General winfield scott hancock biography
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Winfield Scott Hancock
United States Army officer (1824–1886)
Not to be confused with Winfield Scott.
Winfield Scott Hancock (February 14, 1824 – February 9, 1886) was a United States Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service in the Mexican–American War and as a Uniongeneral in the American Civil War. Known to his Army as "Hancock the Superb," he was noted in particular for his anställda leadership at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. His military service continued after the Civil War, as Hancock participated in the military Reconstruction of the South and the U.S.'s western expansion and war with the Native Americans at the Western frontier. This concluded with the Medicine Lodge Treaty. From 1881 to 1885 he was president of the Aztec Club of 1847 for veteran officers of the Mexican-American War.
Hancock's reputation as a war hero at Gettysburg, combined with
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Winfield Scott Hancock was born on February 14, 1824, in Montgomery Square, Pennsylvania. His family consisted of his twin brother, Hilary Baker Hancock, and parents Benjamin Franklin and Elizabeth Hoxwell Hancock. He was named after the hero of the War of 1812, perhaps suggesting his future profession. When he and his brother were about three-years-old, the family moved nine miles south of Montgomery Square to Norristown. There his father, an aspiring attorney who taught school, studied law and eventually passed the bar. His mother, Elizabeth, opened a millinery shop and Winfield Scott Hancock and his brother attended the local academy and eventually a public school. In 1830, a third boy was born into the family named John. Of the three children, Winfield showed the most interest in a military career, and at the age of 16, he enrolled at West Point Academy.
Amongst Hancock's classmates and contemporaries were several Civil War generals-to-be, including Alexander Hays, Ulysses S. G
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Winfield Scott Hancock gained his greatest fame for his crucial contributions to the Federal victory at Gettysburg. Union veterans remembered Hancock as a general who led from the front and whose forceful presence could change the course of a battle.
In addition to the Civil War, Hancock’s military service included dramatic experiences during the Mexican-American War, Reconstruction, and the Indian wars. He also pursued a national political career, which ended in an unsuccessful try for the presidency in 1880.
This lively biography introduces readers to an American soldier who put his mark on many of the important military and political events of his lifetime.
Civil War Campaigns and Commanders Series
About the Author
PERRY D. JAMIESON, a historian for the Air Force History Support Office in Washington, D.C., is coauthor of Attack and Die: Civil War Military Tactics and the Southern Heritage and author of Crossing the Deadly Ground: United States Army Tactics 1865–1