General Scott | Page 4

dispute with a noted bully. Hargrave was
the county surveyor, and this fellow charged him with running a false
dividing line. When Scott heard the charge he felled the bully to the
ground with one blow of his fist. He recovered and advanced on Scott,
when Hargrave placed himself between them and received the blow
intended for Scott; but the bully was again knocked to the ground by
the strong arm of Scott. Many years afterward (in 1816) Scott met his
Quaker friend and former teacher, who said to him: "Friend Winfield, I
always told thee not to fight; but as thou wouldst fight, I am glad that
thou wert not beaten."
His next instructor was James Ogilvie, a Scotchman, who was a man of
extraordinary endowments and culture. Scott spent a year under his

tutelage at Richmond, and entered, in 1805, William and Mary College.
Here he gave special attention to the study of civil and international law,
besides chemistry, natural and experimental philosophy, and common
law. At about the age of nineteen he left William and Mary College and
entered the law office of Judge David Robinson in Petersburg as a
student.
Robinson had emigrated from Scotland to Virginia at the request of
Scott's grandfather, who employed him as a private tutor in his family.
There were two other students in Mr. Robinson's office with
Scott--Thomas Ruffin and John F. May. Ruffin became Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court of North Carolina, and May the leading lawyer in
southern Virginia. After he had received his license to practice he rode
the circuit, and was engaged in a number of causes. He was present at
the celebrated trial of Aaron Burr for treason, and was greatly
impressed with Luther Martin, John Wickham, Benjamin Botts, and
William Wirt, the leading lawyers in the case. Here he also met
Commodore Truxton, General Andrew Jackson, Washington Irving,
John Randolph, Littleton W. Tazewell, William B. Giles, John Taylor
of Caroline, and other distinguished persons.
Aaron Burr was a native of Newark, N.J., and was the grandson of the
celebrated Jonathan Edwards. He graduated at Princeton in September,
1772, and studied law, but in 1775 joined the American army near
Boston. Accompanied Colonel Benedict Arnold in the expedition to
Quebec, and acquired such reputation that he was made a major;
afterward joined General Washington's staff, and subsequently was an
aid to General Putnam. Promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, he
commanded a detachment which defeated the British at Hackensack,
and distinguished himself at Monmouth. Burr became Vice-President
on the election of Jefferson as President, and was involved in a quarrel
with Alexander Hamilton, and killed him in a duel at Weehawken, N.J.,
July 7, 1804. This affair was fatal to his future prospects. In 1805 he
floated in a boat from Pittsburg to New Orleans. His purpose was
supposed to be to collect an army and conquer Mexico and Texas, and
establish a government of which he should be the head. He purchased a
large tract of land on the Wachita River, and made other arrangements

looking to the consummation of his object. Colonel Burr was arrested
and tried for treason in Richmond in 1807, but was acquitted. He died
on Staten Island, September 14, 1836.
In May, 1807, the British frigate Leopard boarded the Chesapeake in
Virginia waters and forcibly carried off some of her crew, who were
claimed as British subjects. Mr. Jefferson, President of the United
States, at once issued a proclamation prohibiting all British war vessels
from entering our harbors. Great excitement was produced throughout
the entire country. The day after the issuance of the President's
proclamation the Petersburg (Va.) troop of cavalry tendered its services
to the Government, and young Scott, riding twenty-five miles distant
from Petersburg, enlisted as a member. He was placed in a detached
camp near Lynn Haven Bay, opposite where the British squadron was
at anchor. Sir Thomas Hardy was the ranking officer in command of
several line of battle ships. Learning that an expedition from the
squadron had gone out on an excursion, Scott, in charge of a small
detachment, was sent to intercept them. He succeeded in capturing two
midshipmen and six sailors, and brought them into camp. The capture
was not approved by the authorities, and the prisoners were ordered to
be released, and restored to Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy.
The prospect of a war with Great Britain had abated, and the affair of
the Chesapeake being in train of settlement, Scott left Virginia in
October, 1807, and proceeded to Charleston, S.C., with a view of
engaging in the practice of law. The law of that State required a
residence of twelve months before admission to the bar. Scott went to
Columbia, where the Legislature was in session, and applied for a
special