The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1880-07-07
WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK.

ceStOrS were SGa4"@Io e1'
panosv1vsnia. Benjamin Franklin
Hancock, his father, was Of mixed Eng
Ia, sootrb and Irish blood. His pro-
o,en;tors were of excellent Revolution
ervrenovn. His mother was OF Penn
svivanis descent, too. The genera
himself may have Inherited desirable
Quaker, Episcopal and Baptist quan-
ties. for those religious faiths were rep
,osanted in his grandfathers and grand
-,,others. He was born in what has
been the family residence Of the Hcn-
cocks for century; in Hatfield town
chin. Mountgomery county, Pa.' IN a
picturesque old house, with 1854 carved
as an age mark on its newest hail. AZ
the more ancient trscings OF time on .
otber g. building on which the cuts OF
Tn6ian tonahawks had recorded an at
tack IN the early French-Indian wars.
A grandfather on the fathers sloe'
during the Revolution, was captured az
Sea, claimed as 8 British subject ana
tsken to England for imprisonment a
aeat-grandSather on the mothers sue
died rom exposure on the field. his
roother's father received a special pen
sion for gallantry in the Continental
srnv. The generals father became a
soldier in 1912, though only sixteen
wears old, and returned to the field five
times by re-enistment. Heroic olooo
was thus bequeathed to the man VINO IS
to- be the President of the United States
of fAmerica. >:' ''
The rearing place of the Democratic
candidate was Norristown, Pa, where
as 8 boy he daily saw the scene OF
Washington's gallant crossing OF the
schuylkill, in the crucial campaign OF
Vslley Forge. Incentives to patriotism
were not wasted on his boyhood. Hew
horn in lss4(hence is now ffty-six years
old), and in 1889 he was chosen to read
the Dee,arstion of Independence at a
county celebration Of the Fourth OF
July. In the following year, when ne
was sixteen, he entered the Onl5eo
Ssates military academy at west
Point, his spirit and ability having re-
commended him for that preferment.
Among his cadet companions were the
lads that subsequently became Generals
Lonesheet, Burnside, Hill, Mcclellan,
Grant, jackson and Reynolds. Nature
had balanced his mental and physical
qualities well, and he became, without
special effort, recognized leader Of his
comrades. He was graduated in 1874,
and was at once assigned to the Sixth
infantry. He was yet hardly more than
aboy, being only twenty; but he had
no chance to figure as soldier on par
lor CARPETS, being dispatched at once to
the Western frontier to fight Indians
His hardening-ser7ice in the Indian
Territory lasted several years and
earned him a promotion to a second
Jieutenancy. ..-s
The war with Mexico gave young Lieu
tenant Hancock chance to distinguish
himself. He went to Mexico with his
regiment, and fought at San Antonio,
Cherubusco, Moino del Rey, and the
CITY of Mexico. Throughout the cam
paien he was brave and useful enough
to be awarded at the close of the war,
the brevet of first lieutenant ''for gal
lant and meritorious conduct" on GER
tain specified occasions. At Contrerss
and Cherubusco he 'behaVed in the
handsomesS manner" to use the Ian
guage of an official report. He served
a while as adjutant, and was in 1855
made assistant acknowledgement of the
Department of the West. While filing
that position at st. Louis, he married a
daughter of Mr.. Samuel Russell lead
ing merchant. At about the same time
he was promoted to a captaincy. This
was a distinguished honor for man
only thirty-one years old. He served IN
Southern Florida during..the Indian war
of 1867, and then went to Kansss for
delicate as.well as active duty. His next
service was in the military expedition
70 Utah, under Harney, and afterward
he rode overland to California, where
he was stationed for the next few years.
At the outbreak Of the civil war
Captain hancock was on duty at Los
Angels, Cal. He at once look deter
mined stand as Union man, doing much
BY private influence and public speeches
to stay the tide ofsecession feeling on the
Pacific coast. It is thought that to his
influence, more than to anything else'
was due the salvation Of that State from
rebellion. His public speeches were
many and potent. But he YVES not con-
n @f& &Hn+ ~