page_title: Winfield Scott
section_title: Taylor and Fillmore administrations
hierarchical_section_title: Winfield Scott / Commanding General, 1841–1861 / Taylor and Fillmore administrations
caption_attribution_description: English: Results by State Delegation of the 1st Ballot for the 1848 Whig Party Presidential Nomination.
context_page_description: Winfield Scott was an American military commander and political candidate. He served as a general in the United States Army from 1814 to 1861, taking part in the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the early stages of the American Civil War, and various conflicts with Native Americans. Scott was the Whig Party's presidential nominee in the 1852 presidential election, but was defeated by Democrat Franklin Pierce. He was known as Old Fuss and Feathers for his insistence on proper military etiquette, and as the Grand Old Man of the Army for his many years of service.
  Scott was born near Petersburg, Virginia, in 1786. After training as a lawyer and brief militia service, he joined the army in 1808 as a captain of the light artillery. In the War of 1812, Scott served on the Canadian front, taking part in the Battle of Queenston Heights and the Battle of Fort George, and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in early 1814. He served with distinction in the Battle of Chippawa, but was badly wounded in the subsequent Battle of Lundy's Lane.
context_section_description: Scott was again a contender for the Whig presidential nomination in the 1848 election. Clay, Daniel Webster, and General Zachary Taylor were also candidates for the nomination. As in 1840, Whigs were looking for a non-ideological war hero to be their candidate. Scott's main appeal was to anti-slavery "conscience Whigs", who were dismayed by the fact that two of the leading contenders, Clay and Taylor, were slaveholders. Ultimately, however, the delegates passed on Scott for a second time, nominating Taylor on the fourth ballot. Many anti-slavery Whigs then defected to support the nominee of the Free-Soil Party, former President Martin Van Buren. Taylor went on to win the general election.
  After the war, Scott returned to his administrative duties as the army's senior general. Congress became engaged in a divisive debate over the status of slavery in the territories, and Scott joined with Whig leaders Henry Clay and Daniel Webster in advocating for passage of what became known as the Compromise of 1850. Meanwhile, Taylor died of an illness in July 1850 and was succeeded by Vice President Millard Fillmore. The Compromise of 1850 and the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 badly divided the country as a whole and the Whig Party in particular. Northerners strongly objected to the stringent provisions of the act, while Southerners complained bitterly about any perceived slackness in enforcement. Despite Scott's support for the Compromise of 1850, he became the chosen candidate of William Seward, a leading Northern Whig who objected to the Compromise of 1850 partly because of the fugitive slave act.
caption: Scott (purple) received a significant amount of support on the first ballot of the 1848 Whig National Convention, but the convention nominated Zachary Taylor for president
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