Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-06-25


paign General Mcclellan recommended Han
cock for promotion to the rank of major
general of volunteers and the brevets Of
major, lieutenant colonel and colonel in the
regular army.
ALWAYS AT IT.
In September, 1862, Hancock commanded
his brigade in the battle of South Mountain
engagement, when General Richardson fell,
Hancock was sent to take command of that
gallant officers division. In November, 1862,
Hancock received his commission as major
general, and on the 18th of December was
engaged in tho desperate and bloody assault
on Mayre's Heights. His behavior on this
| occasion was in keeping with the high repu-
| tation he had achieved. He was, with his
division, in the thickest of the conflict, lead
| ing his men as far as 1t was possible, under
the circumstances, for men to go, and only
falling back when attempt at further advance
was foolhardy and useless. In this fight, as,
in fact, in almost every one in which he was
| engaged, he seemed to wear charm on his
| life. He received in the slaughter pen" as
the rank and file were wont to call the po-
sition they occupied in this fight, q slight
| flesh wound, coming out otherwise unframed,
though with uniform perforated with the
enemy's bullets. In this battle Hancock lost
one-half of his command. killed and wound
cd, and all his aids were wounded.
| At Charlottesville, in May, 1868, he COM
manded his division and covered the roads
leading towards fredericksburg, where,
amid surrounding disaster, although con-
stantly attacked, his troops maintained their
position to the last, and formed the rear
guard of the army in moving off the field.
The General had his horse shot under him
in the battle. Early in June he relieved
General Couch in command of the Second
corps, and later in the same moLth was
assigned by Mr.. Lincoln to be it's perna-
nent commander.
| In one of his battles General Hancock
placed one of his brigades in a certain po-
sition and said to its commander: 'Gen-
| eral, whatever happens, / want yon to
hold this ground" The brigade command
er was never very strong on the battlefield,
and on this occasion seemed to be particu-
larry weak and anxious, and as the General
turned to ride away to another part of the
field he followed him short distance and
called out: General, where are my reserves?"
General Hancock turned and, riding to
where the officer was standing, said, severely:
General, it is none of your business where
your reinforcements are; that is my business.
have placed you here to hold this ground;
that is all you are required to do, and want
it done, SIR" The brigade commander re-
turned to his line with sad step and sor-
rowful expression of countenance. :.
AT GETTYSBURG.
1t was at Gettysburg Hancock again
loomed up before the country IS hero. He
was commanding the rear guard of the army
in its advance on Gettysburg, and had reach
ed Tarrytown, the place where his grand
father, one hundred years before, had start
ed to escort one thousand Hessian prisoners
of Burgoyne's army to Valley Forge, when
General Meade sent him an order to hasten
to the front and assume command of all the
troops there. The report had reached Meade
of the fall of General Reynolds, and the
check and repulse of the advance, and his
mind at once turned to General Hancock as
the man above all others best qualified to
replace Reynolds and restore order to the
head of the army. Hancock was not the
ranking General, but in the critical state of
affairs Meade, knowing him to be the best
man, did not hesitate to assign him.
ION his way from Tarrytown to the battle
field Gen. Hancock met the ambulance con-
tanning the dead body of Gen. Reynolds.
When he arrived on the field he found the
army in confusion and retreat had already
begun. Planting some infantry and bat
teries on Cemetery Hill he threw hiswhole en-
ergy into the battle and checked the enemy.
Schwern and SAKE were said to be worth
each reinforcement of 10000 men to an
army; Torstensin was rated as equal to
$4,000, and the Duke of Wellington said the
arrival of Napoleon on a battle field was
a better reinforcement to the French army
than the accession of 10000 fresh troops.
What, then, shall we say to the velue of
General Hancock's arrival at that critical
moment on the battlefield of Gettysburg, q
battle that by common consent is now
admitted TO have decided the fate of the
Union and fixed the final result Of tina war?
OF General Hancook's individual action at
Gettysburg it would require volume to tell.
His was really the action of the army, and
Round Top, Culp's Hill and Cemetery
Heights were his creations. He sent word to
General Meade that was the place to fight,
and selling the favorable positions, with the
eye of consummate general, hung on to them
with the advance until Meade brought up
the whole army and delivered his battle.
THE INCARNATION OF WAR.
Hancock was grand and magnificent in the
battle of Gettysburg, and seemed the very
incarnation of war. On the second day he
was at Cemetery Heights during the fright
full oannonade when the rebels concentrated
the fire of one hundred and fifty guns
on our lines. The air was full of missiles;
streams of shot and shell screamed
and Kissed everywhere; it seemed
as though nothing could live under
that terrible fire-men and horses were torn
limb from limb; caissons exploded one after
another in rapid succession, blowing the
gunners to pieces. The infantry Rugged
the ground closely and sought every slight
shelter that the light earthworks afforded. 1t
was literally storm of shot and shell, like
the fall of rain drops or the beat of hail
stones Those who had taken part in every
battle of the war never had seen anything
like that cannonade, and the Oldest soldiers
began to be uneasy for the result. Hun
dreds and thousands were stricken down;
the shrieks of animals and screams of
wounded men were appalling; still
the awful rushing sound of flying
missiles went on and apparently never would
cease. It was then, when the firmest hearts
had began to quail, the army witnessed one
of the grandest sights ever beheld by any
army on earth. Suddenly band began to
play "The Star Spangled Banner" and Gen.
Hancock, with his staff-Maj. Mitchell, Capt.
Bingham, Capt. Parker, Capt. Bronson
with corps flags flying in the hands of
Private Wells, appeared on the right of his
line uncovered and rode down the front of
his men to the left. The soldiers held their
breath, expecting every moment to see him
fall from his horse pierced by a dozen bullets,
but still he rode on, while the shot roared