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Civil War Soldiers - Hancock
| Hancock, Winfield S., major-general,
U.S. Army, was born at Montgomery Square, Pa., Feb. 14, 1824, and was
sent in early boyhood to Norristown academy. There he first began to
display his military tastes by continually marching and
countermarching with his playmates, among whom he organized a military
company, of which he was chosen captain. In his fifteenth year the boy
received a marked expression of public esteem, in being appointed to
read in public at Norristown the Declaration of Independence. In 1840,
at the age of sixteen, he entered the West Point military academy, as
a member of a class that graduated twenty-five, among whom were Gens.
U. S. Grant, George B. McClellan, William B. Franklin, William F.
Smith, Joseph J. Reynolds, Rosecrans, Lyon, and others of the Federal
army; and Longstreet, Pickett, E. K. Smith, and "Stonewall" Jackson of
the Confederate army. Hancock was graduated on June 30, 1844, and was
brevetted second lieutenant of the 6th infantry, July 1. He was
afterward sent to join his company in the Indian country, near the Red
river, on the border of Texas, and in this rough but exhilarating duty
he remained until 1846, when he was commissioned second lieutenant in
a company stationed on the frontier of Mexico, where he remained until
the outbreak of the Mexican war. His first active service in that
conflict was at the National bridge, on the way from Vera Cruz to
Puebla, where he was in command of a storming party, and captured the
bridge and a strong barricade. He was brevetted first lieutenant "for
gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and
Churubusco in the war with Mexico." Between 1848 and 1855 he served as
regimental quartermaster and adjutant on the upper Missouri, being
ordered to Fort Snelling, Minn., in 1849. In 1855 Lieut. Hancock was
appointed quartermaster with the rank of captain, and ordered to
Florida, where the Seminole war was going on, and where, under Gen.
Harney, he performed difficult and arduous service. Next occurred the
disorders in Kansas, and he was ordered to Fort Leavenworth, and after
the Kansas troubles were over he accompanied Gen. Harney's expedition
to Utah. Following the Utah outbreak, he was ordered to join his
regiment, the 6th infantry, at Fort Bridger, and made the trip with
sixteen soldiers, a distance of 709 miles, in twenty-seven days with a
train of wagons. He was next ordered to Benicia, Cal., and the entire
journey which he made from Fort Leavenworth to that station, 2,100
miles, was performed by Capt. Hancock on horseback. Later he was
stationed at Los Angeles, Cal., where he was when the Civil war broke
out, with a depot of military stores under his control, which he
succeeded in holding until the arrival of reinforcements. He was then
ordered to the east, reaching New York Sept. 4, 1861, when he reported
at Washington for service. He was at once commissioned
brigadier-general and placed in charge of a brigade, consisting of the
5th Wis., the 6th Me., the 49th Pa., and the 4th N. Y. infantry. In
the spring of 1862 the division of which his brigade was a part was
assigned to the 4th army corps and had its first serious conflict with
the enemy at Lee's mill on April 16. He saw sharp fighting at
Williamsburg and Frazier's farm and in the Maryland campaign. At the
battles of South mountain and Antietam he commanded the 1st division
of the 2nd army corps, which fought brilliantly during the second day
of the battle of Antietam. In the battle of Fredericksburg he again
commanded the same division in the magnificent attempt to storm
Marye's heights, Dec. 13, 1862, when he led his men through such a
fire as has rarely been encountered in warfare. The following spring
Hancock's division fought at Chancellorsville, and on June 25 he was
ordered by the president to assume command of the 2nd army corps. In
the fight of July 3, at Gettysburg, he commanded the left center, the
main point assailed by the Confederates, and was shot from his horse,
being dangerously wounded, but remained on the field until he saw that
the enemy's attack had been repulsed by his corps. For his services in
this campaign Gen. Hancock received, on April 21, 1866, a resolution
of thanks passed by Congress. His wound kept him from active duty
until March, 1864, when he resumed command in the spring campaign of
that year, and fought in the battles of the Wilderness and
Spottsylvania, also at the second battle of Cold Harbor and in the
assault on the lines in front of Petersburg. On Aug. 12, 1864, he was
appointed brigadier-general in the regular army "for gallant and
distinguished services in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania,
and Cold Harbor, and in the operations of the army in Virginia under
Lieut.-Gen. Grant." In the movement against the South side railroad in
October of that year Gen. Hancock took a leading part. On Nov. 26 he
was called to Washington to organize a veteran corps of 50,000 men,
and continued in the discharge of that duty until Feb. 26, 1865, when
he was assigned to the command of the military division and ordered to
Winchester, Va. After the assassination of President Lincoln, Gen.
Hancock's headquarters were transferred to Washington, and he was
placed in command of the defence of the capital. On July 26, 1866, he
was appointed major-general of the regular army, and on the 10th of
the following month assigned to the command of the Department of the
Missouri. Here he fought the Indians until relieved by Gen. Sheridan,
when he was placed in command of the fifth military district,
comprising Texas and Louisiana. In 1868 he was given command of the
division of the Atlantic, with headquarters in New York city. The
following year he was sent to the Department of Dakota, but in 1872
was again assigned to the division of the Atlantic, in which command
he remained until the time of his death. In 1868 and in 1872 Gen.
Hancock was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination,
and in 1880 was nominated by the Democratic convention at Cincinnati.
The election in November, however, gave the opposing candidate, James
A. Garfield, a majority in the electoral college. More than any other
officer on either side, perhaps, he was the embodiment of chivalry and
devotion to the highest duties of the soldier. Gen. Grant, best
qualified to judge, said of him : "Hancock stands the most conspicuous
figure of all the general officers who did not exercise a general
command. He commanded a corps longer than any other one, and his name
was never mentioned as having committed in battle a blunder for which
he was responsible. He was a man of very conspicuous personal
appearance, tall, well-formed, and, at the time of which I now write,
young and fresh looking; he presented an appearance that would attract
the attention of an army as he passed. His genial disposition made him
friends, and his presence with his command in the thickest of the
fight won him the confidence of troops who served under him." He died
at Governor's island, New York harbor, Feb. 9, 1886. Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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