Winfield Scott Hancock

Hancock was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the 6th U.S. Infantry regiment, and initially was stationed in Indian Territory in the Red River Valley. The region was quiet at the time, and Hancock's time there was uneventful.[8] Upon the outbreak of war with Mexico in 1846, Hancock worked to secure himself a place at the front.[9] Initially assigned to recruiting duties in Kentucky, he proved so adept at signing up soldiers that his superiors were reluctant to release him from his post.[10] By July 1847, however, Hancock was permitted to join his regiment in Puebla, Mexico, where they made up a part of the army led by his namesake, General Winfield Scott.[10]

Scott's army moved farther inland from Puebla unopposed and attacked Mexico City from the south. During that campaign in 1847, Hancock first encountered battle at Contreras and Churubusco.[11] He was appointed a brevet first lieutenant for gallant and meritorious service in those actions.[12] Hancock was wounded in the knee at Churubusco and developed a fever.[13] Although he was well enough to join his regiment at Molino del Rey, fever kept Hancock from participating in the final breakthrough to Mexico City, something he would regret for the rest of his life.[14] After the final victory, Hancock remained in Mexico with the 6th Infantry until the treaty of peace was signed in 1848.[15]

Hancock served in a number of assignments as an army quartermaster and adjutant, mostly in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and St. Louis, Missouri.[16] It was in St. Louis that he met Almira ("Allie") Russell and they married on January 24, 1850.[17] Allie gave birth to two children, Russell in 1850 and Ada in 1857, but both children died before their parents.[18] Hancock was promoted to captain in 1855 and assigned to Fort Myers, Florida.[19] Hancock's young family accompanied him to his new posting, where Allie Hancock was the only woman on the post.[20]

Hancock's tour in Florida coincided with the end of the Third Seminole War. His duties were primarily those of a quartermaster, and he did not see action in that campaign.[21] As the situation in Florida began to settle down, Hancock was reassigned to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.[21] He served in the West during the partisan warfare of "Bleeding Kansas", and in the Utah Territory, where the 6th Infantry arrived after the Utah War.[2] Following the resolution of that conflict, Hancock was stationed in southern California in November 1858.[22] He remained there, joined by Allie and the children, until the Civil War broke out in 1861, serving as a captain and assistant quartermaster under future Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston.[13] In California, Hancock became friendly with a number of southern officers, most significantly Lewis A. Armistead of Virginia.[23] At the outbreak of the Civil War, Armistead and the other southerners left to join the Confederate States Army, while Hancock remained in the service of the United States.[24] When Armistead left, he turned to Hancock and said, "You'll never know what this is costing me, but goodbye, goodbye."[25]

General Winfield Scott Hancock

Hancock returned east to assume quartermaster duties for the rapidly growing Union Army, but was quickly promoted to brigadier general on September 23, 1861, and given an infantry brigade to command in the division of Brig. Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith, Army of the Potomac.[13] He earned his "Superb" nickname[13] in the Peninsula Campaign, in 1862, by leading a critical counterattack in the Battle of Williamsburg; army commander Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan telegraphed to Washington that "Hancock was superb today" and the appellation stuck.[27] McClellan did not follow through on Hancock's initiative, however, and Confederate forces were allowed to withdraw unmolested.[28]

In the Battle of Antietam, Hancock assumed command of the 1st Division, II Corps, following the mortal wounding of Maj. Gen. Israel B. Richardson in the horrific fighting at "Bloody Lane". Hancock and his staff made a dramatic entrance to the battlefield, galloping between his troops and the enemy, parallel to the Sunken Road.[29] His men assumed that Hancock would order counterattacks against the exhausted Confederates, but he carried orders from McClellan to hold his position.[30] He was promoted to major general of volunteers on November 29, 1862.[13] He led his division in the disastrous attack on Marye's Heights in the Battle of Fredericksburg the following month and was wounded in the abdomen. At the Battle of Chancellorsville, his division covered Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's withdrawal and Hancock was wounded again.[31] His corps commander, Maj. Gen. Darius N. Couch, transferred out of the Army of the Potomac in protest of actions Hooker took in the battle and Hancock assumed command of II Corps, which he would lead until shortly before the war's end.[27]

Major General Winfield Scott Hancock. From the Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Winfield S. Hancock and staff during the Civil War

Hancock's most famous service was as a new corps commander at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1 to 3, 1863.[27] After his friend, Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds, was killed early on July 1, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, sent Hancock ahead to take command of the units on the field and assess the situation. Hancock thus was in temporary command of the "left wing" of the army, consisting of the I, II, III, and XI Corps. This demonstrated Meade's high confidence in him, because Hancock was not the most senior Union officer at Gettysburg at the time.[32] Hancock and the more senior XI Corps commander, Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, argued briefly about this command arrangement, but Hancock prevailed and he organized the Union defenses on Cemetery Hill as more numerous Confederate forces drove the I and XI Corps back through the town. He had the authority from Meade to withdraw, so he was responsible for the decision to stand and fight at Gettysburg.[33] At the conclusion of the day's action, Maj. Gen. Henry Warner Slocum arrived on the field and assumed command until Gen. Meade arrived after midnight.

On July 2, Hancock's II Corps was positioned on Cemetery Ridge, roughly in the center of the Union line, while Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee launched assaults on both ends of the line.[34] On the Union left, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's assault smashed the III Corps and Hancock sent in his 1st Division, under Brig. Gen. John C. Caldwell, to reinforce the Union in the Wheatfield. As Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill's corps continued the attack toward the Union center, Hancock rallied the defenses and rushed units to the critical spots.[34] First, he sent the 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Division, under Col. George Willard, into the fray to stop the advance of Confederate Brigadier General William Barksdale's Brigade.[35] In one famous incident, he sacrificed a regiment, the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, by ordering it to advance and charge a Confederate brigade four times its size, causing the Minnesotans to suffer 87% casualties.[36] While costly, this sacrifice bought time to organize the defensive line and saved the day for the Union Army.[36] Following the action toward his right, he sent the 13th Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment of the 1st Corps, which had come from Cemetery Hill to help quell the crisis, to recover some artillery pieces the Confederates had captured and were pulling away. The Vermonters were successful.[37] Having stabilized his line, he turned his attention to the sound of fighting on East Cemetery Hill. There, with darkness falling, Confederates from Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's Division had gotten into Union batteries and were fighting the cannoneers hand-to-hand.[38] Hancock sent the First Brigade of his Third Division, under Colonel Samuel S. Carroll, to the fighting.[39] The brigade was crucial in flushing the enemy out of the batteries and dispatching them back down the face of East Cemetery Hill.

On July 3, Hancock defended his position on Cemetery Ridge and thus bore the brunt of Pickett's Charge.[40] During the massive Confederate artillery bombardment that preceded the infantry assault, Hancock was prominent on horseback, reviewing and encouraging his troops. When one of his subordinates protested, "General, the corps commander ought not to risk his life that way," Hancock is said to have replied, "There are times when a corps commander's life does not count."[41] During the infantry assault, his old friend, Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead, now leading a brigade in Maj. Gen. George Pickett's division, was wounded and died two days later. Hancock could not meet with his friend because he had just been wounded himself, a severe wound caused by a bullet striking the pommel of his saddle, entering his inner right thigh along with wood fragments and a large bent nail.[42] Helped from his horse by aides, and with a tourniquet applied to staunch the bleeding, he removed the saddle nail himself and, mistaking its source, remarked wryly, "They must be hard up for ammunition when they throw such shot as that."[43] News of Armistead's mortal wounding was brought to Hancock by a member of his staff, Capt. Henry H. Bingham. Despite his pain, Hancock refused evacuation to the rear until the battle was resolved. He had been an inspiration for his troops throughout the three-day battle. Hancock later received the thanks of the U.S. Congress for "... his gallant, meritorious and conspicuous share in that great and decisive victory."[13]

One military historian wrote, "No other Union general at Gettysburg dominated men by the sheer force of their presence more completely than Hancock."[27] As another wrote, "his tactical skill had won him the quick admiration of adversaries who had come to know him as the 'Thunderbolt of the Army of the Potomac'."[44]

Hancock, surrounded by three of his division commanders: Francis C. Barlow, David B. Birney, and John Gibbon during the Wilderness campaign

Hancock suffered from the effects of his Gettysburg wound for the rest of the war.[27] After recuperating in Norristown, he performed recruiting services over the winter and returned in the spring to field command of the II Corps for Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign, but he never regained full mobility and his former youthful energy.[45] Nevertheless, he performed well at the Battle of the Wilderness and commanded a critical breakthrough assault of the Mule Shoe at the "Bloody Angle" in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 12, shattering the Confederate defenders in his front, including the Stonewall Brigade.[46] His corps suffered enormous losses during a futile assault Grant ordered at Cold Harbor.[47]

After Grant's army slipped past Lee's army to cross the James River, Hancock found himself in a position from which he might have ended the war. His corps arrived to support William Farrar Smith's assaults on the lightly held Petersburg defensive lines, but he deferred to Smith's advice because Smith knew the ground and had been on the field all day, and no significant assaults were made before the Confederate lines were reinforced. One of the great opportunities of the war was lost.[2] After his corps participated in the assaults at Deep Bottom, Hancock was promoted to brigadier general in the regular army, effective August 12, 1864.[13]

Hancock's only significant military defeat occurred during the siege of Petersburg. His II Corps moved south of the city, along the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, tearing up track. On August 25, Confederate Maj. Gen. Henry Heth attacked and overran the faulty Union position at Reams's Station, shattering the II Corps, capturing many prisoners.[48] Despite a later victory at Hatcher's Run, the humiliation of Reams's Station contributed, along with the lingering effects of his Gettysburg wound, to his decision to give up field command in November.[49] He left the II Corps after a year in which it had suffered over 40,000 casualties, but had achieved significant military victories. His next assignment was to command the ceremonial First Veteran Corps.[49] He performed more recruiting, commanded the Middle Department, and relieved Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan in command of forces in the now-quiet Shenandoah Valley.[2] He was promoted to brevet major general in the regular army for his service at Spotsylvania, effective March 13, 1865.[13]

The execution of the Lincoln assassination conspirators, July 7, 1865

At the close of the war, Hancock was assigned to supervise the execution of the conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.[50] Lincoln had been assassinated on April 14, 1865, and by May 9 of that year, a military commission had been convened to try the accused.[51] The actual assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was already dead, but the trial of his co-conspirators proceeded quickly, resulting in convictions. President Andrew Johnson ordered the executions to be carried out on July 7. Although he was reluctant to execute some of the less-culpable conspirators, especially Mary Surratt, Hancock carried out his orders, later writing that "every soldier was bound to act as I did under similar circumstances."[52]

After the executions, Hancock was assigned command of the newly organized Middle Military Department, headquartered in Baltimore.[53] In 1866, on Grant's recommendation, Hancock was promoted to major general and was transferred, later that year, to command of the military Department of the Missouri, which included the states of Missouri and Kansas and the territories of Colorado and New Mexico.[54] Hancock reported to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and took up his new posting. Soon after arriving, he was assigned by General Sherman to lead an expedition to negotiate with the Cheyenne and Sioux, with whom relations had worsened since the Sand Creek massacre.[55] The negotiations got off to a bad start, and after Hancock ordered the burning of an abandoned Cheyenne village in central Kansas, relations became worse than when the expedition had started.[56] There was little loss of life on either side, but the mission could not be called a success.[57]

Andrew Johnson thought Hancock was the ideal Reconstruction general.

Hancock's time in the West was brief. President Johnson, unhappy with the way Republican generals were governing the South under Reconstruction, sought replacements for them.[58] The general who offended Johnson the most was Philip Sheridan, and Johnson soon ordered General Grant to switch the assignments of Hancock and Sheridan, believing that Hancock, a Democrat, would govern in a style more to Johnson's liking.[59] Although neither man was pleased with the change, Sheridan reported to Fort Leavenworth and Hancock to New Orleans.[59]

Hancock's new assignment found him in charge of the Fifth Military District, covering Texas and Louisiana. Almost immediately upon arriving, Hancock ingratiated himself with the secessionist white population by issuing his General Order Number 40 of November 29, 1867. In that order, written while traveling to New Orleans, Hancock expressed sentiments in support of President Johnson's policies, writing that if the residents of the district conducted themselves peacefully and the civilian officials perform their duties, then "the military power should cease to lead, and the civil administration resume its natural and rightful dominion."[60] The order continued:

The great principles of American liberty are still the lawful inheritance of this people, and ever should be. The right of trial by jury, the habeas corpus, the liberty of the press, the freedom of speech, the natural rights of persons and the rights of property must be preserved. Free institutions, while they are essential to the prosperity and happiness of the people, always furnish the strongest inducements to peace and order.[61]

Hancock's order encouraged white Democrats across the South who hoped to return to civilian government more quickly, but discomforted blacks and Republicans in the South who feared a return to the antebellum ways of traditional white dominance.[62]

Hancock's General Order Number 40 was quickly condemned by Republicans in Washington, especially by the Radicals, while President Johnson wholeheartedly approved.[63] Heedless of the situation in Washington, Hancock soon put his words into action, refusing local Republican politicians' requests to use his power to overturn elections and court verdicts, while also letting it be known that open insurrection would be suppressed.[63] Hancock's popularity within the Democratic party grew to the extent that he was considered a potential presidential nominee for that party in the 1868 election.[64] Although Hancock collected a significant number of delegates at the 1868 convention, his presidential possibilities went unfulfilled. Even so, he was henceforth identified as a rare breed in politics: one who believed in the Democratic Party's principles of states' rights and limited government, but whose anti-secessionist sentiment was unimpeachable.[65]

Following General Grant's 1868 presidential victory, the Republicans were firmly in charge in Washington. As a result, Hancock found himself transferred, this time away from the sensitive assignment of reconstructing the South and into the relative backwater that was the Department of Dakota.[66] The Department covered Minnesota, Montana, and the Dakotas. As in his previous Western command, Hancock began with a conference of the Indian chiefs, but this time was more successful in establishing a peaceful intent.[67] Relations worsened in 1870, however, as an army expedition committed a massacre against the Blackfeet.[68] Relations with the Sioux also became contentious as a result of white encroachment into the Black Hills, in violation of the Treaty of Fort Laramie.[69]

It was during this tour that Hancock had the opportunity to contribute to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. In August 1870, he ordered the 2nd Cavalry at Fort Ellis to provide a military escort for General Henry D. Washburn's planned exploration of the Yellowstone Region. The expedition, which was a major impetus in creating the park, became known as the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition. Hancock's order led to the assignment of Lt. Gustavus Cheyney Doane and a troop of 5 cavalrymen from Fort Ellis to escort the expedition. In 1871, Captain John W. Barlow during his exploration of the Yellowstone region formally named a summit on what would become the southern boundary of the park Mount Hancock to honor the general's decision to provide the escort.[70]

In 1872, General Meade died, leaving Hancock the army's senior major general. This entitled him to a more prominent command, and President Grant, still desirous to keep Hancock from a Southern post, assigned him command of the Division of the Atlantic, headquartered at Fort Columbus on Governors Island, in New York City.[71] The vast department covered the settled northeast area of the country and was militarily uneventful with the exception of the army's involvement in the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. When railroad workers went on strike to protest wage cuts, the nation's transportation system was paralyzed. The governors of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland asked President Hayes to call in federal troops to re-open the railways. Once federal troops entered the cities, most of the strikers melted away, but there were some violent clashes.[72]

All the while Hancock was posted in New York, he did his best to keep his political ambitions alive. He received some votes at the Democrats' 1876 convention, but was never a serious contender as New York governor Samuel J. Tilden swept the field on the second ballot.[73] The Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, won the election, and Hancock refocused his ambition on 1880. The electoral crisis of 1876 and the subsequent end to Reconstruction in 1877 convinced many observers that the election of 1880 would give the Democrats their best chance at victory in a generation.[74]

Hancock's name had been proposed several times for the Democratic nomination for president, but he never captured a majority of delegates. In 1880, however, Hancock's chances improved. President Hayes had promised not to run for a second term, and the previous Democratic nominee, Tilden, declined to run again due to poor health.[75] Hancock faced several competitors for the nomination, including Thomas A. Hendricks, Allen G. Thurman, Stephen Johnson Field, and Thomas F. Bayard. Hancock's neutrality on the monetary question, and his lingering support in the South (owing to his General Order Number 40) meant that Hancock, more than any other candidate, had nationwide support.[76] When the Democratic convention assembled in Cincinnati in June 1880, Hancock led on the first ballot, but did not have a majority.[77] By the second ballot, Hancock received the requisite two-thirds, and William Hayden English of Indiana was chosen as his running mate.[78][79]

Hancock-English election poster

The Republicans nominated James A. Garfield, a Congressman from Ohio and a skillful politician, as well as a former general from the Civil War. Hancock and the Democrats expected to carry the Solid South, but needed to add a few of the Northern states to their total to win the election. The practical differences between the parties were few, and the Republicans were reluctant to attack Hancock personally because of his heroic reputation.[80] The one policy difference the Republicans were able to exploit was a statement in the Democratic platform endorsing "a tariff for revenue only."[81] Garfield's campaigners used this statement to paint the Democrats as unsympathetic to the plight of industrial laborers, a group that would benefit by a high protective tariff. The tariff issue cut Democratic support in industrialized Northern states, which were essential in establishing a Democratic majority.[82] In the end, the Democrats and Hancock failed to carry any of the Northern states they had targeted, with the exception of New Jersey. Hancock lost the election to Garfield. Garfield polled only 39,213 more votes than Hancock, the popular vote being 4,453,295 for Garfield and 4,414,082 for Hancock. The electoral count, however, had a much larger spread, as Garfield polled 214 electoral votes and Hancock only 155. Garfield would be shot four months into his Presidency on July 2, 1881, and would die on September 19, 1881.[83]