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General Hancock Reports from Gettysburg

"The battle is quiet now."

"Hancock the superb" (Battles & Leaders)

After the death of General Reynolds on July 1, General Oliver O. Howard assumed command of the field and sent dispatches of the situation to army headquarters near Taneytown, Maryland. Miles away from the battlefield and unable to discern the true nature of the Union positions at Gettysburg, General George Meade ordered General Winfield Scott Hancock, commander of the 2nd Army Corps, to ride ahead to Gettysburg to assess the situation and take command of the field.
The charismatic 39 year-old career officer had an electric presence on those around him. Fearless and direct, Hancock was a superb officer whose only fault was a coarse vocabulary. General Hancock arrived at Cemetery Hill about 4:30 that afternoon, just in time to witness the flood of survivors from the day's battle streaming through Gettysburg. There was an awkward confrontation between Hancock and Howard over who was the senior commander on the field, but a compromise was struck. Working in concert with Howard, General Hancock established the Union positions on Cemetery Ridge and rallied the shattered remnants of both the 1st and 11th Corps. Seating himself near the gatekeeper's house at the cemetery, Hancock hastily scribbled out a message to General Meade:

5:25 P.M., July 1, 1863 GENERAL: When I arrived here an hour since, I found that our troops had given up the front of Gettysburg and the town. We have now taken up a position in the cemetery, and cannot well be taken. It is a position, however, easily turned. Slocum is now coming on the ground and is taking position to the right which will protect the right. But we have, as yet, no troops on the left, the Third Corps not having yet reported; but I suppose that it is marching up. If so, its flank march will in a degree protect our left flank. In the meantime Gibbon had better march on so as to take position on our right or left, to our rear, as may be necessary, in some commanding position. General (Gibbon) will see this dispatch. The battle is quiet now. I think we will be all right until night. I have sent all the trains back. When night comes it can be told better what had best be done. I think we can retire; if not, we can fight here, as the ground appears not unfavorable with good troops. I will communicate in a few moments with General Slocum, and transfer the command to him. Howard says that Doubleday's command gave way. General Warren is here.   Your obedient servant,   Winfield S. Hancock Major-General, Commanding Corps

Recommended Reading: Winfield Scott Hancock: A Soldier's Life. Description: Hancock's Civil War generalship earned him the affection of his troops and the country's citizenry and the respect of his fellow officers, all of which were sustained and flourished during his post-war career as a Reconstruction military administrator, a Great Plains Indian overseer, commander of the Military Division of the Atlantic (states), during which time he earned the gratitude of the nation in quelling labor violence, and, finally, as a three-time seeker of the Democratic nomination for President (1868, 1872, 1880) and his party's nominee for that office in the 1880 election. Continued below...

David Jordan's WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK is an extensively referenced, solid, immensely readable biography and work of popular history. Jordan obviously thinks highly of the man. Even Hancock's less than illustrious stint as commander of the Military Department of the Missouri from August 1866 to August 1867, during which he stumbled around the Great Plains without a clue as to the nature and culture of the Indian tribes he was tasked with controlling, goes pretty much 'uncriticized.' After all, Hancock was only following the orders of his superior, General Sherman. And that's what Winfield did best all his life - follow orders.

Recommended Reading: Winfield Scott Hancock: Gettysburg Hero (Civil War Campaigns and Commanders Series) (Hardcover). Description: Perry Jamieson's Winfield Scott Hancock: Gettysburg Hero is an enjoyable edition to the Campaigns and Commanders Series, published by the McWhiney Press. Jamieson tells of Hancock's remarkable career in entertaining and exciting prose and remarks on his legacy and current reputation among historians. Although this biography would appear brief to those not acquainted with the series, it is actually one of the longest yet published. This series is meant to give a shortened yet informative account of Civil War figures and events to those not yet familiar with them. Jamieson gives an outstanding portrait of Hancock as a genuine military hero and analyzes the role he played in saving the Union. For those who would want to learn more, he lists several extensive and acclaimed biographies of "Hancock The Superb." Continued below...