Winfield Scott and the Profession of Arms.

Winfield Scott and the Profession of Arms. By Allan Peskin. (Kent, Ohio, and London: Kent State University Press, c. 2003. Pp. xii, 328. $49.00, ISBN 0-87338-774-0.)

Allan Peskin is a highly respected historian whose many books and articles on the Gilded Age are standards in the field. Thus it is surprising to find Peskin completing a biography of a major figure of the earlier years of the nineteenth century. Peskin provides an explanation. After completing his biography of James A. Garfield, he writes, he "thought it might be fun to dip into the first half of the nineteenth century" (p. ix). The result of his enjoyment is a well-researched and well-written biography of the leading pre-Civil War army general, Winfield Scott.

Peskin's biography is not the first study of Old Fuss and Feathers. In 1937 Charles Winslow Elliott wrote the biography that was the standard work until modern times. Then John S. D. Eisenhower and Timothy P. Johnson, in 1997 and 1998 respectively, presented their evaluations. Each of these earlier biographies and the one under review have their own points of view. Elliott did yeoman work in unearthing Scott's manuscripts, so few in number because of the destruction of early letters in an 1841 fire. Eisenhower emphasized Scott's role in the nation's Manifest Destiny expansion at mid-century, while Johnson studied the general's persistent drive to become a military success. Peskin's book argues that Scott's major contribution was his determination to professionalize the American military during a crucial time in its development.

Peskin draws a sympathetic picture of a talented and complicated individual. The story of Scott posing for several hours before a mirror when he donned his first uniform is discussed here, as are detailed accounts of his military and diplomatic successes. Always in the forefront, however, are tales of Scott's arguments with a variety of contemporary military and political leaders, his launching of a veritable avalanche of insults to defend his gigantic but sensitive ego. Scott could not tolerate disagreement, yet he could successfully arbitrate diplomatic problems. Personally imposing because of his 6 feet 4 1/4-inch frame, he proved courageously effective in leading men into battle. He also had the requisite drive and luck to make the most of opportunities even when his ego-enhancing tirades made his drive toward success difficult.

Peskin presents Scott's life story well, neither enhancing nor downplaying foibles. He argues that the major fact of Scott's life was his determination that the American military become a professional organization. Scott consistently battled the more prevalent idea that a professional military was a threat to the nation and thus had to be avoided in favor of the all-powerful American volunteer. At least to this reviewer, Peskin does not make a convincing argument. In the end, while he says that Scott did professionalize the military, he admits that it did not last. "Although he had waged a long-running war with the likes of Jefferson, Jackson, [Edmund Pendleton] Gaines, and [Zachary] Taylor, who all advocated a people's army, Scott's victory was short-lived: his vision of an elite, professional army could not survive into the age of total war" (pp. 265-67).

In fact, Scott failed not simply because of what the Civil War wrought but also because he dissipated so much energy over so long a time in his personal conflicts. His attack on Secretary of War Jefferson Davis in the 1850s, in which he called Davis an "enraged imbecile," was only the most sensational example in a career of name calling (p. 223). Such behavior was self-defeating and was a more significant driving force in his life, as Timothy Johnson has demonstrated, than any determination to professionalize the military.

Allan Peskin's new biography of a well-studied general is a good read and presents valuable insights on an important nineteenth-century military figure and his age. A renowned Gilded Age historian has made a successful transition to an earlier historical period.

Mississippi State University 

JOHN F. MARSZALEK