SCOTT, Thomas Alexander, railroad-manager, born in Loudon, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, 28 December, 1824; died in Darby, Pennsylvania, 21 May, 1881. His father, Thomas, who died when the son was ten years old, kept a tavern on the turnpike between Philadelphia and Pittsburg. The boy worked on a farm, attended a village school, served in country stores, and became, on 1 August, 1841, clerk to Major James Patton, collector of tolls on the state road at Columbia, Pennsylvania In 1847 he was made chief clerk to the collector of tolls at Philadelphia, and in 1850 he became connected with the partially constructed Pennsylvania railroad, was appointed its general superintendent in 1858, and in 1859 was chosen vice-president. He soon became known as one of the most enterprising railroad men in the country. At the beginning of the civil war he was appointed on the staff of Governor Andrew G. Curtin, and was very energetic in equipping volunteers and sending them forward to Washington. On 27 April, 1861, he was asked by the secretary of war to open a new line from Washington to Philadelphia, which he did by way of Annapolis and Perrysville with surprising quickness. He was commissioned colonel of volunteers on 3 May, and on 23 May was given charge of all government railways and telegraphs. On 1 August he was appointed assistant secretary of war, which office he was the first to hold. Colonel Scott was sent in January, 1862, to organize transportation in the northwest, and in March to perform the same duty on the western rivers. On 1 June he resigned to devote himself to his railway affairs, but on 24 September, 1863, he entered the government service again for a time, and superintended the transportation of two army corps to relieve General William S. Rosecrans at Chattanooga. This he did with remarkable speed, connecting different lines by improvised tracks, and sending out trains in great numbers by every available route. Colonel Scott was instrumental in furthering the policy by which the Pennsylvania road secured control of its western lines. In 1871, when a separate company was chartered to operate these, he became its president. He was also president of the Union Pacific railroad from March, 1871, till March, 1872, and in 1874 succeeded to the presidency of the Pennsylvania road. Failing health forced him to travel abroad in 1878, and on 1 June, 1880, he resigned. To the energy, alertness, and sound business principles of Colonel Scott may be attributed much of the prosperity that has been attained by the road of which he was an officer. Besides his connection with the Pennsylvania system, he was the projector of the Texas Pacific road, and for many years its president.