fairs to inquire
into the expediency of conferring by law the brevet rank of lieutenant
general on Major-General Scott, "with such additional pay and
allowances as might be deemed proper, in consideration of the
distinguished services rendered to the republic by that officer during
the late war with Mexico." The resolution was eight days after
referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

On September 30, 1850, Senator Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi,
Chairman of the Military Committee, reported a resolution requesting
the President to refer to a board of officers, to be designated by
him, the following questions:

"Is it expedient or necessary to provide for additional grades of
commissioned officers in the army of the United States; and, if so,
what grades, in addition to the present organization, should be
created?"

Mr. Davis's opposition to conferring the brevet rank of lieutenant
general upon General Scott was well known at the time. In pursuance of
this request by the Senate, the following officers were appointed on
the board: Generals Jesup, president, Wool, Gibson, Totten, Talcott,
Hitchcock, and Colonel Crane. The unanimous report was:

"Under the first inquiry referred to it, the board is of opinion that
it is expedient to create by law for the army the additional grade of
lieutenant general, and that when, in the opinion of the President and
Senate, it shall be deemed proper to acknowledge eminent services of
officers of the army, and in the mode already provided for in
subordinate grades, it is expedient and proper that the grade of
lieutenant general may be conferred by brevet."

Several efforts were subsequently made to pass joint resolutions
similar in purport to those quoted and referred to, but it was not
until 1852 that the joint resolution was passed creating the brevet
rank of lieutenant general, and General Scott succeeded to that
dignity in the army. The law did not in terms carry with it the pay
and emoluments of the brevet rank, and Mr. Davis, who had become
Secretary of War under President Pierce, referred the question to the
Attorney-General, Mr. Caleb Cushing; but before that officer rendered
an opinion Congress inserted a declaratory provision in the military
appropriation bill, which, becoming a law, gave the pay proper and all
that went with it to a veteran who had by his services well earned it.
General Scott was thenceforward until he died the second officer of
the American army