THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Lake Winfield Scott Recreation Area Bears Distinctive Name
Lake Winfield Scott Recreation
Area was a
project of the Civilian Conservation Corps finished in 1942 shortly
following
America’s entry into World War II. It
was the last of the CCC recreation development projects in Georgia and
almost
the last in America. Its 18 acres of
mountain land lies ten miles south of Blairsville and 4.5 miles east of
Suches,
Georgia. The lake rests at 2,854 feet
above sea level and is the highest lake in elevation in Georgia. The area provides space for camping and
opportunities for fishing, boating, picnicking and hiking.
Around the lake itself is the Lake Winfield
Scott Trail; nearby are Slaughter Creek Trail, Jarrard Creek Trail, and
not too
far away is access to the famed Appalachian Trail and the Benton McKaye
Trail.
Nearby Sosebee Cove, a beautiful forested area, invites naturalists.
Lake Winfield Scott was named in honor
of General Winfield Scott who earned distinction as a strong military
leader in
the War of 1812, Indian Wars, The Mexican War, and a plan for operation
of
Union troops in the Civil War which has come to be known as the
Anaconda
Plan. Among the notable assignments made
to General Winfield Scott was commandeering the Cherokee Removal of
1838.
What about this man for whom a lake
and recreation area in Georgia were named?
He was not a native Georgian, nor did he spend much of his
military
career in Georgia except for a short period during the Cherokee Removal. He was born on June 13, 1786 on Laurel Branch
Plantation in Dinwiddie County near Petersburg, Virginia.
His parents were William Scott (1747-1789)
and Anna Mason Scott (1748-1803). In
1804 the young Winfield Scott graduated from William and Mary College
in
Virginia. He read law in a private law
firm and took the bar examination and became a lawyer in 1806. However, the military beckoned him and he
first joined the Virginia militia cavalry in 1807 as a corporal. In 1808 he entered the U. S. Army in the
artillery and soon achieved the rank of captain. In
1811-1812 he served under General Wade
Hampton in New Orleans, becoming a Colonel in the Artillery. In March of 1813 he was made adjutant general
and was deployed to the area along the US/Canadian border to fight in
what we
know as the War of 1812. In 1813 he was
taken prisoner at the Battle of Queenstown Heights and sent to Quebec
to
British Army Prison. There he stood up
bravely, ordering his American troops as prisoners not to speak to
insure
against fiercer punishment. He was
released on exchange in January of 1813.
He personally commanded the advance of Fort St. George, and was
badly
burned there when an ammunitions magazine was set ablaze by the enemy. Some of his maneuvers led at Ft. St. George
were said to be the best commanded operations of the entire War of 1812.
His further maneuvers included victory
over British forces at the Battle of Chippewa on November 8, 1814. At the Battle of Lundy’s Lane he was badly
wounded in his left shoulder, with bones shattered.
This wound left him greatly impaired in that
arm and hand for the rest of his life.
In 1814 he was commended by receiving the military Gold Medal.
He married Lucy Baker about 1814 and
they had two children, Winniford Scott and John Scott.
His wife Lucy died in 1816. They
made their home at Hampton Place in
Elizabethtown, New Jersey. He later
married Maria DeHart about 1817 and they had seven children, Maria,
John Mayo,
Virginia, Edward, Cornelia, Marcella and Adeline. Maria
died in 1845 in Georgia. During the years
between 1814 and 1820, he
made some trips to Europe, representing America in France and elsewhere. He also studied military tactics while there.
He was named Commander of the United
States Armed Forces in 1832, succeeding his long-time friend, General
John
Wool. Then came the Seminole and Creek
Wars, and General Winfield Scott was often on the scenes of these
battles,
giving commands and ordering maneuvers.
Then came the unrest with Cherokees
and the political maneuvering to gain land held by the Native Americans. Various treaties and negotiations failed, and
finally, in 1832, General Winfield Scott was made commander of Cherokee
Removal
to reservations in the mid-west. Scott
arrived April 6, 1838 at New Echota in North Georgia at the Cherokee
Capitol. He divided the Cherokee Indian
Nation into
three major districts and began to set up forts as gathering points. He wanted U. S. soldiers for the round-up
operations, because he felt there would be less likelihood of personal
gain. However, because the army moved so
slowly, he had to settle for many of the round-up force being Georgia,
Tennesse
and Alabama militia. Two major moves of
the Indians was launched, the first in August, 1838.
Complaining of heat, the remainder were
delayed in removal until fall of 1838.
It must be noted to Scott’s advantage that he urged kindness,
consideration of aged, babies and ill, and other humanitarian rules for
the
removal. His orders, however, were not
always followed, as reports of conditions on what we now know as the
Trail of
Tears have been uncovered. Wanting to go on the Trail of Tears himself,
he left
Athens, Georgia on October 1, 1838, continuing to Nashville, Tennessee. There he received word to return immediately
to Washington where he was assigned to the Aroostock or “Pig War” to
settle the
boundary between the state of Maine and British Columbia.
The remainder of the Cherokee Removal had to
go forward without the presence of General Winfield Scott.
In 1847 he was made chief of US Armies
against Mexico and was successful in turning back the Mexican forces
and winning
victory in the western territories of the United States.
With political ambitions, he entered
the race for President of the United States as a member of the Whig
Party in
1852. He lost to Franklin Pierce.
In 1861 when the War Between the States erupted, he was too aged
and
infirm to be active in the war. His
major contribution to the Union strategy in the war was to recommend
what
became known as the “Anaconda Plan” or “Scott’s Great Snake.” This included embargoes on the major
Confederate ports and possession of the Mississippi River, thus cutting
the
Confederacy in two. His plan was slow to
take effect, but in the end, President Lincoln was able to enact most
of
Scott’s strategy. General Winfield Scott
retired from active military service on November 1, 1861, with
President
Lincoln and members of his cabinet gathered around the venerable
General. He had nicknames of “Old Fuss and
Feathers”
(this due to his attention to details and his belief in elaborate
military
dress) and “Grand Old Man of the Army” due to his long years to serve
in the
major military role in our country, 1832-1861.
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
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