History of Montgomeryville, (Montgomery County) Pennsylvania United States of America

Winfield Scott Hancock, soldier, was born near Montgomeryville, Pa., Feb. 14, 1824, twin son of Benjamin Franklin and Elizabeth (Hexworth) Hancock, and grandson of Richard Hancock, a native of Scotland who settled as a farmer in America, was a seaman in the war of 1812, and a prisoner in Dartmoor prison in England, and also a grandson of Edward Hexworth, a soldlier in the Patriot army Benjamin Franklin Hancock was a native of Philadelphia; was brought up on a farm, taught school, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1828, and practised in Norristown, Pa., 1828-68. Winfield Scott Hancock was educated in the Norristown high school and academy, was graduated at the U.S. military academy in 1844; was brevetted 2d lieutenant and assigned to the 6th infantry and joined his regiment on the Red River country bordering on Texas, He was commissioned 2d lieutenant in 1846, and was stationed on the Mexican frontier when General Scott ordered him to join his command at Vera Cruz. He commanded a storming party that captured the national bridge on the route from Vera Cruz and Puebla, fought at Contreras and Cherubusco and was brevetted 1st lieutenant for his action in these engagements. He served as adjutant and regimental quartermaster of the 6th infantry on the upper Missouri, 1848-55. While stationed at Fort Snelling, Minn., in 1849, he was granted five months' leave of absence and spent it at his home in Pennsylvania. He was married on Jan. 24, 1850, to Almira, daughter of Samuel Russell of St. Louis, Mo. He was appointed quartermaster with the rank of captain in 1855, and took an active part in the Seminole war. He went with General Harney to Kansas, and upon the subsidence of the Kansas troubles, to Utah. He commanded a wagon train guarded by sixteen soldiers, 709 miles, and joined his regiment at Fort Bridge, making the trip across the mountains in twenty-seven days. He was then ordered to Benicia, Cal., and on reaching that station made a record of having travelled 2100 miles on horseback from Fort Leavenworth. He was at Los Angeles, Cal., when the civil war began, having under his charge a large depot of military stores with valuable munitions of war. He held these against southern sympathizers until re-enforced, when he was ordered to New York, which place he reached Sept. 4, 1861. He reported to the war department at Washington and was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers and his brigade was made up of the 5th Wisconsin, 6th Maine, 49th Pennsylvania, and 4th New York regiments. He was assigned to the army of McClellan and assisted that commander in organizing the army of the Potomac. His first battle was at Lee's Mills, April 16, 1862, followed by Williamsburg, Frazier's Farm, and the Maryland campaigns. He was assigned to the 1st division of the 2d corps at South Mountain, Sept. 14, 1862, and Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862, and in the battle-field of Antietam succeeded to the command of the division which he gallantly led in the whole fight. He was then ordered to Harper's Ferry with the 2d army corps, and on Nov. 5, 1862, when Burnside succeeded McClellan, he joined in the movement against Warrenton and Fredericksburg. At the latter place, Dec. 13, 1862, he led the 1st division, 2d corps, in the attempt to storm Marye's Heights, and left half the division on the field killed or wounded. At Chancellorsville his division of the 2d corps distinguished itself by holding in check the flying troops of the Confederate army, who were pursuing the 11th corps which had been routed. It was during this attack that Jackson was mortally wounded by his own men in the confusion of the battle. Hancock with his men protected by rifle pits kept the enemy at bay until ordered to withdraw, that General Hooker might contract and reform his lines. On the third day Hancock and French of the 2d corps drove back the Confederate left, but after Sickles's repulse the line was again reformed by Hooker, a mile back of Chancellorsville, and on the 5th Hooker withdrew his army across the Rappahannock with a loss of 18,000 men. On June 25, 1863, Hancock was assigned by President Lincoln to the command of the 2d army corps and in consultation with General Meade prior to the battle of Gettysburg, he located the battle-field, and on July 3, commanded the left centre in that memorable fight. In this battle his corps lost 4000 in killed and wounded, and captured thirty colors and 4500 prisoners. He was shot from his horse and dangerously wounded, but remained on the field till he saw the attack against his front repulsed by his own corps. For his services in this campaign he received the thanks of congress, in a resolution passed April 21, 1866. While an invalid from his wounds, July 30, 1863, to March, 1864, he recruited the 2d army corps up to its former strength. He was made major in the regular army, Nov. 7, 1863, but it was not until April 21, 1866, that congress by joint resolution thanked him for his services in the campaign of 1863. He led the 2d corps and a wing of the army at the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania, at the battle of Cold Harbor, and in the assault on Petersburg. He was promoted Aug. 12, 1864, brigadier-general in the regular service "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 Lieutenant-General Grant." He took a leading part in the operations against the south side railroad after the affair on Aug. 25, 1864, at Reams's Station, where his corps was attacked by a vastly superior force, and lost heavily in killed, wounded and prisoners. His horse was shot under him, a rifle ball cut his bridle rein, and five pierced his corps flag, one splintering the staff. He was ordered to Washington, Nov. 26, 1864, to organize a veteran corps of 50,000 men, and when this was accomplished he was assigned to the command of the middle military division, Feb. 26, 1865, with headquarters at Winchester, Va. His headquarters [p.69] were transferred to Washington in April, 1865, and he was placed in command of the defences of the capital. He was brevetted major-general in the regular army for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Spottsylvania, March 13, 1865, and was advanced to the rank of major-general in the regular service, July 26, 1865. He was assigned to the command of the department of the Missouri, Aug. 10, 1866, and when relieved by Gen. P. H. Sheridan, was assigned to the command of the 5th military district with headquarters at New Orleans, Aug. 26, 1867. On assuming command he issued "General Order No. 40," which was at variance with the reconstruction acts of congress, and in 1868 he was relieved at his own request, and assigned to the command of the division of the Atlantic, with headquaters on Governor's Island, New York harbor. In 1869 he was assigned to the department of Dakota, and in 1872 was reassigned to the division of the Atlantic, where he remained till his death. General Grant's estimate of him as a soldier is as follows: "Hancock stands the most conspicuous figure of all the general officers who did not exercise a general command. He commanded a corps larger than any other one, and his name was never mentioned us 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 genital disposition made him friends, and his presence with his command in the thickest of the fight won him the confidence of troops serving under him." In 1880 General Sherman said: "If you will sit down and write the best thing that can be put in language about General Hancock as an officer and a gentleman, I will sign it without hesitation." General McClellan in writing to his wife after a battle said: "Hancock was superb today." In party politics Hancock was from his youth a Democrat and he never forsook the political fruit he had inherited and sustained. He declined the nomination for governor of Pennsylvania 1869; was mentioned as a presidential candidate before the Democratic national conventions of 1868, 1872 and 1880, and the convention at Cincinnati in 1880 made him their nominee. In the presidential election of November, 1880, he received 4,442,035 popular votes to 4,449,053 for James A. Garfie1d, 307,306 for James B. Weaver, and 10,305 for Neal Dow. In the electoral college that met in 1881, he received 155 votes to 214 for Garfield. He continued in the military service after his political defeat, and planned and carried out the military and civic pageant that attended the funeral of General Grant. This was his last conspicuous public appearance. The state of Pennsylvania erected an equestrian statue of General Hancock on the battle-field of Gettysburg, which was unveiled, June 5, 1894, and was the creation of F. Edwin Elwell, sculptor; and the general government erected one in Washington, the work of Henry J. Elliott, sculptor, which was unveiled, Mary 12, 1896, by Glynn R. Hancock, grandson of "The Hero of Gettysburg," in the presence of Major-General Miles, and representatives from the army, the navy, the Loyal Legion, the G.A.R., and the 2d army corps. See Life of Gen.,. W. S. Hancock by Junkin and Norton (l886); Life and Public Services of Winfield Scott Hancock by Frederick E. Goodrich (1885); Addresses at a Meeting of the Military Service Institution in Memory of Hancock (1886); History of the Second Corps by Francis A. Walker (1887); and In Memoriam: Military Order of the Loyal Legion (1887). He died on Governor's Island, New York harbor, Feb. 9, 1886.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Montgomeryville, (Montgomery County) Pennsylvania

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