HANCOCK, WINFIELD SCOTT American general, was born on Feb. 14, 1824, in Montgomery county, Pa. He graduated in 1844 from the Military academy and was breveted first lieutenant for "gallant and meritorious conduct" in the Mexican War. After serving in the West, in Florida and elsewhere he married in 185o Miss Almira Russell of St. Louis; became first lieutenant in 1853, and assistant quartermaster with the rank of captain in 1855. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was ordered East at his own request and on Sept. 23, 186i, was made brig.-general of volunteers and assigned to command a brigade in the Army of the Potomac. He took part in the Penin sula campaign, and the handling of his troops in the engagement at Williamsburg on May 5, 1862, was such that McClellan re ported "Hancock was superb," an epithet always afterwards applied to him. At the battle of Antietam he was placed in com mand of the 1st Division of the Ilnd. Corps, and in November he was made major-general of volunteers, and about the same time was promoted major in the Regular Army. In the battle of Fredericksburg (q.v.), Hancock's division was among the troops that were ordered to storm Marye's Heights. Out of the 5,006 men in his division 2,013 fell. At Chancellorsville his division received the brunt of the attack of Lee's main army. Soon after the battle he was appointed commander of the IInd. Corps.
In the battle of Gettysburg (q.v.) after the defeat of the left wing of the Army of the Potomac and the death of Gen. Reynolds, Hancock arrived on the field with orders from Meade to assume command and to decide whether to continue the fight there or to fall back. He decided to stay, and held Cemetery Hill and Ridge until the arrival of the main body of the Federal Army. During the second day's battle he commanded the left centre of the Union Army, and after Gen. Sickles had been wounded, the whole of the left wing. In the third day's battle he commanded the left centre, upon which fell the full brunt of Pickett's charge, one of the most famous incidents of the war. As the guns of the Confederate Army opened the attack Hancock rode along the front of his line to show his soldiers that he shared the dangers of the cannonade with them. His corps lost in the battle 4,3 5o out of less than 1 o,000 fighting men. But it captured 27 Con federate battle flags and as many prisoners as it had men when the fighting ceased. Hancock, himself, was struck in the groin by a bullet, but continued in command until the repulse of the attack. Six months passed before he resumed command. In the battles of the year 1864 Hancock commanded at the Wilderness during the second day's fighting, half of the Union Army; at Spottsylvania he had charge of the successful attack on the "salient" ; at Cold Harbor his corps formed the left wing in the unsuccessful assault on the Confederate lines. In August he was promoted to brig.-general in the Regular Army. His old wound troubling him, he obtained a short leave of absence, expecting to return to his corps. He was, however, detailed to raise a new corps, and later was placed in charge of the "Middle Division." Before he could take the field Richmond had fallen and Lee had surrendered.
After the assassination of Lincoln, Hancock was placed in charge of Washington, and it was under his command that Booth's accomplices were tried and executed. In July 1866 he was ap pointed major-general in the Regular Army. A little later he was placed in command of the department of the Missouri, and the year following assumed command of the 5th Military Division, comprising Louisiana and Texas. His policy, however, of dis countenancing military trials and conciliating the conquered did not meet with approval at Washington, and he was at his own request transferred.
Hancock had all his life been a Democrat. His war record and his personal popularity caused his name to be considered as a candidate for the Presidency, and in 188o he was nominated for that office by the Democrats, but was defeated by his Re publican opponent, Gen. Garfield, by the small popular plurality of 7,00o vote:. He died at Governor's island, near New York on Feb. 9, 1886. Hancock was in many respects the ideal soldier of the Northern armies. He was quick, energetic and resourceful, reckless of his own safety, a strict disciplinarian, a painstaking, hard-working officer, a born commander of men. Grant said of him, "Hancock stands the most conspicuous figure of all the general officers who did not exercise a separate command. He commanded a corps longer than any other, and his name was never mentioned as having committed in battle a blunder for which he was responsible." A biography of him was written by Gen. Francis A. Walker (1894). See also History of the Second Corps, by the same author (1886).
(F. H. H.)