1786 - 1866
Winfield Scott 
achieved great early fame as a hero of the War of 1812. Later, in peacetime, he sought to bring professional discipline and training to the army. Throughout the 1830s, he was active in the Indian wars, fighting the Seminole and Creek in Florida and forcing the Cherokee Nation to move west of the Mississippi in 1838. He was also an important negotiator in the 1842 treaty with Britain that established the boundary with Canada. As commander of the United States Army, Scott again led it to victory against Mexico in 1848. To his disappointment, however, Scott's military triumphs never brought political success. In 1852, when he ran for President on the Whig ticket, Franklin Pierce won an overwhelming victory. Following the election, Scott moved his headquarters to New York, where he was a much-admired local celebrity. Scott finally resigned his army post in October 1861, when Lincoln honored him, acknowledging "how faithfully, ably, and brilliantly he has served his country, from a time far back in our history when few of the now living had been born."
Scott posed for Mathew Brady many times, and Brady was clearly proud to have the nation's greatest military hero as his patron.See Zachary Taylor, Hancock and Birney and Staffs, and Robert E. Lee
Mathew Brady Studio
Imperial salted-paper print, circa 1861
47 x 39.9 cm (18 1/2 x 15 3/4 inches)
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.