not possible for General Scott to take active command of the army. In fact, but comparatively few of the army assembled here had ever seen him, and they only when they were passing in review. The defense of Washington and the organization of the army for that purpose and aggressive movements from that point did not alone command the attention of General Scott. He was solicitous about the free and uninterrupted navigation of the Mississippi River, and to prevent obstructions by the Confederates, or to remove any that might have been placed on shore or in the water, he addressed a confidential letter to General McClellan, then commanding in the West, dated May 3, 1861, in which he informed that general that the Government was to call for twenty-five thousand additional regulars, and sixty thousand volunteers to serve for two years. An act of Congress approved March 3, 1861, provided: SECTION 15. "That any commissioned officer of the army, or of the marine corps, who shall have served as such for forty consecutive years, may, upon his own application to the President of the United States, be placed upon the list of retired officers, with the pay and allowances allowed by this act. SECTION 16.... "_Provided_, That should the lieutenant general be retired under this act, it shall be without reduction in his current pay, subsistence, and allowances." On October 31, 1861, General Scott addressed Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, the following communication: "SIR: For more than three years I have been unable, from a hurt, to mount a horse or to walk more than a few paces at a time, and that with much pain. Other and new infirmities--dropsy and vertigo--admonish me that repose of mind and body, with the appliances of surgery and medicine, are necessary to add a little more to a life already protracted much beyond the usual space of man. It is under such circumstances, made doubly painful by the unnatural and unjust rebellion now raging in the Southern States of our lately prosperous and happy Union, that I am compelled to request that my name be placed on the list of army officers retired from active service. As this request is founded on an absolute right, granted by a recent act of Congress, I am at liberty to say that it is with deep regret that I withdraw myself in these momentous times from the orders of a President who has treated me with much distinguished kindness and courtesy, whom I know upon much personal intercourse to be patriotic, without sectional prejudices; to be highly conscientious in the performance of every duty, and of unrivaled activity and perseverance; and to you, Mr. Secretary, whom I now officially address for the last time, I beg to acknowledge my many obligations for the uniform high consideration I have received at your hands, and I have the honor to remain, sir, with the highest respect, etc."