
in 1839, and was promoted major-general and commander-in-chief of (p. 225)
the army, June 25, 1841. As commander-in-chief in Mexico he took Vera
Cruz, March 26, 1847, and gained the battles of Cerro Gordo, April 18;
Contreras, August 19; San Antonio and Churubusco, August 20; Molinos
del Rey, September 8; Chapultepec, September 13; and occupied the City
of Mexico, September 14. For this brilliant campaign Congress gave him
a vote of thanks and a gold medal.[102] He received the honorary
degree of LL. D. from Columbia College, New York, in 1850, and also
from Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1861. He was an
unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency in 1852; was made
lieutenant-general, by brevet, February 28, 1855; was sent on a
mission to Oregon to settle the boundary question, 1859; remained true
to the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War, and resigned, November
1, 1861. He died at West Point, New York, May 29, 1866.

[Footnote 102: See No. 62, page 304.]

No. 44. (p. 226)
PLATE XLV.

_August 15, 1814._

Major General Edmund P. Gaines. [Rx]. Resolution of Congress
November 3. 1814.

MAJOR-GENERAL EDMUND PENDLETON GAINES.

[_Victory of Erie._]

MAJOR GENERAL EDMUND P. (_Pendleton_) GAINES. Bust of General Gaines,
in uniform, facing the right FUeRST. F. (_fecit_).

RESOLUTION OF CONGRESS NOVEMBER 3. 1814. A winged Vic