The National tribune., 1886-11-25
TRIBUTE TO HANCOCK.
Address to the Vermont Veterans by
Gen. Francis A. Walker.

able and eloquent address was delivered By
Gen. Francis A. Walker. He said:
GEN. wALKER's ADDRESS.
Comrades: In the early afternoon Of the Sd
of July, 1863, a brigade of Vermont troops, new
10 battle, lay under arms along Cemetery Ridge
watching the march of a Confederate column,
which, panoplied in all the majesty and terror
OF war, was bearing down upon the center OF
the Army of the Potomac They had borne
their share OF the hideous cannonnade, in
tended to shake the nerve Of the Union forces,
when 40 guns opened at signal and for an
hour and half scOurged the plain and the
low crest on which our troops lay till the very
earth seemed to shake, and the air was full OF
bursting shells and their whistling fragments
carrying death to every quarter.
They had seen the Confederate columns form
ing in the edge of the woods on Seminary Ridge;
80 hardy battalions, veterans Of many fight,
wheeling into their place; brigade after bril-
gade breaking from cover to join the desper-
ate enterprise, while the Confederate chieftains,
with their stats, galloped along the lines to
give the last orders, then took their stations at
the head of their troops They had seen that
column, 1900 strong, launched by a word, its
right directed against themselves, and had
.clutched their muskets tighter, with quivering
hands and throbbing hearts, as their thoughts
ran swiftly on to the encounter so soon to
come in this their first battle. They had seen
fOoNOy Aoeh itklHlCuI iOh thO
skirmish-line as the stones and timbers OF
broken dam, uprooted trees and the wreckage
OF 100 houses are swept onward before the
mountainous flood Of waters At half infantry
range they had opened FIRE on the brigade of
Kemper. forming Pickett's right fire all the
more deadly because the men who there
welded the musket had from boyhood been
accustomed to the use of the rifle along the
wooded slopes or among the grassy wales of the
Green Mountains. With mingled feelings of
relief-for they were humaR-and of regret
for they were brave-they had seen the Con-
federates sheer abruptly and rapidly off to the
north, partly as the effect of the withering vol
leys poured among them by the men of STAN
nard and Gates, partly as tho result Of the
original direction Of the column of assault
upon the cOpse OF trees" on Gibbons line,
partly in consequence of that instructive ten
dency 10 close in upon the center which besets
all assaulting columns, and, leaving their
front, bear down upon the troops nearer to Gem
etery Hill.
While, then, in hope and doubt and fear.
these brave Nermonters awaited the result of
that terrible collision, seeing themselves appar-
emily excluded by the changed direction sud-
denly given TO the Confederate column from
all further participation in the great struggle,
there rode rapidly between their lines. where
no mounted man had for hours been seen, a
general officer of princely port and of singu-
larry DOiu anu commanding aspect.
1t was Hancock come to throw the Vermont
brigade upon the flank OF the Confederate col
umn, already pressing mp the slope on which
stood the troops of Gibbon and Alexander
Hays.
1t has been said that the commander Of the
brigade anticipated the order and was already
preparing TO move his regiments against the
foe. IL so, double share of honor belongs to
George j. Stannard. Few officers in his rank
and station. even had they seen the opportunity
thus unexpectedly offered, would have had the
moral courage 10 assume the responsibility OF a
movement away from the general line Of battle.
Certain it is, Hancock had come down in hot
haste TO direct the advance and in person TO
superintend its execution.
You know. many of you, not because it Is so
written, but because you saw il, how, even as
Randalps 18th regiment, followed fast by the
10TH flung itself forwardN changing front on
the right company, and oIrhed up on the flank
| of the Confederate column, that stately figure
suddenly drooped, the fire died ont of that i'm
perious eye, and the heroic leader Of the left
wing Of the Army of the Potomac, there, on
the front line of battle, fall, stricken. into the
| arms Of Hooker and Benedict. Yet, even on
the ground which he was moistening with his
blood, this prince Of soldiers could not relin-
| quish the charge that had been intrusted to
him. Raising himself Oh his elbow to look
| over the low, tumble-dOwn stone wall by which
he lay, he wached with filmy eyes the progress
| Of the Sight, in n feeble aud falterng voice
issued his orders to commanders and staff, and
| only when the mighty column which 40 min
utes before emerged from the woods on Semi
nary Ridge had collapsed under the flank at
| tack Of Stannard and the advance of Webb.
Harrow and Hall, suffered himself to be borne
| from the field.
Comrades, the gallant soldier, the brilliant
| tactician, the born leader Of men, whom so
4 F. n A l.
ranks, has passed away from earth since the
last Reunion of your society, and know Of no
more fitting subject for the veterans Of Vermont
| to contemplate on this occasion than the mill
tary character and services of Winfield Scott
Hancock.
The outbreak of the war found Hancock, in
the 3Sth year of his age, a Captain in the Regu-
lar Army in charge Of the Quartermaster's De-
pot at Los Angeles on the Pacific Coast. Christ
soldier, graduating from the Military Academy
| In 1874, he had Joined Scott's column in time
TO take part in the later battles of the marvel
Gus campaign which ended in the capture oi
the Mexican capital. l doubt If there was an
officer in the United States army who. during
that period, while political, social and indus
| trial forces were preparing the great war oi
secession, learned so much, or, to use the phrase
Of trade, turned over his capital" so often
| He had courage. fiery, enthusiastic courage
| positive, active, unfaltering loyalty to country
aud to comrade He had industry beyond
measure. The ambition that stirs to do great
deeds and be worthy Of high promotion the
power of patient labor that has been called &c
Mus; above ALL an unrest while anything re-
mained TO be done, dissatisfaction with what
was incomplete, n repugnance at what was
slovenly, coarse or half made up.
1t followed that the outbreak OF the wal
found Hancock singularly well endowed and
equipped for the responsibilities and duties that
were TO devolve upon him. What he knew o.
infantry and could do with infantry let vii
liamsburg and Fredericksburg and Gettysburg
and the salient at SpOttsylvania testify. While
he was not master of the science of logistics
like Meade and Humphreys he could conduct
long march over bad roads with artillery anC
trains, better, in my humble Judgment, thar
any other officer of the war, Federal or Confed
crate.
OF the uses Of cavalry and artillery, Han
cock knew enough not 20 think, like many higl
commanding officers, that he knew everything
or TO interfere in the conduct of those charged
with these highly specialized services; and t.
recognize good work whenever and by whom
ever done.
Finally, Hancock's experience before the wa
had made him perfect master Of the regula
lions, Of the procedure proper to every depart
ment OF the army. and 10 evory occasion OF tn,
service, and of the forms Of military CORE
spOndence and records A master, say, not
slave; for while no man understood better tn,
beneficial uses Of red tape no one knew bette
how TO cut red-tape when the occasion required
Since the deadly shafts are thus droppin;
thick and fast among us, from an unseen enc
l.at, ,-aHl aln