May 29

When the Cherokees were removed from Georgia along the infamous Trail Of Tears, the man in charge was General Winfield Scott. The man known as old “Fuss and Feathers” was the foremost American soldier between the Revolution and the Civil War.



Born in Virginia in 1786, Scott served as a general in three wars. He gained national fame in the War of 1812 against the British. By war’s end he had been promoted to major general. In 1838 General Scott supervised the forced ejection of the Cherokee Indians from north Georgia. Then, in 1841, Scott became commanding general of the United States Army and held that post through the beginning of the Civil War. Scott’s victories in the Mexican War catapulted him into him into the national spotlight and an unsuccessful run for president in 1852.



The first man since George Washington to hold the rank of lieutenant general and the man who oversaw the tragic removal of the Cherokees died on May 29, 1866, Today in Georgia History.