Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/449

 HANCOCK 435 6 of furniture^ 12 of saddlery and harness, 13 of tin, copper, and sheet-iron ware, 1 of chew- ing tobacco, 2 of woollen goods, 1 distillery, 1 brewery, 14 flour mills, and 2 planing mills. Capital, Carthage. X. A N. county of Iowa, drained by the sources of Boone river and other streams ; area, about 500 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 999. The surface is mostly undulating prairie, and the soil fertile. It contains several small lakes and extensive deposits of peat. It is traversed by the McGregor and Missouri Eiver railroad. The chief productions in 1870 were 18,918 bushels of wheat, 19,541 of Indian corn, 30,231 of oats, and 2,087 tons of hay, There were 377 horses, 967 cattle, 411 sheep, and 416 swine. Capital, Upper Grove. HANCOCK, John, an American statesman, born in Quincy, Mass., Jan. 12, 1737, died there, Oct. 8, 1793. He graduated at Harvard college in 1754, and shortly after entered the counting louse of an uncle, on whose death in 1764 he jived a large fortune, and soon became a )rominent merchant. In 1766 he was chosen the Massachusetts house of representatives from Boston. The seizure of his sloop, the Liberty, occasioned a riot in 1768, when the commissioners of customs narrowly es- iped with their lives. After the affray known as the "Boston massacre," in 1770, he was a member of the committee to demand of the
 * >yal governor the removal of the troops from

the city ; and at the funeral of the slain he de- livered an address so glowing and fearless in its reprobation of the conduct of the soldiery and their leaders, as greatly to offend the gov- ernor, who eventually endeavored to seize Hancock and Samuel Adams, both of whom in 1774 became members, and the former presi- dent, of the provincial congress at Concord. This was one of the objects of the expedition to Concord in April, 1775, which led to the first battle of the revolution, after which Gov. Gage offered pardon to all the rebels except these two, " w r hose offences," he adds, "are of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other consideration but that of condign punishment." In the same year Mr. Hancock was chosen president of the continental congress, and in 1776 signed the Declaration of Independence. Leaving congress in 1777, on account of ill health, he returned to Massachusetts, where he was a member of the convention for framing a constitution for the state, and under that consti- tution was in 1780 chosen first governor ; to which office, with an interval of two years, he was annually reflected till his death. He was a man of strong -common sense and decision of character, of polished manners, easy address, affable, liberal, and charitable. In his pub- lie speeches he displayed a high degree of elo- quence. As a presiding officer he was digni- fied, impartial, quick of apprehension, and al- ways commanded the respect of congress. He employed his large fortune for useful and be- nevolent purposes, and was a liberal donor to Harvard college. HANCOCK, Winfield Scott, an American soldier, born in Montgomery co., Pa., Feb. 14, 1824. He graduated at West Point in 1844, served mainly on frontier duty till 1846, and after- ward in the war with Mexico. He was brevet- ted as first lieutenant for gallant and merito- rious conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco. From 1848 to 1858 he was again on frontier duty in various parts, and from 1859 to 1861 was quartermaster of the southern dis- trict of California. At the breaking out of the civil war he was recalled to Washington, and was made brigadier general of volunteers, Sept. 23, 1861. During the peninsular campaign he was especially conspicuous at the battles of William sburg and Frazer's Farm. He took an active part in the subsequent campaign in Maryland, at the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. Having been made major general, he commanded a division at Freder- icksburg and Chancellorsville. On July 1, 1863, the first day of the battle of Gettysburg, he was sent by Gen. Meade to decide whether a decisive battle should be given there, or whether the army should fall back. He re- ported that Gettysburg was the place to fight, and took immediate command until the arrival of Meade. In the decisive action of July 3 he commanded on the left centre, which was the main point assailed by the confederates, and was severely wounded. For his conduct at Gettysburg he received (May 30, 1866) the thanks of congress. Having been disabled by his wound, he was on sick leave until March, 1864, being meanwhile engaged in recruiting the second army corps, which was placed under his command. He took the active command of this corps at the opening of the campaign of 1864, and bore a prominent part in the battles of the Wilderness (May 5, 6), Spottsylvania Court House (May 9-20), and North Anna (May 23, 24), the second battle of Cold Harbor (June 3), and the operations around Petersburg until June 19, when, his wound breaking out, he was for a short time on sick leave. He afterward resumed com- mand, and took part in several actions until Nov. 26, when he was called to Washington to organize the first corps of veterans; After the close of the war he was placed succes- sively in command of the middle department (1865-'6), the department of Missouri (1866-'7), of Louisiana and Texas (1867-'8), of Dakota (1870-'72), and, on the death of Gen. Meade in November, 1872, of the department of the East. In the democratic national convention held at New York in July, 1868, he^was a can- didate for the presidential nomination, receiv- ing on the 1st ballot 33|- votes out of 317, which number gradually increased to 144 on the 18th ; this being, with the exception of 145-1 cast for Pendleton on the 12th ballot, the greatest number of votes given to any candidate for the nomination until the 22d ballot, when Horatio Seymour received the unanimous vote of the convention.