Author Description

"Winfield Scott Hancock gained his greatest fame for his crucial contributions to the Federal victory at Gettysburg. Union veterans remember this brave Pennsylvanian as a general who led from the front and whose forceful presence could change the course of a battle." "A senior officer of the Eleventh Corps described how Hancock influenced the defeated Northern troops at the end of the first day's fighting at Gettysburg. "His mere presence was a reinforcement," this witness reported, "and everybody on the field felt stronger for his being there."" "In addition to the Civil War, Hancock's military service included memorable experience during the Mexican-American War, Reconstruction, and the Indian Wars. He also pursued a political career, which ended in an unsuccessful try for the presidency in 1880"--Jacket.