Nelson Lankford has a great way of picking out the juciest vignettes.
On the day the Electoral College votes were counted in February 1861, General Scott took no chances that the event would be disrupted by secessionist sympathizers. He posted artillery near the Capitol and "vowed to lash any malefactor to the mouth of a cannon, like defeated rebels in the recent uprising in British India, and 'manure the hills of Arlington with fragments of his body!'"
Those secessionist sympathizers repaid the compliment:
On the day the Electoral College votes were counted in February 1861, General Scott took no chances that the event would be disrupted by secessionist sympathizers. He posted artillery near the Capitol and "vowed to lash any malefactor to the mouth of a cannon, like defeated rebels in the recent uprising in British India, and 'manure the hills of Arlington with fragments of his body!'"
Those secessionist sympathizers repaid the compliment:
A secessionist crowd spat insults at soldiers on guard. Inside, southern congressmen and their friends in the galleries vented their spleen at Scott, denouncing him as a "dotard," "coward," and "free-state pimp."
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