A large man, finely proportioned with a most graceful carriage, and self-poise, and withal handsome, thus had nature endowed Winfield Scott Hancock, who was born in the county of Montgomery, Pennsylvania, February 14, 1824.
In 1844 he graduated from West Point with honor, and served with distinction in the war with Mexico, where he was commissioned lieutenant. Until the breaking out of the civil war he was stationed with his division in various parts of the country. Being recalled to Washington, he was commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers, and served with great valor during the Peninsula campaign. For this and other meritorious conduct he was made a major-general, and commanded a division at the great battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.
But in the great and decisive battle of Gettysburg Hancock won his greatest laurels. General Meade, his commander, sent him to the field of Gettysburg to decide if battle should be given there, or if the army should fall back to another position. Hancock reported that Gettysburg was the proper place, and thus the little hamlet became famous in history; two days of terrific fighting passed; the afternoon of the third day arrives and the final charge is made upon the division commanded by Hancock.
About one o'clock one hundred and fifty-five guns suddenly opened on that one division. For two hours the air was fairly alive with shells.
Every size and form of shell known to British or American gunnery shrieked, whirled, moaned, whistled and wrathfully fluttered over the ground, says Wilkinson. "As many as six in a second, constantly two in a second came screaming around the headquarters. They burst in the yard; burst next to the fence where the horses belonging to the aids and orderlies were hitched. The fastened animals reared and plunged with terror. One horse fell, then another; sixteen lay dead before the cannonade ceased. Through the midst of the storm of screaming and exploding shells an ambulance driven at full speed by its frenzied conductor presented the marvelous spectacle of a horse going rapidly on three legs, a hind one had been shot off at the hock. A shell tore up the little step at the headquarters cottage and ripped bags of oats as with a knife. Another shell soon carried off one of its two pillars.
Soon a spherical case burst opposite the open door, another tore through the low garret, the remaining pillar went almost immediately to the howl of a fixed shot that Whitworth must have made. Soldiers in Federal blue were torn to pieces in the road and died with the peculiar yell that blends the extorted cry of pain with horror and despair."
"The Union guns," says Barnes, "replied for a time, and were then withdrawn to cool." Probably the experience of the veteran troops knew that they would soon be needed for closer work. The men lay crouching behind rocks and hiding in hollows, from the iron tempest which drove over the hill, anxiously awaiting the charge, which experience taught them, must follow. Finally the cannonade lulled, the supreme minute had come, and out of the woods swept the Confederate double battle-line, over a mile long, preceded by a cloud of skirmishers, and with wings on either side to prevent its being flanked. This was Lee's first charge, and upon it depended, as subsequently seen, the rise or fall of the Confederate cause.
A quarter of a mile away, and a hundred guns tore great gaps in the line, but the men closed up and sternly moved on. A thrill of admiration ran along the Union ranks as silently and with disciplined steadiness, that magnificent column of eighteen thousand men moved up the slope, with its red battle-flags flying, and the sun playing on its burnished bayonets. On they came on the run. Infantry volleys struck their ranks.
Their ranks were broken, and their supports were scattered to the winds.
Pickett's veterans and A. P. Hill's best troops went down. Out of that magnificent column of men, only one-fourth returned to tell the story.
Three generals, fourteen field officers, and fourteen thousand men were either slain or captured. This was the supreme moment of the war; from that hour the Confederate cause waned and slowly died.
All honor to Hancock, the hero of Gettysburg, who was borne bleeding from the field, not to resume active service until March, 1864, when he took a leading part in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court-House, North Anna, the second battle of Cold Harbor, and in the operations around Petersburg. After the war was over he was placed in command of the Middle Department, the Department of Missouri, of Louisiana and Texas, of Dakota, and on the death of General Meade, promoted to command the Department of the East, which position he held at his death.
In 1868 he was a very prominent candidate for the Democratic nomination, receiving 114-1/2 votes, but after an exciting contest, Horatio Seymour was nominated on the 22nd ballot. The next year he was tendered the Democratic nomination for Governor of his native State, but respectfully declined.
In 1880 he accepted the nomination from the same party for the highest honor within the gift of the party, but in the subsequent election was defeated by James A. Garfield, the Republican nominee. His last conspicuous appearance in public was at the funeral services of General Grant, where he acted as marshal of ceremonies. Scarcely six months were passed when we were startled with the news: Hancock is dead, and on February 13th, 1886, with military honors, but no elaborate display, he was laid at rest beside his father and beloved daughter. No long line of troops, no sound of dirges, no trappings of woe, marked the funeral of General Hancock. The man who had received the nomination of a great party for the highest honor in the nation's gift, who had turned the fortunes of many a battle, and whose calm courage in the midst of death had so often inspired the faltering regiments, was laid at rest quietly, without pomp or vain show, at Norristown, Pennsylvania.
GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN.
On the 3rd of December, 1826, was born in Philadelphia, a child who would one day become celebrated in the annals of history.
He enjoyed the privilege of a good education, graduating at the University of Pennsylvania, and when twenty years old he also graduated at West Point, ranking second in his class.
George B. McClellan was a brilliant scholar, and during the Mexican war won high esteem as an engineer. After the war he was engaged in various engineering projects, and rendered valuable service to the country by introducing bayonet exercises into the military tactics at West Point, and translating a French Manual of Bayonet Exercises, which was adapted to the United States service, and became an authority. In 1855-'6 he was a member of the Military Commission sent by the government to visit the seat of the Crimean war.
He resigned his commission in the regular army in 1857; became chief engineer of the Illinois Central Railroad, and in 1868 he also became Vice-President of the road; two years later, President of St. Louis and Cincinnati Railway. It is difficult to surmise what he might have become as a railway magnate but for the civil war.
At the outbreak of hostilities he became the major-general of Ohio volunteers, and by skillful generalship and bravery, succeeded in driving the rebels out of West Virginia, which made him commander-in-chief of the Army of the Potomac. General McClellan was over-cautious, and lingered about Washington with about 200,000 men, drilling and preparing for the battle. Succumbing to popular clamor he moved out toward Richmond.
Then followed the Peninsula campaign, wherein McClellan was forced to change his base, accomplishing one of the most masterly retreats in the annals of history. Being relieved of the command by Pope, who also failed, he was re-instated and fought the bloody battle of Antietam. In this battle he foiled the Confederate project of invasion, but popular clamor demanded his removal, as it was thought he followed up his victory too leisurely. This virtually ended his military services, and on November 8th, 1864, he resigned his commission. After his unsuccessful canvass for the presidency he, with his family, sailed for Europe, where he remained until 1868, when he returned to the United States and took up his residence at Orange, New Jersey. Henceforth he followed his profession as an engineer.
In 1877 he was elected Governor of New Jersey. On October 29th, 1885, he died at his residence in New York city from the effects of heart disease.
We do not propose to pose as a champion of McClellan's wrongs, real or supposed, but in reviewing his life the following facts are worthy of thought: He was in command at a time when the whole North were laboring under a delusion as to the requirements of the war, and it is doubtful if any general would have succeeded at this time. The fact that such an able general as Hooker was relieved after one reverse, leads one to wonder what might have been the fate of even Grant had he commanded at this time. However, it is not for us to say, but certain it is, that no greater military tactician was to be found among the generals of our late war, and as such he deserves credit.
ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT.
When a man is energetic and determines to be somebody in the world--which is praiseworthy so long as that energy is guided by propriety and a just conception of right--there are always scores, hundreds, perhaps thousands of people who endeavor to depreciate that man's reward.
No other excuse can be assigned for the slander and vituperation which has from time to time been heaped upon the fair reputation of General U.
S. Grant.
Born in obscurity at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27th, 1822, his life is a fitting type of the possibilities of our glorious institutions.
Through the influence of Hon. Thomas L. Hamer he was admitted at West Point in 1839. Personally, at this early age, he detested war and was opposed to accepting the opportunity, but his father persuaded him to go, and his name was blunderingly registered as U. S., instead of H. U., hence he was ever after known as U. S. Grant.
In 1843 he graduated, ranking twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine. It will be remembered that Lee and McClellan each ranked second when they graduated. At this time Grant was not taken with war, and probably evinced little interest in army tactics. The Mexican war came on and Grant here distinguished himself, rising to the rank of captain. After the war he was stationed at Detroit, and Sacketts Harbor, but this kind of inactivity was ill-suited to the restless nature of Grant; he therefore resigned.
Having married a Miss Dent, of St. Louis, he accordingly moved onto a farm near that city. The next few years he was engaged on the farm, in a real estate office in St. Louis, and at the outbreak of the civil war was in business with his father, dealing in leather. When the news of the fall of Fort Sumter reached Galena he immediately raised a company and marched to Springfield where they tendered their services to the governor. Grant acted as mustering officer until, being commissioned colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers, he took the field. His first great victory was the capture of Fort Donelson with 15,000 prisoners. When asked by the Confederate general what terms of surrender was expected his answer was, "No terms other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move upon your works at once." The fall of Fort Donelson and the capture of its garrison being the first substantial victory that had crowned the Union cause, together with the above described answer to General Buckner, brought the name of General Grant prominently before the country.
Pittsburgh Landing followed and then Grant determined to take Vicksburg.
All his generals declared the plan he proposed unmilitary and impossible, but after several unsuccessful attempts the Gibraltar of the Mississippi was captured, and this time 27,000 prisoners taken. Now came the battle of Chattanooga. General Halleck in speaking of this battle said:
"Considering the strength of the rebel position, and the difficulty of storming his intrenchments, the battle of Chattanooga must be considered the most remarkable in history. Indeed it is so. After Grant had turned the Confederate right flank, Sherman was intercepted between Longstreet and Bragg, thus cutting Longstreet entirely out, and preventing another junction being possible. Resolutions of thanks were passed in Ohio and New York, and Congress created Grant a Lieutenant-General, a commission which had been held by no one since General Scott resigned. Indeed, if ever a General deserved honor, Grant had won it; he had opened the Mississippi to navigation, and had captured nearly 100,000 prisoners and arms."
He was now commander of all the Federal forces. He at once inaugurated two campaigns to be carried on at once. One under Sherman, against Atlanta commanded by the skillful rebel General Johnson; the other under Meade, directed against Lee and the Confederate capitol. Sherman advanced upon Atlanta, and the success of his famous march to the sea is well-known.
The capture of Lee was a far more difficult undertaking. After various flanking movements and costly assaults, the problem of taking Lee narrowed itself down to a siege of Petersburg. Grant perceived that his only hope lie in literally starving the Confederate army out by cutting off all resources as far as practicable. Lee attempted to draw off attention toward Washington, but General Sheridan drove Early out of the Shenandoah Valley, devastating the country to such an extent that it was impossible to forage an army there should Lee attempt such a maneuver again. Time wore away, and on the 9th of April, 1865, Grant captured the Confederate army under Lee, thus virtually ending the war.
On July 25, 1866, he was made general of the United States army; the rank having been created for him, he was the first to hold it. At the next Republican Convention, Grant was nominated for President on the first ballot, and was elected over Seymour, and was re-elected a second term by an increased majority.
When his public services were finished he started in company with his wife, son Jesse, and a few friends. They set sail from Philadelphia on the 17th of May, 1877. They visited nearly all the countries of Europe, and part of those of Africa and Asia. On this trip the Grant party were the guests of nearly all the crowned heads of those foreign countries, everywhere receiving the most exalted honors it has ever been the pleasure of an American to enjoy, and on his return to the United States they were the recipients of an ovation in many of the principal cities of this country.
His success seems to have been the outgrowth of hard study and ability to perform the most exhaustive labor without fatigue. The scenes of his later days were clouded with the intrigues of a stock gambler, but the stain that the Grant-Ward failure seemed likely to throw on the spotless reputation of General Grant was wiped away when the facts were brought to light, and a new lustre was added to his fame by the self-sacrifice shown in the final settlement.
General Grant proved to be a writer of no low order, and his autobiography is a very readable book. On July 23rd, 1885, the General surrendered to a loathsome cancer, and the testimonials of devotion shown the honored dead; and the bereaved family throughout the civilized world, indicated the stronghold upon the hearts of the people held by the dead General.
STONEWALL JACKSON.
The true name of this most remarkable man was Thomas Jonathan Jackson; few people, however, would recognize by that name to whom was referred.
At the battle of Bull Run, when the Confederates seemed about to fly, General Bee suddenly appearing in view of his men, pointing to Jackson's column exclaimed: "There stands Jackson like a stone-wall." From that hour the name he received by ordinance of water was supplanted by that received in a baptism of fire.
Stonewall Jackson was born at Clarksburg, Virginia, January 21st, 1824.
He graduated at West Point in time to serve in the Mexican war, where he became distinguished for gallant service and was brevetted as captain, and finally major. After serving a number of years in the regular army he resigned to become professor and instructor in military tactics in the Virginia Military Academy, situated at Lexington, Kentucky. He was considered at this time a most peculiar man, being very eccentric in his habits. At the breaking out of the civil war he naturally sided with his State, and it is believed that he was sincere. It is said that Jackson never fought a battle without praying earnestly for the success of his people. As has been intimated, he saved the day for the Confederacy at Bull Run.
McClellan was promised the assistance of General McDowell and forty thousand men who had been left at headquarters for the protection of the capital. It was well-known that a combined attack on Richmond was designed immediately upon the junction of the two great armies. To prevent the execution of this plan Jackson was ordered to drive the Federal forces out of the Shenandoah Valley and threaten Washington. He accomplished this by one of the most brilliant campaigns of the war. He crossed the mountains and drove the army of Fremont back, and returning to the Valley with all speed defeated Banks at every turn; indeed, it was only by the most rapid marching that the Federals escaped across the Potomac.
McDowell was suspended from joining McClellan and ordered to co-operate in crushing Jackson. Jackson, with a force of scarcely twenty thousand men, had opposed to him, bent upon his destruction, fully seventy thousand men, and four major-generals; his defeat seemed certain, yet by a most rapid and skillful march he eluded pursuit until his army had reached a point from which his line of retreat was safe, when he turned upon his enemy and defeated Fremont at Cross Keys June 8th, and Shields at Port Republic the next day. Having thus accomplished the purpose of the campaign, he hastened to join Lee in his attack on McClellan. As before stated, this was a most brilliant campaign. Not only was McDowell prevented from joining McClellan, but McClellan became alarmed as to his own safety, and resolved to change his base from the York to the James.
This forced upon him the Peninsula campaign, which resulted in the Union army being driven back to Washington. For this and other important services he was made a major-general. Being placed in immediate control of nearly half of Lee's entire army, he made one of his characteristic movements; gaining Pope's rear, fell upon the Union forces with a terrible ferocity which carried all before it. By a rapid movement in the Antietam campaign Jackson captured Harper's Ferry and eleven thousand men, and then, by a forced march, rejoined Lee in time to take an important part in the battle of Antietam two days afterward.
At Fredericksburg he was made a lieutenant-general. He soon controlled two-thirds of the Confederate forces, and at Chancellorsville he made a secret march of over fifteen miles mostly by forest roads, and gaining Hooker's right fell upon it by surprise, and drove it in rout upon the main body. The engagement being apparently over he rode into the woods to reconnoiter, having with him a small escort. Upon his return they were mistaken for Union scouts and fired upon by his own men. Several of the escort were killed, and Jackson received three balls, one through each hand and one which shattered his shoulder. He was at length carried to the rear where his arm was amputated. Pneumonia set in, however, which was the immediate cause of his death. His last words were, "Let us cross over and rest under the shade of the trees."
Stonewall Jackson was considered by the Confederates to have been their most brilliant commander, and his death had much to do with the overthrow of their Government.