Part five of a Civil War series
It was not a mystery in 1861, but the lack of clarity in an 1882 history of Houston County made it a mystery to me in 2021. One name – Winfield Scott – all but jumped off the page. Winfield Scott was the era’s most famous army general and a major 1852 presidential candidate.
Known as Old Fuss and Feathers for his insistence on military formalities, General Winfield Scott was the nation’s most esteemed military figure – War of 1812 veteran, Mexican War hero and longest-serving commanding general of the U.S. Army (20 years). At the start of the Civil War, Scott was President Abraham Lincoln’s principal military advisor.
The 1882 county history, referring to the early days of the war in the spring of 1861, identified a Mr. Scott as one of the several speakers at an April war meeting at Houston and Winfield Scott as a speaker at a May war meeting at Wilmington. And in September, “Winfield Scott addressed a war meeting in Hokah…”
But was it the famous General Winfield Scott or maybe a namesake of the hero? Why would the nation’s most significant military figure travel across the nation to a relatively sparsely-settled area to recruit soldiers? Unlikely, but some early Houston County movers and shakers were Mexican War veterans, one of whom named a townsite Winfield, in honor of the esteemed general.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, did General Winfield Scott come to Houston County at the invitation of fellow Mexican War veterans? Or was it a younger namesake?
It was not uncommon in the 1800s to name newborns after military or patriotic heroes. County military historian David Klinski wrote that the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 were fresh in the minds of those from New England who settled the upper Mississippi Valley in what was called the Yankee Exodus. In mid-century Houston County were George Washington Snure of Union Township; George Washington Wilson and John Q. Adams Low, Money Creek Township; LaFayette Briggs, Caledonia; and Andrew Jackson McDonald. One very prominent Civil War namesake was Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock (not from Minnesota).
Photo courtesy of the Winfield Scott family
The mystery was solved by accounts of these war meetings in the Hokah Chief newspaper. The May 21, 1861, edition stated, “An enthusiastic Union meeting was held on the 13th…in the town of Wilmington, in this County. Speeches were made by Winfield Scott, of Ill(inois), David Temple, …”
By the November 12 edition, the paper referred to him as being from Houston County. “Winfield Scott, from this county, which joined Foster’s Artillery company…had retired to Illinois on a furlough…”
The famous General Winfield Scott was from Virginia – not Illinois, nor “this county” (Houston County). As the highest-ranking officer in the nation, he would not need a furlough.
His namesake recruiting in Houston County was Winfield J. Scott, who in between speaking appearances at Wilmington and Hokah, had enlisted in Capt. Foster’s 1st Wisconsin Light Artillery. Nearly half of those soldiers were from Minnesota.
In family lore, he indeed was named for the famous general. Born in Ohio in 1840 and also raised in Livingston County, Ill., he – at age 20 – had ventured into burgeoning southeastern Minnesota for at least a half year. Army documents identified him as a minister from his previous residence, Pontiac, Ill., at the time of enlistment in a Wisconsin military unit. Newly-settled Minnesota, without established churches, beckoned those inspired to spread the faith. And proficiency in public speaking surely served him well while recruiting volunteers as war broke out.
According to a descendant, Scott was a newspaperman in La Crosse, but it was more likely La Crescent where he was published by the Plaindealer. He did not return to the area after military service and died at age 28.
That famous Gen. Scott had more than one namesake in Minnesota. Scott County, Minnesota (county seat, Shakopee), had been named for the general in 1853. The proposed Houston County village of Winfield was named in his honor by land seeker and Mexican War veteran George William McSpadden, who platted four villages – Houston (1852) and then three short-lived others in Looney Valley – Looneyville, St. Lawrence and Winfield (1855).
Thanks to county researchers Thom Carlson and Georgia Rosendahl for their help in solving the mystery.
Leave a Reply