Sketches of the campaign in northern Mexico : in eighteen hundred forty-six and seven / by an officer of the First Regiment of Ohio volunteers.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE ARMY. 279
and modest Hamer. Had the conceited and ambitious plotters at Washington, succeeded at that time in their ungenerous and shameful efforts to foist a political lieutenant-general
upon the army, the spirit of discontent, already rife in consequence of the conduct of certain favorites of the President,
would have been so inflamed as to threaten the efficiency, if
not the very organization and existence of some divisions in
the field. They err greatly, who suppose that the volunteers
were anxious to hail any civilian as their general-in-chief.
They valued the experience of their veteran leaders too
highly to sigh for the authority of new men; and least of all,
for that of those in whose selection they could have no voice.
Political topics were rarely discussed in the army;-certainly
I never heard the terms Whig and Democrat uttered by
the rank and file; and notwithstanding recent political
events, I do not doubt but that, if our government was now
to call out a hundred thousand volunteers for a war with any
European nation, at least ninety-nine thousand of them
would prefer Winfield Scott as their leader to any living man.
When men stake their lives and reputations in war, they
want a general of acknowledged military genius and capacity,-one who combines experience with patriotism, prudence with resolution, and wisdom with valor. They prefer
a military to a political strategist, and look for proof of
ability on hard-fought battle-fields rather than in long-winded
Congregressional debates. But while it will readily be admitted that the chief even of a volunteer army, should be a man
trained to the profession of arms; it is questionable whether
West Point officers would make the most successful regi