The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1886-02-16
Written FIR the SUNDAY RAsoo.
A GALLANT COMMANDER.
John O. Edwards RecOllections
of General Hancock.


The news by telegraph, informing
US of the death of Gen. w. s. Han
cock brings to mind many reminiscent
ces of the great chieftain, and as /
was a member of the First Division,
Second army corps, was considerably
startled a the announcement that the
Great Commander of the universe had
called the roll and that Gen. Han
cock had answered "here." He was
my idea of soldier-true, brave and
generous. No court of inquiry was
needed in his case to determine
whether he was true and loyal to the
government or to his superior officer
be was ALWAYS on hand, ready to
dare and to do. My first recollection
of him was at the Battle of Antietam,
after one divisir- commander, Gen.
Richardson. whine leading one regi-
ment (the Fifty-seventh. New York;
into action, was killed. Gen. Han
cnck then assumed command of the
First Division, Second army corps,
and his gallantry while in command
of that division, never can be forgot
ten by the men under him. After the
Battle of Antietam we crossed over
to the Virginia side of the Potomac,
at Harper's Ferry. There we were
reviewed by Presid- mt Lincoln, Gen.
McC lellan and Gen. Hancock. They
were three good friends, and the
cheering was great as they rode along
the line. After the review We
marched to Warrenton, Va. While
en- route there, we camped for the
night in a ne'ghborhood tfat had not
been thoroughly cleared out by troops
of either size. / saw quite an excite
ment up at the right Of US, caused by
the appearance of a pig in
camp, and when it came opposite
our regiment, i, with others,
gave chase. Away we went after
the pig, not noticing where
he led US to. / caught the pig under
the pole of the headqusrter wagon. i
did not see what agon it was, but
the squeal of the pig drew the atten-
ton of Gen. Hancock, who caught me
by the shoulders and gave me TO IN
derstand that when ] foraged / must
do so q little further from headquar-
tiers. He then told me to report back
to my regiment. Our march from
Warrenton to Fredericksburg was
through country mostly inhabited
by negroes. who would nearly always
tell US the distance TO Frericksburg
was ten miles. From the time we
left Warrenton until we came to the
banks of the Rappahannock river, at
Falmouth, Va. we encamped over
night on the road, and before Bivouac
/ saw a patch of potatoes and CON
cluded that after stacking arms i
would 60 back to the patch and get
some fer my supper. When / got back
the patch had been dug over nd the
owner sat on the fence m. dita'ing his
loss. / said, mister have you any
objection to me getting over there and
see if there is any leftf" He replied,
GAS far as am concerned the potato
patch is worthless T., me so pitch in"
1 managed to get naversack full,
and star ed with them to camp, when
q safe guard arrested me and took
me to General Hancock's headquar-
tiers, which happened to be at the
house of the man that owned the
potato patch. The general and his
host were sitting on bench on the
front porch of the house when the
guard brought me to the general.
Hancock looked at me and my load
and asked me what ] had been doing
now, when the quart answered and
ssd, "He has been stealing potatoes,
general" I explained that the
owner had given me permission TO
dig what potatoes / could find and re-
ferred to the gentleman himself, az
he had gone out to the house while j
was filing my haversack. The gem
eral asked him If that was the case,
when the man said that there was
some men asked permission after the
patch was dug over to 30 dig, and /
might be one of them. The general
then told me to go to my regiment
and take my potatoes along. A few
days after came the great battle of
Fredericksburg, and the charging of
Marni's heighls, General Hancocks
was the first line to charge
on the entmy's stronghold. back of
the city, and General Hancock led it
in persoa. His bravery there was
superb and gallant. All who saw
him will never forget, IS he deployed
his division to the right and left after
coming up through the city. The
rororal 10 dooI nxI Az L. A>l