San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1880-07-10
WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK.
A Ratrietic Boyheods Followed
by Long Active, and Valuable
hrs Military 6crvlces d q


by Long Active. and valaablo
hgs Military Service. frO q
Winfield Scott Hancock ia soldier
IN deed as we'll as in name, and the
more hiA record is searched the more
Of credit will be diyulged. His imme.
diate ancestors. were 'stalwart early
settlers in Pennsylvania, Benjamin
franklin Hancock, his father, was Of
mixed English Scotch, and Irish blood.
His progenitors were Of excellent rev
olulopary rsne~n. His mother vas
Of Psfnsylyania dta cent too, The Cen
eral himself may have Inherited desir-
able Quaker, Episcopalian and Baptist
qualities, for those religious faiths
were represented in his grandfathsrs
aud grandmothers. He'was born in
what had been the family residence Of
the > Hancocks for, a century; in
Hatfield township, Montgomery
county Pa, in a picturesque
old house, with 1854 carved
as an age mark on its newest half, and
the more ancient tracings Of time on
the other, q building on which the
cuts of Indian tomahawks had record
cd an attack in the early French Ind
ian wars. a5,s. so's
A grandfather on the fathers side
during the revolution, was captured at
sea, claimed as British subject, and
taken to England for imprisonment.
A great-grandfather on the mothers
side, died from exposure on the field.
His mothers father received
special pension for gallantry io the
Continental army. The Generals faith
or became u soldier in 1912 though only
l6 years old, aud returned to the field
five times by re enlistment. Heroic
blood was thus bequeathed to the man
who is to be the President of the Uni
ted States of Ameri "a.
A PATRIOTIC BoYHooD AND EARLY
- - MANHOOD.
The rearing place Of the Democratic
candidate was Norristown, Pennsylvan
ia, where as boy he. daily saw the
scene of Washington's gallant crossing
of the Schuylkill. in the crucial cam
paign of Valley Forge, Incentives to
patriotism were not wasted Oh his boy
hood. He was born 1924 (hence is
now Sc years old.) and in 1899 nc was
chosen to read the Declaration of In
dependence at county celebration OF
the Fourth of july In the following
year. when he was sixteen, he entered
the o, United States Military
Academy at West Point, his spirit and
ability having recommended him for
that prcfcrment. Among his cadet
companions were the lads who subse-
quently became Gems. Longstreet,
Burnside, Hill, Mcclellan, Grant.
Jackson and REYNOLDS. Nature had
balanced his mental and physicalqual
tiles we'll, and he became without
special effort recognized leader OF
his comrades. He was graduated in
1874 and was at once assigned to the
9th infantry. IHewas yet hardly more
than boy. being only twenty; but he
had no chance to figure as soldier on
parlor carpets, being dispatched at once
to the western frontier to fight Indians.
His hardening service in the Indian
Territory lasted several years and earn
ed him promotion to second lieuten.
ancy.
The war with Mexico gave young
Lieut.. Hancock an opportunity to dis
linguish himself. He went to Mexico
with his regiment, and fought at San
Antonio, Cherubusco, Molino Del
Rey, and the City of Mexico. Through.
out the campaign he wns brave aud
useful enough to be awarded, at the
close of the war, the brevet Of first
Lieutenant for gallant and meritori7
GUS conduct" on certain specified oc-
casions. At Contreras and Cherubus-
co he behaved in the tandsomest
manner" to use the language Of an
official report. He served while as
Adjutant, and was in 1855 made As
sistapt Adjutapt-Geueral oftbe De
partner. Of the West. While filing
that position a. ST. Louis be mar
ried a daughter of Mr.. Samuel
Russell. a leading merchant. At about
the same time he was promoted to q
Captaincy. This was Distinguishing
honor for a ran ebly 81 years old. lie
served 10 southern Florida during The
Indian var Of 1861 and then went Il
Kansas fos delicste az well as activ'
duty. His next service was 10 th'