A scene from “Unfinished Business”

On the day Sumter fell, the Regular Army of the United States consisted of fewer than 17,000 men, most of whom were stationed in the Far West. Only two of its Generals had ever commanded an army in the field, and both were long past their prime. Winfield Scott, the hero of the Mexican War, "Old Fuss and Feathers," was too fat even to mount a horse.