As I Remember
a hearse but was carried to the Second Street Cemetery, where his
remains were temporarily placed. There were six clergymen present at his
funeral--the Rev. Doctors Thomas De Witt, Thomas E. Vermilye, Philip
Milledoler, William Adams, John Knox and George H. Fisher, all ministers
of the Reformed Dutch Church except the Rev. Dr. Adams, the
distinguished Presbyterian divine.
I find myself almost instinctively returning to the Scott family as
associated with the most cherished memories of some of the happiest days
of my life. During my childhood I formed a close intimacy with Cornelia
Scott, the second daughter of the distinguished General, which continued
until the close of her life. When I first knew the family it made its
winter home in New York at the American Hotel, then a fashionable
hostelry kept by William B. Cozzens, on the corner of Barclay Street and
Broadway. In the summer the family resided at Hampton, the old Mayo
place near Elizabeth in New Jersey, where they kept open house. Colonel
John Mayo of Richmond, whose daughter Maria was the wife of General
Scott, had purchased this country seat many years before as a favor to
his wife, Miss Abigail De Hart of New Jersey, and Mrs. Scott
subsequently inherited it. Colonel John Mayo, who was a citizen of
large wealth and great prominence, was so public-spirited that not long
subsequent to the Revolutionary War, and entirely at his own expense, he
built from his own plans a bridge across the James River at Richmond. I
have heard Mrs. Scott graphically describe her father's trips from
Richmond to Elizabeth in his coach-of-four with outriders and grooms,
and his enthusiastic reception when he reached his destination.
I have frequently heard it said that Mrs. Scott as a young woman refused
the early offers of marriage from the man who eventually became her
husband because his rank in the army was too low to suit her taste, but
that she finally relented when he became a General. I am able to
contradict this statement as Mrs. Scott told me with her own lips that
she never made his acquaintance until he was a General, in spite of the
fact that they were both natives of the same State. This did not by any
means, however, indicate a marriage late in life, as General Scott
became a Brigadier General on the 9th of March, 1814, when he was
between twenty-seven and twenty-eight years of age. In the _Sentinel_,
published in Newark, New Jersey, on the 25th of March, 1817, the
following marriage notice appears:
Married--at Belleville, Virginia, at the seat of Col. Mayo,
General Winfield Scott of the U.S. Army to Miss Maria D.
Mayo.
Mrs. Scott's record as a belle was truly remarkable, and in the latter
years of her life when I knew her very intimately she still retained
traces of great beauty. Her accomplishments, too, were extraordinary for
that period. She was not only a skilled performer upon the piano and
harp, but also a linguist of considerable proficiency, while her grace
of manner and brilliant powers of repartee added greatly to her social
charms. On one occasion during Polk's administration she attended a
levee at the White House, and as she passed down the line with the other
guests she received an enthusiastic welcome and was soon so completely
surrounded by an admiring throng that for a while Mrs. Polk was left
very much to herself. It was Mrs. Scott who wrote in the album of a
friend the verse entitled, "The Two Faults of Men." Two other verses
were written under it several years later by the Hon. William C.
Somerville of Maryland, at one time our Minister to Sweden, and the
author of "Letters from Paris on the Causes and Consequences of the
French Revolution."
Women have many faults,
The men have only two;
There's nothing right they say,
And nothing right they do.
_Reply_
That men are naughty rogues we know,
The girls are roguish, too.
They watch each other wondrous well
In everything they do.
But if we men do nothing right,
And never say what's true,
What precious fools you women are
To love us as you do.
Many years ago General and Mrs. Scott traveled with their youthful
family through Europe, and while at the French Capital Mrs. Scott
attended a fancy-dress ball where she represented Pocahontas and was
called _La belle sauvage_. I have talked to two elderly officers of our
Army, Colonel John M. Fessenden and General John B. Magruder, the latter
subsequently of Confederate fame, and both of them told me that at this
entertainment she was an object of general admiration. Many years later,
long after Mrs. Scott's death, I was visiting her daughter, Mrs. Henry
L. Scott, for the last time at the old Elizabeth home, accompanied by my
young daughter Maud, when the latter was invited to a fancy-dress ball
given to children at the residence of General George Herbert Pegram. At
first I was at my wits' end to devise a suitable gown for her to wear,
when Mrs. Scott brought out the historic fancy dress worn by her mother
so many years before in Paris and gave it to me. It seems almost
needless to add that the child wore the dress, and that I have it now
carefully put away among my treasured possessions. Many years subsequent
to Mrs. Scott's visit to Paris, her sister, Mrs. Robert Henry Cabell of
Richmond, published for the benefit of a charity her letters written
from abroad to her family in Virginia, containing many interesting
recollections of Paris.
At the beginning of the Mexican War the Scotts were living in New York
but, for a reason I do not now recall, Mrs. Scott decided to spend a
winter during the General's absence in Philadelphia. She secured a
portion of a furnished house at 111 South Sixth Street, and in the
spring of 1847 I was invited to be her guest. The evening of the day of
my arrival I attended a party at the residence of Judge John Meredith
Read, a descendant of George Read, a Signer from Delaware. Upon the
urgent request of Mrs. Scott I went to this entertainment entirely
alone, as she and her daughter Cornelia were indisposed and she wished
her household to be represented. Judge Read was a widower and some years
later I renewed my acquaintance with him in Washington. During my visit
in Philadelphia, Mrs. Scott was suddenly called away and hesitated about
leaving us two young girls in the house alone, her younger daughters
being absent at school. Finally, she made arrangements for us to spend
the days of her absence in Burlington, New Jersey, with Miss Susan
Wallace, a friend of hers and a niece of the Hon. William Bradford,
Attorney-General during a portion of Washington's last administration.
This, however, was not altogether a satisfactory arrangement for us
young people and we became decidedly restless, but to Burlington we went
just the same. Meanwhile, news came from Mexico of a great American
victory and the public went wild with enthusiasm. Philadelphia made
plans to celebrate the glad event on a certain evening, and Cornelia
Scott and I decided to return to Philadelphia for the festivities. We
carefully planned the trip and took as our protector a faithful colored
man named Lee. Arabella Griffith, an adopted daughter of Miss Wallace,
also accompanied us, and as another companion we took Mrs. Scott's pet
dog _Gee_ whom, before the evening was over, we found to be very
troublesome. We made the trip to Philadelphia by water and landed in an
out-of-the-way portion of the city. Owing to the dense crowds assembled
to view the decorations, illuminations and fireworks, we were unable to
procure a carriage and consequently were obliged to walk, while, to cap
the climax, in pushing through the crowd we lost Miss Griffith. General
Scott's name was upon the lips of everyone, and his pictures were seen
hanging from many windows; yet the daughter of the hero who was the
cause of all the enthusiasm was a simple wayfarer, rubbing elbows with
the multitude, unrecognized and entirely ignored. I may state, by the
way, that Arabella Griffith subsequently became the wife of General
Francis C. Barlow and that, while her husband was fighting the battles
of his country during the Civil War, she did noble service in the Union
hospitals as a member of the United States Sanitary Commission, and died
in the summer of 1864 from a fever contracted in the hospitals of the
Army of the Potomac.
I remained in Philadelphia much longer than I had originally
anticipated, and unexpected warm weather found me totally unprepared. I
immediately wrote to my sister Margaret and asked her to send me some
suitable apparel. Her letter in reply to mine, which I insert, gives
something of an idea of New York society of that period. As she was
quite a young girl her references to Miss Julia Gerard whom she knew
quite well and "Old Leslie Irving," who, by the way, was only a young
man, must be regarded merely as the silly utterances of extreme youth:--
Dear Sister,
I received your letter and as it requires an immediate
answer, I shall commence writing you one. I believe in my
last I mentioned to you that I was going to Virginia Wood's
[Mrs. John L. Rogers] the following evening. I went with
[William B.] Clerke [a young broker] and had quite a
pleasant time. There were two young ladies there from
Virginia whose names I do not know, Dr. Augustine Smith's
daughter, myself, Mr. Galliher, Mr. Rainsford, Mr. Bannister
and Mr. Pendleton [John Pendleton of Fredericksburg,
Virginia]. I was introduced to the latter and liked him
quite well. I had a long talk with him. His manners are
entirely too coquettish to suit me; he does nothing but
shrug his shoulders and roll up his eyes--perhaps it is a
Virginia custom. He seems to think Miss Gerard [Julia,
daughter of James W. Gerard] his _belle_ ideal or _beau_
ideal of everything lovely, etc. I told him that I thought
her awful, that she had such an inanimate sickly expression,
and I abused her at a great rate! I expect he thinks I am a
regular devil!
Tonight I am going to the opera. "Lucretia Borgia" is to be
performed. I have learned a song from Lucia. So you can
imagine how much the rooster has improved!
On Thursday evening I was at the Moore's [Dr. William
Moore]. Frank Bucknor came for me and brought me home. His
sister [Cornelia Bucknor, subsequently the wife of Professor
John Howard Van Amringe of Columbia College] was there, Beek
Fish [Beekman Fish], Bayard Fish, Dr. [Adolphus] Follin, old
Leslie Irving and Frank Van Rensselaer. Miss Moore told me
that May came for us that evening to go to the Academy. I am
dreadfully sorry that you will not be able to go to the
Kemble [Mrs. William Kemble] ball; they are going to have
it on Monday. I dare say it will be very pleasant and old
Chrystie will be there. Emily B. [Emily Bucknor] and Frank
[Bucknor] are going.
My hat has come home, and it is very pretty; it is a sherred
blue crape, without any ribbon--trimmed very simply with
blue crape and illusion mixed and the same inside.
Mrs. William Le Roy has been to see you. Ma thinks that you
had better come home when you first expected--on Tuesday or
Wednesday. I am very much disappointed that you are not here
to go to the Kembles as you have a dress to wear.
You can tell Adeline [Adeline Camilla Scott], if you please,
that Mr. Pendleton wants to know the use of sending her to
school when her head is filled with beaux and parties. I
told him her mother did it to keep her out of mischief.
Bucknor says he thinks it is time for you to come home. If