The FReeper Foxhole Profiles General Winfield Scott Hancock - Nov. 8th, 2003

http://www.pa-roots.com/~pacw/officers/hancock/hancock.html ^ | pa-roots.com

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
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FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

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General Winfield Scott Hancock

1824-1886

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Winfield Scott Hancock and his identical twin, Hilary, were born February 14, 1824, to Benjamin and Elizabeth Hancock of Montgomery Square, Pennsylvania. When the boys were six years old, his father moved the family to Norristown and started a law practice. At age 16, Winfield, or Win, entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Four years later, on July 1, 1844, he graduated 18th in his class of 25 and was assigned to the U. S. Sixth Infantry.

Pre-War

Following graduation, Hancock was detailed to Indian Territory, near the Red River on the border of Texas, where he served at Fort Towson and, later, Fort Washita, and remained here until the outbreak of the Mexican War. Fearing he would miss the war entirely, Lt. Hancock repeatedly wrote to the War Department requesting a transfer from his desk job to the front.



Finally, on July 13, 1847, the young officer was transferred to Vera Cruz to serve under his namesake, General Winfield Scott, in the fight against the forces of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. His first action in that conflict was at the National bridge, on the way from Vera Cruz to Puebla, where he was in command of a party sent to storm and capture the bridge. He saw further action in the battles of Churubusco, Molino Del Rey, Vera Cruz and witnessed the assault and capture of Mexico City. On August 20, 1847, "for gallant and meritorious conduct at the battles of Contreras and Churubusco," Winfield Scott Hancock was breveted First Lieutenant.

The Sixth Infantry remained in Mexico City until 1848, when the war ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It was then ordered to Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, Missouri. During this time, Hancock served as regimental quartermaster, and on October 1, 1849 was appointed adjutant, and aide-de-camp to General Newman S. Clarke, commander of the Sixth Infantry.

While stationed in St. Louis, Lieutenant Hancock met lovely Almira Russell, the daughter of a prominent St. Louis merchant. They were married on January 24, 1850. In the years following, the Hancocks had two children: a son, Russell (October 29, 1850 - December 30, 1884) born in St. Louis, and a daughter, Ada Elizabeth (February 24, 1857 - March 28, 1875), born in Fort Myers, Florida.



On November 5, 1855, Lieutenant Hancock was appointed Assistant Quartermaster, U.S. Army, with the rank of captain, and ordered to Fort Myers in southern Florida during the Seminole Wars of 1856-7.

In 1857, he served at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, during the violence of "Bleeding Kansas," observing firsthand the bitterness and enflamed feelings that the twin issues of slavery and States' Rights had brought to that frontier. He served briefly in Utah during the Mormon uprising of 1858-59.

Civil War

When Fort Sumter was fired upon, he was stationed with his family in Los Angeles, California, where he was serving Chief Quartermaster of the Southern District of California. He immediately requested a transfer to active duty in the East; and, upon arrival, was appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers and assisted in organizing the Army of the Potomac. Under Major General George B. McClellan, Hancock played an important role in McClellan's Peninsula campaign. His leadership of a critical flank attack at Williamsburg earned his the sobriquet “Hancock the Superb”; he also proved himself at the Battle of Frazier's farm.


The New General
General Winfield Scott Hancock

When Israel B. Richardson was killed during the Battle of Antietam, Hancock took command of the First Division of the 2nd Corps. At Fredericksburg, his division took part in the costly assaults on Marye's Heights, and, at Chancellorsville he skillfully covered the Union withdrawal from the field. When Major General Darius Couch requested a transfer, Hancock stepped up to command of the 2nd Army Corps.

At Gettysburg, General Hancock was in sole command of the Army of the Potomac until Major General George Meade arrived. Following the fall of Major General John F. Reynolds, Meade assigned him command of the left flank. On the second and third days of the battle, while directing the Union center, Hancock was largely responsible for stemming the main Confederate attacks. On the third day, he was seriously wounded when a nail and wood fragments from his saddle were driven into his thigh and groin by enemy fire; wounds from which he never fully recovered. During the lengthy recover period that followed, Hancock performed some recruiting duty.

Returning to command of the 2nd Corps prior to beginning of the Overland Campaign of 1864, General Hancock fought well at the Wilderness and was brevetted Major General in the regular Army for leading the attack and crashing though the Confederate salient at Spotsylvania. At Cold Harbor his troops were slaughtered in a futile assault ordered by Lt. General U. S. Grant. Because of the heavy losses the 2nd Corps sustained from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor, Hancock lamented that his old 2nd Corps lay "buried between the Rapidan and the James" rivers.


Hancock the Superb
The Irish Brigade at Antietam, September 17, 1862

Shortly after arriving at the Petersburg, Va. front, Hancock's old wound forced him to leave the Army for the second time. Returning, in August 1864, he was humiliated by the 2nd Corps defeat at Reams Station on the 25th. This was the first time the 2nd Corps lost colors and guns to the enemy.

Finally, in November, his old wound broke open again, and he was forced to give up his field command. He began recruiting for the first Veteran Reserve Corps; however, results were poor, and early in 1865, he took over command of Washington, Maryland, West Virginia, and the Shenandoah Valley.

General Hancock was mustered out of volunteer service on July 26, 1866, the same day that he received his appointment to Major General in the U. S. Army. He commanded the Department of the Missouri and participated in the Indian campaigns of the region. Named commander of the 5th Military District covering Texas and Louisiana, he was responsible for supervising reconstruction there. He found the military's role in Reconstruction offensive, and angered many radical Republicans by refusing to carry out certain measures, including replacing civil courts with military ones. These views also brought him into conflict with General Grant who objected to his lenient treatment of the South. In 1867, he requested and was granted a transfer to the North and was assigned command of the Military Division of the Atlantic.


Hancock, seated, with his division commanders, l. to r. Francis Chauning Barlow, David Birney, and John Gibbon

By this time Hancock's reputation as an honest intelligent leader—as well as a bona fide war hero and anti-Reconstructionist—prompted the Democrats to nominate him for president in 1880. He was narrowly defeated by another Civil War veteran, Republican James Garfield.

Major General Winfield Scott Hancock remained on active duty at Governor's Island, New York until his death. On August 8, 1885, he carried out his last official public duty when he conducted President Ulysses S. Grant's funeral. Less than a year later, on February 9, 1886, Hancock died as a result of advanced diabetes at Governor's Island, New York.

After a brief funeral service at Trinity Church, in New York City, General Hancock's remains were taken to his boyhood home of Norristown, Pennsylvania, where he was placed, alongside his daughter, Ada, in a mausoleum in Montgomery Cemetery.


General Winfield Scott Hancock arrives at Cemetery Hill in the opening rounds of the Battle of Gettysburg, and rallies the retreating Union troops.

Civil War Assignments:

• Brigadier General, U. S. Volunteers, September 23, 1861
  
  
  • Commander, 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, IV Corps in Peninsula
    
    
  • Commander, Third Brigade, Smith's Division, Army of the Potomac (October 3, 1861- March 13, 1862)
    
    
  • Commander 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, IV Corps, Army of the Potomac (October 3, 1861-September 17, 1862)
  
  
  
• November 1862 promoted Major General of Volunteers
  
  
  • Commander 1st Division, 2nd Corps at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville
    
    
  • Commander 2nd Corps at Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg
  
  
  
• August 1864 promoted to Brigadier General in Regular Army
  
  
  • Commander, Department of West Virginia
  
  
  
• Brevet Major General U.S.A. March 13 1865

Post War

Appointed Major General U. S. Army, July 26, 1866

Commanded Department of the East

U. S. presidential candidate in 1880

[SAMWolf]

Morning Darksheare.

[The Mayor]

Morning Sam

[snippy_about_it]

In this assault General Hancock led his men through such a fire as has rarely been encountered in warfare. He commanded 5,006 men, and left 2,013 of them on the field.

The numbers of Americans killed and wounded in this war never ceases to amaze me. What a terrible time for all the families and the country as a whole.

Thanks SAM, it was long but it was a good read.

[Darksheare]

Morning.
Bouncing about as usual.
Can't imagine having wood fraggos and a nail frommy saddle blasted into my anatomy.

[SAMWolf]

Any mention of splinters and groin in the same sentence makes me cringe.

[Darksheare]

Me too.
I cringed horribly, and had sympathy pains.
Even if it's seperated by a hundred or more years.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Hello friends. Happy weekend, all.

click on the graphic.

[snippy_about_it]

Good afternoon Victoria. Good song.

[SAMWolf]

Afternoon Victoria. Nice Kitty.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Hi guys, good to see you both!

[manna]

Hi Bashful (and you, too, SAM)!

[PhilDragoo]

I posit whether one fights it or writes it, there is about that war something which effects the gaze.

Major General Winfield Scott Hancock was reported to have used this flag. He had a mounted enlisted man carry this guidon so that he could be easily located on the battlefield.

General Winfield Scott Hancock, a lesser known but highly competent Union general, almost defeated Republican candidate James A. Garfield, also a Union general. Hancock was remembered in the South for his considerate behavior during Reconstruction.

Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock equestrian monument. East Cemetery Hill.
Remembrance Day Flowers 1999

Winfield Scott Hancock 1824 - 1886,David Bell Birney1825 - 1864, and their staffs

Winfield Scott Hancock: A Soldier's Life by David M. Jordan

Materia Medica

by B. J. Miller, Assistant Surgeon

Often we learn best from our mistakes. Our predecessors in the science of medicine have provided us with an invaluable tool in the form of "case histories." One particularly interesting case history is that of the wounding of General Winfield Scott Hancock.

During the height of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, General Hancock had unduly exposed himself on horseback. Just as he was coming near Standard's Vermont regiment, Hancock was hit in the front of the right thigh, near the groin, by a rifle ball. As the bullet entered, it carried with it a large, bent iron nail and bits of wood thought to have come from the pommel of his saddle. After being assisted to the ground by members of General Standard's staff, Standard himself improvised a tourniquet from his handkerchief and used his pistol barrel to tighten it, thus preventing further shock and even death. Dr. A. N. Doughterty, Surgeon and Medical Director of the Second Corps, was immediately summoned. The surgeon probed the wound hastily, as well as he could under the circumstances. He found a bent wrought iron nail, some splinters of wood, and small fragments or pieces of lead which had been carried into the wound by the bullet which had first passed through the saddle. General Hancock was moved by an ambulance to the rear field hospital of the Second Corps, located at the intersection of Rock Creek and White Run on the George Bushman farm. After having his wound dressed, he was moved to the Daniel Wills House in town. Mrs. Wills, the former Jennie Smyser, was a native of Norristown, PA, as was Hancock, so it may be that they knew one another. Within a week, Hancock was moved to Philadelphia where he remained for three weeks. His wound was probed several times to the point of complete intolerance. It was his desire to return to his home in Norristown. After a few days, he was visited by Louis W. Read, Surgeon-in-chief of The PA Reserves. The General asked Dr. Read to examine his wound, after which the doctor procured a very long, improvised probe. Thereafter, he placed the general in the position that he had been in, in the saddle, when he received the wound. Dr. Read then probed the wound and found the ball at the depth of 7-8 inches (too long for fingers to reach) and imbedded in the ischium of the pelvis. The next day, Dr. Read extracted the ball by first cutting open the wound from the point at which the ball had entered the body. The ball bore upon it the marks of the nail which Dr. Doughtery had extracted.

The wound of General Hancock remained unhealed and fell far short of his desire to rejoin his corps in two weeks. At the end of the year 1863, he returned to his command of the Second Corps. The wound gradually improved, but he never fully recovered. The wound re-opened in November of 1864 when another fragment of bone was sequestrated (when a fragment of dead bone becomes separated from surrounding tissue) from the wound. The wound abscess and persistently draining sinus (a canal or passage leading to an abscess) with bone sequestrations were telltale signs of what we now know as chronic osteomylitis (inflammation of and infection of bone, especially the marrow) which followed the comminution, or fragmentation, caused by the bullet striking the pelvis. The multiple probings undoubtedly introduced another then unknown entity now known as staphylococcus bacteria, resulting in a severe infection. One can easily speculate how much easier it would be today to care for and treat surgically such a wound.

General Winfield Scott Hancock was a true hero of the Civil War and especially notable was his performance at Gettysburg. He was in every sense a fine soldier and he looked very much the part. He was indeed "Hancock the Superb."

[SAMWolf]

Evening Phil Dragoo.

Very interesting read on Hancock's wounding.

Shelby Foote sure looks like he could be a relative of Hancock.

[snippy_about_it]

Good call on Shelby Foote, Phil.



Anatomically, the pelvis is made up from right and left hip bones, called the innominate bones (1,2). The sacrum (3) forms the link between the right and left innominate bones at the posterior.

The innominate bones are themselves made up from three individual bones. These are the ilium (4), ischium (5) and pubis (6).

[Light Speed]

When reading the lifestyle habits and character disposition of Hancock,Grant,Sherman and Chamberlin we identify with them quickly...

Chamberlin..a man of the Bible..and new age thinking of his day,....yet from him..was a Stonewall Jackson type.
Unafraid to lead...and very prominent in the key moments of battle.
How many with failing sense looked up..and saw his stature...drew from the scene what was needed inside to carry the day.

Sherman....hard..yet a councellor.
How many times did he *keep Grant together..and inspire a man struggling with his inner thoughts.

Grant...from Galena Illinois prior to the civil war,
How prophetic....Galena in Greek means *Lead.
Grant..given to depression..and withdrawl..and the bottle.
Yet..he kept himself..and wore his outfit of a taskmaster made to send men to their deaths.
Washington derided Grant for the casualty count..especially after Spotsylvannia and the final leg period to Appomattox.

Hancock...of all the above named..knew the enemey's command and potential.
Hancock knew to be with his officers..and then to be near the men...and as Phil marks in his post...the Flag of His corp allways near him..and near the line.

The highest notation I can see that all these greats had..was Faithfullness to the task at hand.
Sherman..how many times did Washington lose track of him and his Army on the Atlanta march.
Sherman would show up..then disappear..correspondence was late.
Yet Sherman thoroughly completed his task to the letter.

Grant....given the impossible jobs..and then told to get the enemy out.
Chamberlin..His Maine boys continually in the thick of many fights..like the Irish Brigade...command could guage the days fight by how it went with these regiments.

Like the famous leaders of the South..these Federals carried an aura about them were ever they went.

The Joshua's and King Davids of their time.

[SAMWolf]

When you read about the War Between the States it always seems so sad that many of these men who were fighting on opposite side, were classmates and fought together in the Mexican War. Some were lifelong friends and knew each others families. How tragic that they ended up leading their Countrymen against each other.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[WaterDragon]

I finally made it back to read about Hancock, though I've read about him many times. One can never read about him too often. He was a brave man and a brilliant military man.

I've noted that his and his wife's first child was born nine months and one week after their wedding day. My first one was born nine months and TWO weeks from my wedding day! LOL! I wonder if the busybodies were counting the months for Mrs. Hancock as they were for me!

[PhilDragoo]

That such principled men led on both sides made the nation that much stronger--eventually.

Now we have the pygmy Bolshevik Howard Weenie blathering about the Confederate flag--

How sweet to hear Zel Miller declare, "Dean knows about as much about the South as a pig knows about Sunday."

Character always comes to the fore.

[SAMWolf]

I wish Zell Miller would switch Parties, he's more republican than some Republicans.