Ulysses S. Grant: America’s Second Three-Star General

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Brown was unable, however, to do anything about a feud over seniority that developed between the army’s highest-ranking brigadier generals: Winfield Scott and Edmund P. Gaines. By the time of Brown’s death in February 1828, the rivalry had become so bitter that a disgusted Adams promoted Colonel Alexander Macomb over both Scott and Gaines to major general and appointed him general in chief. After Macomb’s death in June 1841, President John Tyler appointed Scott to the position. The office of general in chief received its first major test during the Mexican War. President James K. Polk had no intention of watching Scott win any laurels in the war. Polk was a partisan Democrat, and Scott had pursued the Whig presidential nomination in 1840 and 1844. Besides, Polk just plain despised him. So he decided to keep control of the war firmly in his own hands. He went to Congress and undertook a secret campaign to resurrect the rank of lieutenant general, intending to appoint Senator Thomas Hart Benton to the post. Benton’s only experience with the military consisted of service as a colonel in the War of 1812 and as chairman of the Senate military affairs committee, but he was a staunch Polk ally and stalwart Democratic partisan.

Polk failed to win congressional support for his plan, however, and Scott soon put an end to any talk of his replacement by conducting a brilliant campaign against Mexico City that inspired the Duke of Wellington to proclaim him the greatest living soldier. In recognition of Scott’s accomplishments, Congress passed a bill in February 1855 reviving the rank of lieutenant general, although in deference to Washington, the rank was awarded to Scott by brevet only.

In command of the Union army at the outset of the Civil War, Scott devised a plan to coil forces around the Confederacy and strangle it. Known as the Anaconda Plan, it eventually became part of the strategy that would win the war.

Nonetheless, it quickly became evident in 1861 that Scott lacked the physical vigor and political skill necessary to command the army in this situation. By the fall, he had been reduced to a mere figurehead all but ignored by energetic subordinate commanders and savvy politicians.

The situation changed in November 1861 with the appointment of George B. McClellan to replace Scott (though McClellan’s rank remained major general). At no time in its history would the office of general in chief have more power than it did during McClellan’s first weeks in the position. With Secretary of War Simon Cameron’s acquiescence and Lincoln’s encouragement, McClellan immediately asserted control over strategic and operational planning. He was no mere advisor to the president. Possessing the full support of his civilian superiors and the respect of his uniformed subordinates, he truly commanded the army.

Initially, McClellan was confident he would eventually win a third star — the lieutenant general’s star — but his power soon sharply declined. When he fell ill with typhoid fever in December 1861, Lincoln began to fear what might happen if McClellan were gone. So in January 1862 Lincoln reasserted his authority over the military and put Edwin M. Stanton in place of Cameron at the head of the war department. Stanton entered office suspicious of professional soldiers and, aided by public impatience with the lack of progress in the war, encouraged Lincoln’s desire to take back authority over the military. When McClellan recovered from his illness, he found his civilian superiors interfering in areas that had been his exclusive responsibility, such as operational planning and personnel assignments.

Finally, on March 11, 1862, Lincoln removed McClellan from his post. For the next few months Lincoln and Stanton attempted to direct the Union war effort without the aid of a general in chief only to find themselves in way over their heads. So, on July 11, 1862, Lincoln decided to resurrect the office of general in chief and appoint Major General Henry W. Halleck to the post. Halleck had a record of success in the West, which Lincoln hoped would make the army respect him, and Lincoln correctly suspected that Halleck would second his desire to evacuate the Virginia Peninsula, where McClellan’s Army of the Potomac had stalled after a feeble campaign to threaten Richmond.

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Tags: 19th Century, American Civil War, Civil War Times, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures

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