| Abstract |
Armand S. La Potin introduces a little-known player in the United States’ imperialistic period in Major General Hugh Lenox Scott. Although he was a man very much in keeping with this time, General Scott also possessed character traits that made him stand apart from his contemporaries. La Potin found in this obscure general a man who became a superior negotiator between Indigenous peoples and an expansionist America and then doggedly advocated for these peoples’ rights for promised economic and medical support. Moreover, he later kept alive his vision of the West and his admiration for Native Americans. By all accounts, he was a reluctant warrior indeed.
Scott’s fondness for outdoor adventure at a young age led him to choose the military as an occupation. As La Potin notes, it was his relationship with nature that later served as a conduit for his understanding and admiration of Indigenous peoples. Scott became a master at Native American sign language and often forged close bonds with Native leaders, most notably Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce. However, Scott’s empathy for Natives soon became a hinderance in his military career as the U.S. Army was transitioning during the late 1800s into a professional branch that favored combat experience over seniority for promotion. His desire to avoid hostilities and violence also conflicted with his fellow officers’ strategic views.
Ultimately, Scott moved up the army ranks as a result of his friendship with Major General Leonard Wood, a close friend of Teddy Roosevelt. The two served together in the Philippines in the early 1900s in negotiations with the Moro Muslims of that nation. Scott’s desire for a peaceful solution proved fruitless, however, as General Wood prosecuted many offensive operations against the Moros. All of this is not to say that Scott viewed Indigenous peoples as equals to Whites. Scott shared the popular opinion of the time that Native Americans, and the Moros, were savages that needed to be civilized and assimilated. Scott’s complicated legacy includes being a cog in the wheel of American imperialism and expansion, but it was his empathy and consideration of Indigenous rights within the settler colonial process that made him stand out from those he served with in the army. He stands alongside contemporary reformers such as Helen Hunt Jackson, author of A Century of Dishonor, who while pushing for forced assimilation of Native cultures, hoped to build a foundation for their futures in the United States.
While the author addresses Scott’s negative characteristics directly, if somewhat gently, he does not provide readers with a broader understanding of the settler colonial process worldwide. Nonetheless, this well-researched and well-written monograph offers an interesting look into the life of a man whose complicated life reflected the changing times of the nation. |
