Scott, Hugh Lenox

Scott, Hugh Lenox, 1853–1934, U.S. army officer, b. Danville, Ky., grad. West Point, 1876. He was assigned (1876) to military service in the West and took part in the Sioux, Nez Percé, and Cheyenne campaigns. In the Sioux territory he learned the sign language and therefore headed many scouting parties and was called upon to settle misunderstandings between whites and Native Americans. After serving (1898–1902) as adjutant general of Cuba, he was sent (1903) to the Philippines where he was governor of the Sulu Archipelago. He was (1906–10) superintendent of West Point and (1913–14) head of a Texas border patrol before serving (1914–17) as army chief of staff. After service on a Russian mission, he saw action in France in World War I and retired in 1919. Later he was a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners. He wrote an autobiography, Some Memories of a Soldier (1928), and various monographs on the Plains Indians.