 Scott's military talent was highly regarded by contemporaries, and historians generally consider him to be one of the most accomplished generals in U.S. history.Winfield Scott was born on June 13, 1786, to Ann Mason and her husband, William Scott, a farmer, veteran of the American Revolutionary War, and officer in the Dinwiddie County militia.At the time, the Scott family resided at Laurel Hill, a plantation near Petersburg, Virginia.