Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1880-07-03


Gen. Hancock could do no more. Ito
lie saw then that the only hope for Mrs.
Surratt lay in the power of her daueh-
ter TO move the Presidents heart. IIo
so informed her, .'and gave her every
facility in his power TO gain access 10
the President. SO great was his anx-
iety in regard TO the looked for pardon
or rcprieye that he placed line OF
mounted sentincls from the White House
10 the place of execution. that the words
of grace, if spoken nj the last minute,
should go surely and swiftly. But no
such words were spoken.
Gen. IIancocks galantry at the battle
of Spottsylvania had been rewarded on
March l3, 1865, by his promotion to
the rank of brevet major general in the
army OF the United States. lle was IN
command of the middle department
from July 1865 TO August 1866, when
he was transferred to the department OF
the Missouri, and while in command
there conducted an expedition against
the hostile Indians on the plaires. On
the 26th OF August, 1867, General Han
cock was assigned by President John
son 10 the command of the department
of the gulf. lie assumed command on
November 20. establishing his head
quarters at New Orleans, and on that
day issued the first of that series Of or
ders in which he defined the relations
that should exist in times of peace be
tween the military aud civil authorities,
and declared that the former should bc
subordinate TO the latter.
CONTROVERSY wIrr GRANT.
General IIancock's difficulty with
Grant grew out of the military orders
above mentioned. When in Washing
ton, on his way to lake command of tho
military division of the Atlantic, Han
cock, who resented the revocation OF
one of those orders by General Grant.
who assumed To do so in his quality "a
general in chief, treated General Grant.
with scant courtesy. The latter resent
ed it subsequently, byplacing llaococks
Juniors in rank in commands 10 whicn
he was entitled a sharp and volumi
nous correspondence subsequently en-
sued between General Hancock aud
General Sherman on this subject, Gen
eral Sherman being then general il,
chief, but acting under the orders OF
President Grant.
POLITICAL HoNoRs.
In the democratic national convention
held in New York in July, 1868, he was
candidate for the presidential nomlna-
ton, receiving 33 l-2 votes on the first
ballot out of 3lS, which number grad
ually increased to l4i l-2 on the eighth.
teenth ballot, this being, with one ex-
ception of l45 l-2 cast for Pendleton,
on the twelfth ballot, the greatest Dum
ber of votes given to any candidate un
ill the twenty second ballot, when llo-
ratio Seymour received the unanimous
vote of the convention. Gen. Hancock
was freely mentioned for the presidency
again in 1872, 2,when Horace Greeley was
nominated In 1869 the democratic
nomination for Governor of PcDnsyva-
mia was rendered him, but he declined it.
Ills ANtEolh1.
Gen. Hancock comes from Angle
Saxon stock, the ancestral lihe OH tho
maternal side leading back TO the Eng
lish and Welsh, and on the paternal 10
the English, Irish and Scotch. Ills
fathers family were originally Rpisco
palians and Friends, and his mothers
Baptisls. Ills mothers family have re-.
sided in Pennsylvania from the time OF
William Penn, aud have been. living in
what is now Montgomery county for
the last $50 years. In Hatfield town
ship, in that county, may now be seen
the old family homestead, with the fig
ures l7G4 on the gable end OF the more
recent part; the older part, built long
before, falling into decay. Among tho
incidents related OF his mothers family
is one illustrating the dangers 70 which
the early settlers were exposed. Du
ring tie French Indian wars before tho
revolution, in the absence OF the men
on campaign, the Indians attacked
the house in which they then resided
and drove the women TO the attic, which
defended with spirit, chopping the
fingers OF the savages with balcheis as
they climbed up 10 kill or capture them.
The Indians finally set fire 10 the dwell
ing, but the neighbors came to The res,
cue, extinguished the danes, and saved
the family.
The General is a direct DESCENDANT
of the lIancocks who came 10 This
country in the early period Of its settle,
meut, and during the revolutionary war
his ancestors on both sides were en-
gagged, either on sea or land, in tho
struggle for liberty and Independence.
His grandfather on bis fathers side
was captured at sea, claimed as q Brit
ish subject, and Imprisoned in Dart
moor prison, England. Ills gpea-
grandfather and grandfather on his
mothers side served IN The continental
armies. The former died soon after the
end Of the revolutionary war in coDse-
quencc Of expOsuIe in ine field Tho
latter went into the revolutionary ranks
when a boy Of fifteen years Of age, and
five times, as member OF different reg
iIncnts, returned 10 the field. During
the war, when at Taneytowp, Nd, bis
command Was called upon 10 escort
Burgoynes prisoners captured at
at Saraiogs, TO Valley Forge ~.
Gen. Hancock was married IN St.
Louis III 1856 10 Miss A!mira Russell,
tho daughter Of a merchant of that city.
IHs CHILDREN. d 5000