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After his severe wounding at
Gettysburg in 1863, Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, known as
"Hancock the Superb," continued commanding the II Corps through the
Overland Campaign and Petersburg Siege. Debilitated by his injury, he
relinquished field command in November 1864, overseeing the First Veterans
Corps in Washington, D.C., and the Middle Military Department in the Shenandoah
Valley. In July 1865, he supervised the execution of the Lincoln assassination
conspirators.
During Reconstruction, Hancock
commanded the Department of the Missouri and Dakota before leading the Fifth
Military District in New Orleans from 1867. His lenient policies toward former
Confederates drew criticism from Radical Republicans but earned Southern favor.
In the late 1860’s he led an unspectacular campaign to subdue the Plains
Indians before being relieved by General Philip Sheridan.
A lifelong Democrat, Hancock ran for
president in 1880, narrowly losing to James A. Garfield in a close popular vote
(losing by fewer than 8,000 ballots) but decisively in the Electoral College.
He remained in military service until his death on February 9, 1886, from
diabetes complications at age 61.
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