Free Custom «Winfred Scotts Campaign to Capture Mexico» Essay Paper

Introduction

Winfield Scott was born in 1786 and lived till 1866. He was born in Petersburg, Virginia and attended college of William and Mary. However, he did not graduate since he decided to drop out of law school to join the army at the age of twenty two years. His long and illustrious military career then followed. Twenty four years after joining the military, he served at the Black Hawk War where he was commander of American forces in the Mexican War. He took personal command of troops in the southern campaign while Zachary Taylor led the Northern one. The Naval forces enhanced his troops in the capture of Vera Cruz at the beginning of the year 1847, where after, they started the extensive march westwards moving towards the city of Mexico (Peskin, 2003).

Vera Cruz was a real obstacle to overcome majorly because it was defended by a dreadful fortress, popular known as San Juan de Ulua. Scott as the commander refused to allow a direct attack on the castle since it was too costly in terms of both time and lives. He instead, championed a landing near Vera Cruz and the investment of the city, whose surrender he believed would lead to the fall of the fortress (Peskin, 2003). To be able to accomplish this, he recommended a force of ten thousand men who would be transported on a specially designed landing craft. There was also another obstacle other than Vera Cruz itself was, the unhealthy climate in the place. Yellow fever was expected to rage every spring (Peskin, 2003). Therefore, he knew they had to speed up their operation to avoid catching up with the onset of this season.

 

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Conclusion

Some historians and military leaders view his campaign as one of the finest in the annuals of American warfare because, he comes out as a brilliant strategist and, in spite of the high heat, challenging terrain, and rains; he managed to lead his troops to winning the various battles that finally led Mexico City to surrender.