Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/85

 HANCOCK

HAND

ters were transferred to Washington in April, 1865, and he was placed in command of the de- fences of the capital. He was brevetted major- general in the regular army for gallant and meri- torious services in the battle of Spottsylvania, Marcii 13, 1865, and was advanced to the rank of major-general in the I'egular service, Jul}* 26, 183J. He was assigned to the command of the depart.uaat of the Missouri, Aug 10, 1866, and when relieved by Gen. P. H. Sheridan, was as- sigualto the command of the 5th military dis- trict with headquarters at New Orleans, Aug. 26, 183 r. On assuming command he issued ** Gen- eral Order No. 40," which was at variance with the reconstruction acts of congress, and in 1868 he was relieved at his own request, and assigned to the command of the division of the Atlantic, with headquarters on Governor's Island, New York harbor. In 1869 he was assigned to the de- partment of Dakota, and in 1872 was reassigned to the division of the Atlantic, where he remained till his death. General Grant' s estimate of him as a soldier is as follows: "Hancock stands the most conspicuous figure of all the general officers who did not e.xercise a general command. He comnanded a corps larger than any other one, and his name was never mentioned as having coiu;nitte:l in battle a blunder for which he was responsible. He was a man of very conspic- uous personal appeiranse. 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 liis command in the thick- est of the fight won him the confidence of troops serving unler him." In 1880 General Sher- man said. " If you will sit down and write the best thing that can be put in language about General Hancock as an officer and a gentleman, I will sign it without hesitation." Genei'al McClellan in writing to his wife after a battle sail: "Hancock was superb today." In party politic? Hancock was from his youth a Democrat anl he never forsook the jrolitical faith he had inherited and sustained. He declined the nomi- nation for governor of Pennsylvania in 1869; was mentioned as a presidential candidate before the Democratic national conventions of 1868, 1872 and 1880, and the convention at Cincinnati in 1880 made him their nominee. In the presidential election of November, 1880, he received 4,442,035 popular votes to 4,449.053 for James A. Garfield, 307,306 for James B. Weaver, and 10,305 for Neal Dow. In the electoral college that met in 1881, he received 155 votes to 214 for Garfield. He continued in the military service after his politi- cal defeat, and planned and carried out the mili- tary and civic pageant that attended the funeral

of General Grant. This was his last conspicuous public appearance. The state of Pennsylvania erected an equestrian statue of General Hancock on the battle-field of Gettysburg, which was un- veiled, June 5, 1894, and was the creation of F. Edwin Elwell, sculptor; and the general goA'ern- ment erected one in Washington, the work of Henry J. Elliott, sculptor, which was unveiled. May 12, 1896, by Glynn R. Hancock, grand.son of "The Hero of Gettysburg," in the presence of Major-General Miles, and representatives from the arm}% the navy, the Loyal Legion, the G.A.R., and the 2d army corps. See Life of Gen. W. S. Hancock by Junkin and Norton (1880;; Life and Public Services of Winfteld Scott Jlancockhy Frederick E. Goodrich (1885); Addresses at a Meet- ing of the Military Service Institution in Memoi-y of Hancock C1886); History of the Second Corps by Francis A. Walker (1887); and Li Memoriam: Mil- itary Order of the Loyal Legion (1887). He died on Governor's Island, New York harbor, Feb. 9, 1886.

HAND, Augustus C, representative, Avas born in Stoneham, Vt., Sept. 4, 1803. He was admitted to the bar at Litchfield, Conn., and then removed to Elizabethtown, N.Y., to accept the appointment of surrogate of Essex county. He was a Democratic representative in the 26th congress, 1839-41, was defeated for re-election; served as state senator and chairman of the judiciary committee, 1845-48; was a justice of the supreme court, and judge of the court of ap- peals, 1848-55. He was defeated for re-election to the court of appeals and engaged in active law practice till his death. In 1868 he was a delegate to the Democratic national convention. He died in Elizabethtown, N.Y., March 8, 1878.

HAND, Daniel, philanthropist, was born at Madison, Conn., July 16, 1801; son of Daniel and Antonina (Meigs) Hand; grandson of Daniel and C'hloe (Scranton) Hand, and a descendant of Joseph Hand, who settled at East Hampton, Long Island, N. Y., about 1640. He worked on his father's farm and attended the country schools until 1818, when with his brother Augustus F. Hand, he went to Augusta, Ga., and entered the employ of his uncle, Daniel Meigs, a merchant of that city and Savannah. He finally succeeded to the business, and in 1846 took George W. Wil- liams, a clerk, into partnership and opened a branch establishment in Charleston, S.C, under the management of Mr. Williams. The business grew steadily and in 1854, an office was opened in New York city which he himself superin- tended, leaving the southern business to his part- ner. At the beginning of the civil war he returned south and while in New Orleans was arrested by the Confederates as a spy and placed on parole. He was nearly mobbed in Augusta, Ga., soon after, and the confiscation of his prop