In excellent condition.
Presented to Brevet Major General Rufus Ingalls

Hancock, Winfield S., major-general, was born at 
Montgomery Square, Pa., Feb. 14, 1824, and was sent in early 
boyhood to Norristown academy.  There he first began to 
display his military tastes by continually marching and 
countermarching with his playmates, among whom he organized a 
military company, of which he was chosen captain.  In his 
fifteenth year the boy received a marked expression of public 
esteem, in being appointed to read in public at Norristown the 
Declaration of Independence.  In 1840, at the age of sixteen, 
he entered the West Point military academy, as a member of a 
class that graduated twenty-five, among whom were Gens. U. S. 
Grant, George B. McClellan, William B. Franklin, William F. 
Smith, Joseph J. Reynolds, Rosecrans, Lyon, and others of the 
Federal army, and Longstreet, Pickett, E. K. Smith, and 
"Stonewall" Jackson of the Confederate army.  Hancock was 
graduated on June 30, 1844, and was brevetted second 
lieutenant of the 6th infantry July 1.  He was afterward sent 
to join his company in the Indian country, near the Red river, 
on the border of Texas, and in this rough but exhilarating 
duty he remained until 1846, when he was commissioned second 
lieutenant in a company stationed on the frontier of Mexico, 
where he remained until the outbreak of the Mexican war.  His 
first active service in that conflict was at the National 
bridge, on the way from Vera Cruz to Puebla, where he was in 
command of a storming party, and captured the bridge and a 
strong barricade.  He was brevetted first lieutenant "for 
gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras 
and Churubusco in the war with Mexico."  Between 1848 and 1855 
he served as regimental quartermaster and adjutant on the 
upper Missouri, being ordered to Fort Snelling, Minn., in 
1849.  In 1855 Lieut. Hancock was appointed quartermaster with 
The rank of captain, and ordered to Florida, where the 
Seminole war was going on, and where, under Gen. Harney he 
performed difficult and arduous service.  Next occurred the 
disorders in Kansas, and he was ordered to Fort Leavenworth, 
and after the Kansas troubles were over he accompanied Gen. 
Harney's expedition to Utah.  Following the Utah outbreak, he 
was ordered to join his regiment, the 6th infantry, at Fort 
Bridger, and made the trip with sixteen soldiers, a distance 
of 709 miles, in twenty-seven days with a train of wagons.  He 
was next ordered to Benicia, Cal., and the entire journey 
which he made from Fort Leavenworth to that station, 2,100 
miles, was performed by Capt. Hancock on horseback.  Later he 
was stationed at Los Angeles, Cal., where he was when the 
Civil war broke out, with a depot of military stores under his 
control, which he succeeded in holding until the arrival of 
reinforcements.  He was then ordered to the east, reaching New 
York Sept. 4, 1861, when he reported at Washington for 
service.  He was at once commissioned brigadier-general and 
placed in charge of a brigade, consisting of the 5th Wis., the 
6th Me., the 48th Pa., and the 4th N. Y. infantry.  In the 
spring of 1862, the division of which his brigade was a part 
was assigned to the 4th army corps and had its first serious 
conflict with the enemy at Lee's mill on April 16.  He saw 
sharp fighting at Williamsburg and Frazier's farm and in the 
Maryland campaign.  At the battles of South mountain and 
Antietam he commanded the 1st division of the 2nd army corps, 
which fought brilliantly during the second day of the battle 
of Antietam.  In the battle of Fredericksburg he again 
commanded the same division in the magnificent attempt to 
storm Marye's heights, Dec. 13, 1862, when he led his men 
through such a fire as has rarely been encountered in warfare. 
The following spring Hancock's division fought at 
Chancellorsville, and on June 25, he was ordered by the 
president to assume command of the 2nd army corps.  In the 
fight of July 3, at Gettysburg, he commanded the left center, 
the main point assailed by the Confederates, and was shot from 
his horse, being dangerously wounded, but remained on the 
field until he saw that the enemy's attack had been repulsed 
by his corps.  For his services in this campaign Gen. Hancock 
received, on April 2l, 1866, a resolution of thanks passed by 
Congress.  His wound kept him from active duty until March, 
1864, when he resumed command in the spring campaign of that 
year, and fought in the battles of the Wilderness and 
Spottsylvania, also at the second battle of Cold Harbor and in 
the assault on the lines in front of Petersburg.  On Aug. 12, 
1864, he was appointed brigadier-general in the regular army 
"for gallant and distinguished services in the battles of the 
Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and Cold Harbor, and in the 
operations of the army in Virginia under Lieut.-Gen. Grant."  
In the movement against the South side railroad in October of 
that year Gen. Hancock took a leading part.  On Nov. 26, he 
was called to Washington to organize a veteran corps of 50,000 
men, and continued in the discharge of that duty until Feb. 
26, 1865, when he was assigned to the command of the military 
division and ordered to Winchester, Va.  After the 
assassination of President Lincoln, Gen. Hancock's 
headquarters were transferred to Washington, and he was placed 
in command of the defence of the capital.  On July 26, 1866, 
he was appointed major-general of the regular army, and on the 
1Oth of the following month assigned to the command of the 
Department of the Missouri.  Here he fought the Indians until 
relieved by Gen. Sheridan, when he was placed in command of 
the fifth military district, comprising Texas and Louisiana. 
In 1868, he was given command of the division of the Atlantic, 
with headquarters in New York city.  The following year he was 
sent to the Department of Dakota, but in 1872, was again 
assigned to the division of the Atlantic, in which command he 
remained until the time of his death.  In 1868, and in 1872, 
Gen. Hancock was a candidate for the Democratic presidential 
nomination, and in 1880, was nominated by the Democratic 
convention at Cincinnati.  The election in November, however, 
gave the opposing candidate, James A. Garfield, a majority in 
the electoral college.  More than any other officer on either 
side, perhaps, he was the embodiment of chivalry and devotion 
to the highest duties of the soldier.  Gen. Grant, best 
qualified to judge, said of him: "Hancock stands the most 
conspicuous figure of all the general officers who did not 
exercise a general command.  He commanded a corps longer than 
any other one, and his name was never mentioned as having 
committed in battle a blunder for which he was responsible.  
He was a man of very conspicuous personal appearance, tall, 
well-formed, and, at the time of which I now write, young and 
fresh looking; he presented an appearance that would attract 
the attention of an army as he passed.  His genial disposition 
made him friends, and his presence with his command in the 
thickest of the fight won him the confidence of troops who 
served under him."  He died at Governor's island, New York 
harbor, Feb. 9, 1886.