Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-02-13

O0CK OcrfcCc Or00T.
spicuous part in 4 nom the INST day. He was
sas eS 81 sss oops Sss
the lunior Of Gen. Howard, but Meade chose to
say, sought to break the force Of that by
implying and even asserting that Hancock
came can as sort Of staff officer to Meade. But
ms record Is absolutely against any such i'm
putation. Hancock was sent to take COM
mand, and did take command, and did com.
Whea al the Of tine LIST
sent them here ana there, rehabilitated the
line and prepared for the defense of
to when saceSt
mas never been given. Hancock, coming
~ up ON, on that field on the afternoon OF the lst
list and the 18th corps had been terribly de-
1eated after gallant fighting against vastly SUI
Pe PEI, force, not only occupied the cemetery
first division, then coming up, division Of the
18th corps. to Little Round Top. When 1 was
st. si, Getttyse bur In November was very much
never heard OF their lighting there. had never
18th corps was at the other r. end Of the line, and
1t was the first time 1t was ever impressed upon
me that Little Round Top was occupied by
first day. Gen. Geary's division having been
ti1e R"nnd nE somebody's orders that night
day. sns
immense credit, and justly, for having, in the
crisis OF the second days fight, seen that the
about to seize that and
;ntlsg great 3; ssa.stI0pSs: 50 tia. t., lis Is
in the very first approach to the field. heshould
nave appreciated the importance OF that position
ana nave provided for its occupation, and it was
On the second day-that great and terrible bat
tie of the second day-Hancock was put in COM
q tRs than his He
on the third day he received the charge of Pick.
EFT, SO that his relation to Gettysburg was not
Of
command during the two preceding days, end
having made the arrangements which stopped
provided for the occupation Of the whole posi-
ton OF Culp's hill 10 the Little Round Top at
the other extreme end. never have under.
from that position, and never have been able to
ind out. Fortunately, through Warren's re-
markable insight and prompt action, the mis-
chief which would have resulted from it was
The next great day Of Hancock was, of course,
the battle OF the Wilderness, in which he COM
manded the entire left wing of Meade's army,
consisting not only OF his own corps, but OF
divisions sent to him from other corps. On the
he made that great assault in which he car
ried A. p. Hills intrenchments and fought
one OF the greatest battles of the war on
any field of operations. Then the next, and
perhaps some would esteem It greater than
Gettysburg In some respects, was the 18th OF
May at SpOttsylvania, and some would regard
this as the elimination of Hancock's glory as a
commander, where he formed his troops early
In the morning and assaulted the confederate
position near Spottsylvania Courthouse, cap
turing 600 prisoners and 20 pieces of artillery,
and held his position for 13 hours against what
suppose was the most terrible series of assaults
ever delivered. 1t was very common to speak
of the dead being piled on each other, but very
few men have ever seen 1t. You go over a
bloody field, like Anttetam, or Fredericks-
burg, or Gettysburg, and dead men are
good way apart. Sometimes they are piled
In a row. Here and there you can step from
man to man, and sometimes the dead lie in
contact. But 1t was literally true that here,
when the enemy were attempting to retake the
works and get back those guns, the dead lay in
piles of three, four and five deep, and the
wounded under the dead in many cases. For
thirteen hours the fighting there was of the
most terrific character. Of course that was not
Hancock's last day of action. He commanded
his corps in various operations following, but 1t
was perhaps the elimination of the mans
glory: His Gettysburg wounds continued to
command of bis corps more than once during
the campaign of 1864, and finally his wounds
broke out afresh and he was obliged to leave
the field. Then he began to raise the first vet
eran corps, as 1t was called, to be composed en-
tirely Ofmen who had completed their terms of
service In the army, of honorable record, and
was not engaged with the enemy in the APP
pomattox campaign. although in the field with
his corps.