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So many times, he was there when decisive leadership was so
desperately needed. In the Peninsula Campaign. At Chancellorsville.
Antietam. Gettysburg. There, and on other bloody fields of fire
and fury, General Winfield Scott Hancock distinguished himself
in defense of the Union. Named for General Winfield Scott –
hero of the War of 1812 and the Mexican War – he graduated
from West Point in the class of ’44 in time to serve under
his namesake in Mexico. There he earned honors for valor in action.
Further service to his country followed: in the Seminole War,
in Kansas and California.
When friends in uniform went South on the eve of the Civil
War, he remained fully devoted to the Union. Early in the conflict
he distinguished himself in the Army of the Potomac, winning
praise at the Battle of Williamsburg during the Peninsula Campaign.
His courageous conduct led the army commander, General George
B. McClellan, to praise him as “Hancock the Superb”. |