The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1886-02-13
DEATH OF GEN, HANCOCK.

DEATH OF GEN, HANCOCK.
On Tuesday afternoon the announce
ment went over the wires to all parts Of
the world that Gen Winfield Scott Han
cock was dead. To the majority of people
the news was a shock, for though the Gen
eral had been unwell for some time, hi
illness was not deemed serious, and few
save his friends and the watchful news
gatherers of the press had noted the fact
that he was i'll.
The immediate cause of death was eX-
haustion from malignant carbuncle on
the back Of the neck, directly over the yer
zebra. 1t began In January boil, which
on January Goth was lanced, four days af-
forwards developing into carbuncle His
end was painless AT midnight Monday
he lost consciousness and remained So I'm.
iii Tuesday, when he seemed TO rally for
a few moments only He died at POI p. NJ.
The funeral will take place in Philadel.
phia, the body being conveyed thither with
out pomp from his home at headquarters, on
Governors Island, ~ \. Ifarbor. There
will be no display at the grave or on the
route thither Such WAS his wish, the only
military ceremonies permitted on the occa.
sion being the firing Of salute over his
grave
Gen. Hancock WAS born in Pennsylvania,
near Montgomeryville, Feb IA, 1924 went
to West Point in 1910, graduating in 1874,
having AS classmates, or cotemporaries in
the Academy, such men as Grant, McClel.
Ian, Franklin, w, +. Smith, Burnside,
Rose, StOnewall Jackson, LOngstreet, &c.
On graduation he was assigned to the Sixth
infantry, as second lieutenant in a compa.
ny at Fort Towson, near Red River-the
"far west" He served with high distinc.
ton in Mexico winning laurels and honor
and displaying conspicuous gallantry on
many hard won field From the close of
the Mexican war to the opening of the re-
bellion he served in various capacities in
the regular army in the east and in the
west, 1861 finding him In California.
There, though surrounded by disunionlsts,
he promptly declared himself for the
Union, obtained orders TO come east, has.
tened to Washington, and was assigned the
command of a brigade under Badly"
Smith. His subsequent history would EN-.
brace that of the Army Of the Potomac up
to and including the battle of Gettysburg,
where he was wounded, and from Decem-
Der, 1868, with few intervals, to the close
of the war.
When Gettysburg was fought and won,
another decisive battle was added to the
short list of world changing" battles. As
Waterloo, won by the allies, made a Eu.
rope not possible but for NapoleOn's de
feat, so Gettysburg made the United States
an undivided nation and sounded the death
knel of slavery. All that followed Gettys-
burg was but rs a sequel-a finishing up
OF the advantage gained there,
In this great struggle, which gave deCi.
sion 10 so momentous question, Hancock is
the central figure. When Gettysburg is
named the magnificent presence of Han
cock rises before the mind the bright,
glorious, splendid personifcation of the
Great as had been his previous
achievements, they were as nothing
with the brllliancy and magni-
tude of his great victory at Gettysburg-for
il was his victory His had been the de
Gliding advice TO Meade TO fight the battle
there his was the task Of winning the bat.
tie, and as commander of the left center,
on which the confederates concentrated
their attack, most gloriously he fulfilled
his task and who shall say that had he es.
capped unframed and had been on the field
after the battle was over, he would not
have succeeded in effecting such prompt
and active pursuit of Lee and his forces as
would then and there have annihilated the
confederacy in July, 1868, anticipating Ap.
pomattox by nearly two years,
His subsequent services as soldier were
under Grant in the Wilderness" and in
the struggle around Richmond and Peters.
burg, az all times proving himself the
ideal soldier, beloved by his troops, and the
equal of every emergency.
After the war was over as military com.
mander and governor in more than one
part of the south, he laid aside the sword
so far as possible and set about bringing
order out of the chaos around about him,
reminding the people that peace had come
again and declaring that the civil law and
civil authorities should have precedence
over the military, and would be protected