LOST 1880 to James Garfield ( http://www.multied.com/elections/1880state.html ) Hancock was considered but passed over for the Democratic nomination for U.S. President in 1868. He was eventually chosen as the Democratic opponent to James Garfield in the U.S. election of 1880, but was narrowly defeated in his attempt. He was known to army colleagues as "Hancock the Superb". Winfield Scott Hancock was born in Montgomery County, on 14th February, 1824. He joined the United States Army and fought in the Seminole War and the Mexican War (1846-48). On the outbreak of the American Civil War Howe served with the Union Army. He fought at Antietam before being badly wounded at Gettysburg. Promoted to the rank of major general, he recovered to take part in the Wilderness campaign. A close friend of Andrew Johnson, he worked as a presidential adviser until 1867 when he replaced General Philip Sheridan as military governor of Louisiana and Texas. Hancock was active in politics and in 1880 he was selected by the Democratic Party as its presidential candidate. After losing the election to the Republican candidate, James A. Garfield, he returned to military life. Winfield Scott Hancock died in 1886. Born in 1824 in Pennsylvania, Winfield Hancock graduated from West Point in 1844. He served in the Mexican War, the Seminole War, and in Kansas during the border disturbances. Hancock participated in nearly all the major engagements in the eastern theatre of the war. He led the II Corps from Gettysburg to Burgess Mill, it was at Reams Station that Hancock suffered his greatest defeat as corps commander. By November 1864 Hancock relinquished his command and went to organize the 1st Corps of Veterans and led the Department of West Virginia until the end of the war. After the war he served as the commander of the Fifth Military District during Reconstruction and eventually he assumed command of the Department of the East. In 1880, as the Democratic candidate, he lost the election to James Garfield. Hancock died in 1886. Hancock's career started as a second lieutenant in the 6th U.S. Infantry regiment, with which he fought in the Mexican War under his namesake, Scott. He was brevetted to first lieutenant for gallant and meritorious service at Contreras and Churubusco in 1847; he was wounded in the knee at the latter battle. He served in a number of assignments as an army quartermaster and adjutant, mostly in St. Louis, Missouri, and was in southern California at the time the Civil War broke out in 1861. Serving nearby was his close friend Lewis A. Armistead, of Virginia. Armistead soon left to join the Confederate army. [edit] He earned his "Superb" designation in the Peninsula Campaign in 1862 by leading a critical attack on Fort Magruder in the Battle of Williamsburg; sadly, army commander George B. McClellan did not follow through on Hancock's initiative and Confederate forces were allowed to withdraw unmolested. In the Battle of Antietam, Hancock assumed division command in the II Corps following the death of Israel B. Richardson. He was promoted to major general of volunteers in November, 1862. He led his division in the disastrous attack on Marye's Heights in the Battle of Fredericksburg the following month and was wounded in the abdomen. At the Battle of Chancellorsville, his brigade covered Joseph Hooker's withdrawal and Hancock was wounded again. His corps commander, Darius Couch, transferred out of the Army of the Potomac in protest of actions Hooker took in the battle and Hancock assumed command of II Corps, which he would lead for the rest of the war. He is considered by many to be the best Union corps commander of the war. Hancock's most famous service was as a new corps commander at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1Ð3, 1863. After Major General John F. Reynolds was killed early on July 1, George G. Meade, the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, sent Hancock ahead to take command of the units on the field and assess the situation. Hancock thus was in temporary command of the "left wing" of the army, consisting of the I, II, III, and XI Corps, which demonstrated Meade's high confidence in him, because Hancock was not the most senior Union officer at Gettysburg at the time. Hancock and the more senior XI Corps commander Oliver O. Howard argued about this command arrangement, but Hancock prevailed and he organized the Union defenses on Cemetery Hill as superior Confederate forces drove the I and XI Corps back through the town. He had the authority to withdraw the forces, so he was responsible for the decision to stand and fight at Gettysburg. Hancock later received the thanks of the U.S. Congress for "for his gallant, meritorious and conspicuous share in that great and decisive victory". Meade arrived after midnight and overall command reverted to him. On July 2, Hancock's II Corps was positioned on Cemetery Ridge, roughly in the center of the Union line. Robert E. Lee launched assaults on both ends of the line. On the Union left, James Longstreet's assault smashed the III Corps and Hancock sent in his 1st Division, under John C. Caldwell, to reinforce the Union in the Wheatfield. As A.P. Hill's corps continued the attack toward the Union center, Hancock rallied the defenses and rushed units to the critical spots. In one famous incident, he sacrificed a regiment, the 1st Minnesota, by ordering it to advance and attack a Confederate brigade four times its size, causing it to suffer 87% casualties. But this heroic sacrifice bought time to organize the defensive line and saved the day for the Union army. On July 3, Hancock continued in his position on Cemetery Ridge and thus bore the brunt of Pickett's Charge. During that great assault, his old friend, now Brigadier General Armistead in George Pickett's division, was wounded and died two days later. Hancock could not meet with his friend because he had just been wounded himself, a severe injury caused by a bullet striking the pommel of his saddle, entering his inner right thigh along with wood fragments and a large bent nail. Helped from his horse by aides, and with a tourniquet applied by Brig. Gen. George J. Stannard to stanch the bleeding, he removed the saddle nail himself and, mistaking its source, remarked wryly, "They must be hard up for ammunition when they throw such shot as that." Despite his pain, Hancock refused evacuation to the rear until the battle was resolved. He had been an inspiration for his troops throughout the three-day battle. [edit] After the war, Hancock commanded the Department of the East, headquartered at Governors Island, New York. During Reconstruction, Hancock drew much criticism from Grant and others for his inclination to be lenient to the defeated Confederates. Hancock the Superb died at Governors Island in 1886, still in command of the Department of the East. He is buried in Montgomery Cemetery in Norristown, Pennsylvania.