;;■;;.;..■"'.'■; •k'v/;4fvy:^;>'^ ^ '^ 125 COPIES PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION'. H. c. I'ENNypacki:r. PRINT, >oi8 CHESTNUT STREET. PHILAD'ELI'HIA. ^ u/ c? rT7HE original purpose of Memorial Day w as to ^J^fe commemorate the defenders of our countr\- who died during the War of the Rebellion. But custom has widened the scope of our cere- monies, and we now commemorate our dead com- rades whether they died during the war or since its close. When I accepted your courteous invitation to address you on this occasion it was my purpose to take as my theme the great cause which im- pelled our comrades and ourselves to obe\' the Nation's call ; but the recent death of the _i^rt;at soldier whose fame is inseparably associated with the battle here fought, and who upon his last visit to this field — but short six months ago — was the honored and grateful recipient of your heartv welcome, suggested to me that under the circum- stances I could have for this occasion no theme more appropriate, none more acceptable to your- selves than W infield Scott Hancock. Not that in making him my theme I forget those other great soldiers who since our last Memorial Day have gone from our midst ; whose names are imperishably written in our history — respectively the first and the last of the generals who in the war commanded all the armies ; each in his day the most trusted of our leaders ; each the centre of the Nation's hope ; each unselfishly giving his best to the cause ; each having part in the final triumph, for though in the fortunes of the war the first held no command at its close, the great army that gave the last blow to the rebellion was the army he had formed and led, and that through all its vicis- situdes bore the impress of his genius, and never forgot how devotedly it had followed him. Well might the eulogy of the first commander of the Army of the Potomac be pronounced here where its greatest battle was fought ; and alike well might his praises here be spoken, who, in those July days, when these hills were trembling beneath the awful shock, was thundering against the rebellion's western strono^hold, and who^ on the Independence day when the Nation was rejoic- ing over the victory that had here been won, joined Vicksburg to Gettysburg in the thanksgivings of a grateful people. Well might we here eulogize him under whose command the army that had here fought, conjoined with the other armies of the Union, crushed the Confederacy. Nor do I forget that the object of this day is the commemoration of all who gave their lives for the Nation or who, having faithfully served in the war and survived its perils, have since fallen ; that to- day we decorate the graves of all our comrades whatever the rank and station of their lives, re- membering in the tribute we render each the sacrifice he offered, the cause that impelled it, the flag he followed. Wherever else I might forget the purpose of Memorial Day, looking upon these graves honored alike, though so many entomb the unknown dead, I cannot forget it here, where the glory of each is not the rank he bore but the field on which, the cause for which, he died ; here where the immortal words were spoken that enshrine forever the memory of the people who died for the people's cause. Yet however fitting it would be here and now to recount the achievements of McClellan and Grant, their fame is directly associated with other fields ; and though Gettysburg was neither the first nor the last field on which Hancock dis- tinguished himself and served his country, it was here that his soldierly qualities were most con- spicuous, that his services were of supremest worth. And though I tell of the general, the recital of his service involves tribute to the men who made that service possible. So briefly as I can I shall speak of his splendid career, not indeed hoping to add aught to its lustre, or to portray adequately the character w^hich made the career possible, or to depict fittingly the events that gave the character its opportunity, but only to discharge the duty I feel incumbent upon me as the speaker on this first memorial service at Gettysburg since his death. The military career of General Hancock which ended with his death, began July i, 1840, when at the age of sixteen he entered the Military Acad- emy at West Point. He was graduated with his class in 1844 and assigned as brevet second lieu- tenant to the Sixth Infantry, stationed in the Indian Territory, our then southwestern frontier ; he attained the full grade in June, 1846; in 1847, having been detached upon recruiting service, he accompanied the troops re-enforcing General Scott at Puebla, Mexico, where Hancock rejoined his rei^iment. Durinj^ the war with Mexico he took part in several minor actions and was engaged in the battles of Churubusco and Molino del Rey, being honorably mentioned in the official reports of both engagements and brevetted first lieu- tenant for gallant and meritorious conduct in the former. The Sixth Infantry remained in Mexico until after the ratification of the treaty of peace with that country, when, our troops being withdrawn, the regiment was assigned to the Western Division. Lieutenant Hancock having been appointed quar- termaster in June, 1848, served as such until Oc- tober, 1849, when he was made adjutant, fulfill- ing the duties of that position until June, 1855, when he was appointed assistant adjutant-general of the Department of the West, having in the meantime, January, 1853, been commissioned first lieutenant. In November, 1855, he was ap- pointed captain and assistant quartermaster, but did not vacate his regimental commission until June, i860. His first station as quartermaster was at Fort Myers, Florida, during the hostilities against the Seminoles ; he remained in Florida until the summer of 1857, when he was ordered to duty with troops engaged in suppression of disturb- ances in Kansas. In May. 1858, he accompanied General Harney in his expedition to Utah, and in the following July rejoined the Sixth Infantry at Fort Bridger and accompanied it thence in its overland march to Benicia, California, discharging the duties of regimental quartermaster. Soon after reaching the Pacific coast Captain Hancock came east on leave of absence, and upon its ex- piration returned to California; in May, 1859. he was appointed chief quartermaster of the Southern District of that State with headquarters at Los Angeles. In August, 1 86 1, in consonance with his -earnest desire and in compliance with his own request, he was relieved from duty on the Pacific coast and ordered to Washington. Upon his •arrival there he was appointed chief quartermaster upon the staff of General Robert Anderson, who had been assigned to the command of the newly formed Department of the Cumberland. Such an appointment was in accordance with the line of Hancock's previous service ; twelve of the seven- teen years since he left West Point had been spent in regimental and general staff duty, one half of that time in connection with the quartermaster's department, and he had so discharged these duties as to merit and receive the commendation of his superior officers. The value of efficient adminis- tration of the quartermaster's department was so fully established during the War of the Rebellion that there can be no question that Hancock would have rendered great service to the country had he assumed the duties of the staff position to which he had been ordered, but remembering what he did in the position he eventually filled, considering what might have bsen had he been elsewhere than here in July, 1863, our assurance that he would have brilliantly administered the duties of an important staff office can not lessen our satisfaction that he was destined to command troops. Commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers September 23, 1861, he was assigned to the com mand of a brigade in General VVilllam E. Smith's division which, in the organization of the army corps, in March, 1862, was attached to the Fourth Corp:;, under General Keyes, but subsequently upon the formation of the Sixth Corps, under Gene- ral Franklin, was transferred to that command. The months which intervened between Hancock's assignment to the Army of the Potomac and the movement of that army to the Peninsula were devoted to the drill and discipline of his command, and however vigorous the discipline, however needlessly strict Its enforcement may have seemed at the time, his men were soon by their efficiency to demonstrate the importance and value of the training to which they had been subjected. When, in the spring of 1S62, the Army of the Potomac left its encampments about Washington, none of Its organizations had been more thoroughly pre- pared for the duties and dangers awaiting it than Hancock's brio-ade. In the skirmishes and reconnoissances in which Hancock took part on the Peninsula, he showed the same care and attention to details that charac- terized his conduct of later and larger operations. His first important encounter with the enemy was on May 5 th, when, after the evacuation of York- town, the Confederates, being closely pressed by our advance, made their determined stand before Williamsburg. Whilst Hooker and Kearney were heavily engaged on our left, Hancock with five regiments of infantry and a battery, a second bat- tery subsequently joining him, was sent to the right and gained a position which enabled him to harass the enemy in his main works and to threaten his communications with Williamsburg, Discovering the danger the Confederate commander, D. H. Hill, sent Early's brigade to dislodge Hancock, who, in the absence of re-enforcements that he had repeatedly asked, and in obedience to the orders of General Sumner, commanding our troops on the field, was obliged to quit his advanced position. Withdrawing his troops slowly and in good order, he formed his line on a crest in rear and awaited attack ; emboldened, by his retirement the rebels came forward confidently, but on arriving within thirty paces were checked by the musketry fire of Hancock's line, and before they could re- cover from their surprise were driven from the slope by the bayonet charge which immediately followed. Unable for lack of troops to maintain his communications and at the same time pursue the retreating enemy, Hancock halted his line at the foot of the slope, and opening fire drove the rebels beyond musketry range. The enemy's loss was so severe that he made no attempt to renew the attack, and our troops retained possession of the field, compelling the abandonment of Williams- burg during the night, because Hancock's position made the severance of the enemy's communication with his main army inevitable had he remained until the next morning. Although in numbers engaged and in immediate results Williamsburg is of minor importance, it is memorable as the first of the long series of battles fought by the Army of the Potomac. And in the career of General Hancock this battle is specially noteworthy because his conduct in it first brought his name into the prominence that it maintained through his life. General McClellan, who had been superintending the embarkation of troops at Yorktown, came upon lO the field at nightfall in time to witness Hancock's charge, which in his official despatch he charac- terized as "brilliant in the extreme," and on the following day, In a personal message to Mrs. McClellan, he said, " The battle of Williamsburg has proved a brilliant victory. We have the enemy's strong works, the town, and all sick and wounded of the enemy. * * * Hancock was superb yesterday. * * * " During the Seven Days Hancock was engaged in the action at Garnet's and Goldlng's Farms, in the battle of Savage Station and at the crossing of White Oak Swamp, his brigade being in the rear guard of the army during the greater part of the movement from the Chlckahomlny to the James. Returning with the Army of the Potomac to Washington, he accompanied it when it left the de- fences of the capital for the campaign in Maryland, and took part in the operations at the South Moun- tain Gaps. His coming upon the field of Antletam was most opportune, arriving just as Sedgwick's at- tack had been repulsed, Hancock's brigade was at once put upon the front line in support of two of Sumner's batteries that were threatened by the enemy ; driving back the rebel skirmishers he silenced the batteries that had been planted in his 1 1 front. General Smith in a recent address said that Hancock's arrival "on the field, with his brig- ade closed in mass, and the change of front, deploy- ment and advance of the brigade was like a trans- formation scene." Early in the afternoon Hancock was directed by General McClellan to take com- mand of the first division Second Corps, whose com- mander, General Richardson, had been mortally wounded. He found the division in proximity to the enemy, and suffering severely from his guns and sharpshooters, but Hancock succeeded in relieving the pressure upon his troops, and maintained his line until the close of the battle. On the 29th of November, 1862, he was com- missioned Major-General of Volunteers. Fredericksburg is probably the battle of the Army of the Potomac whose memory we least delight to recall, and yet in none of its battles was the char- acter of the army more clearly manifested than on that dark December day when its divisions were flung against the impregnable defences of Marye's Heights. Elated by their great victories upon the Rappahannock, confident that they could repeat in Pennsylvania the successes won in Virginia, with unquestioning faith in their leader, the Confederate soldiers formed in yonder woods, screened from 12' view, of their adversary, unmolested by his guns,, and after a furious combat of artillery in which the advantage appeared to rest with them — the oppos- ing guns having seemingly been silenced — advanced in battle line over yonder plain to assail the Army of the Potomac behind its rude defences ; the audacity of the movement, the vigor of its execu^ tion, the persistent gallantry of the advance made Longstreet's assault at Gettysburg seem the very climax of valor. Forming in the streets of Fredericksburg, swept by the enemy's fire, moving by the flank through the town, crossing the intervening canal upon un- floored bridges, still by the flank moving parallel to his entrenchments to allow the several brigades to deploy, always under fire, except as each brigade effecting its deployment gained momentary shelter ere advancing to assault heights naturally formidable, made stronger during the weeks of the enemy's occu- pancy, under a new leader the Army of the Potomac, hopeless of success but inspired by duty, went forward to defeat and death. Not for a moment would I detract from the glory of Pickett's charge, but I hold that the war afforded no sublimer instance of devoted courage than the assault on Marye's Heights. In that assault no troops displayed greater gallantry, none died nearer the 13 fatal heights, none suffered greater loss than those that Hancock led. Of the five thousand men who followed him into fire at Fredericksburg two thou- sand fell upon that awful field. At Chancellorsville, that battle of brilliant con- ception and of most unfortunate execution, of offen- sive plan, but defensive conduct, Hancock was con- spicuous for the intrepidity with which he with- stood the attacks upon his line, and the tenacity with which he held the several positions assigned him, quitting none save in obedience to orders. Con- stituting the rear guard of the army in its with- drawal from the Chancellor House, his were the last troops to confront the enemy, and though obliged by the retirement of the forces upon his flank to form his men in two lines — back to back, and to fight on each front, he held his ground, receding only when the retirement of the army to its new position had been accomplished, and he carried with him all his artillery, though obliged to withdraw one of his batteries by the hands of his infantry — horses and gunners having been killed. On the loth of June, 1863, General Hancock assumed command of the Second Corps, being permanently assigned by the order of the Presi- dent on the 29th of that month, on the day following General Meade's appointment to com- M mand the Army of the Potomac now en route to Pennsylvania. In camp, march and battle Hancock had proven his ability for the commands he had held ; by tests of like kind, greater in degree, he was to demonstrate his fitness for the command he had now attained. When, on the first of July, at Taney town, Meade learned that General Reynolds had been killed, he ordered Hancock to the front to as- sume command of the three corps constituting the left wing of the army, and directed him to examine the position, stating that if he so advised the troops would be sent forward. His assignment to this important duty, involving as it did his assumption of command of corps whose commanders were his seniors in commission, was an exercise of authority on the part of General Meade justified by the emergency and his knowl- edofe of Hancock. Temporarily relinquishing command of his own corps, General Hancock, unaccompanied, except by his staff, rapidly rode to the front, thirteen miles distant, and immediately upon his arrival on Cemetery Hill, about 3.30 p. m., assumed com- mand of the troops upon the field and there assembling. Ordering the Eleventh Corps to be pushed for- 15 ward to the field in its then front, extending the Hne of the F"irst Corps along Cemetery Ridge to the left, sending Wadsworth's division of that corps to occupy Culp's Hill, on our right, until the:i unoccupied ; directing Geary, whose division of the Twelfth Corps had come upon the field soon after Hancock, to take possession of the high ground on the further left towards Round Top. his dispo- sition of the troops, his occupation of the vantage points checked the advance of the enemy, who. beholding his determined front, concluded that our troops had been strongly re-enforced, and that the army was close at hand. Within half an hour after his arrival he sent an aide to report to Gene- ral Meade the condition of affairs, that Cemetery Hill could be held until nightfall, and that General Hancock considered Gettysburg the place to fight the coming battle. Soon after he sent a written communication giving further details and stating that the position was very strong "having for its disadvantage that it might easily be turned, leaving to" General Meade "the responsibility whether the battle should be fought there or at Pipe Creek." Upon receipt of the first report Meade determined to fight at Gettysburg, and immedi- ately issued the order in obedience to which the army concentrated here. i6 The fighting for the day having ceased and there being no probabiHty of its renewal, Hancock transferred the command to General Slocum and returned to the headquarters of the army. General Hancock rejoined his corps early on the morning of the 2d, and placed it on Cemetery Ridge with its right upon the Taneytown road, its left con- necting with the Third Corps in the direction of Round Top. In the afternoon, in compliance with orders, he sent his first division, under Caldwell, to the assistance of Sickles, who having advanced from the position assigned him, had become heavily en- gaged on our left. The movement of the Third Corps and the consequent detachment of Caldwell caused a large gap upon Hancock's left, compelling the utmost vigilance to prevent the enemy availing himself of the opportunity so afforded to penetrate our lines. Sickles having been wounded, Hancock was directed to assume command of the Third Corps in addition to his own, the increased responsibility demanding yet greater exertion to close the inter- vals that existed even after the Third Corps — ■ shattered by its gallant fight — had retired to, the line it was originally intended to occupy, and the two divisions of the First Corps sent in response to his request had come upon the line and assisted in 17 its re-establishment. The vigorous assaults upon the different portions of his enhanced command required his constant presence upon his line ; know- ing its weak points, quick to detect the approach of the eneniy in his efforts to possess them, Han- cock sent or led brigades or single regiments, as the case demanded, to the exposed positions to repel attack, or to cover the withdrawal of over- tasked troops. Hearing heavy firing upon the front of the Eleventh Corps he ordered Carroll's brigade of his own corps to be sent to Howard's assistance, a re-enforcement both welcome and timely, that had no small share in repulsing the attack upon the East Cemetery Hill, where the brigade remained until the close of the battle. The sound of firing still farther to the right led Han- cock to direct two regiments of the Second Corps to the assistance of Slocum. When, at last, night closed and the fighting ended, the ground occupied by Hancock's command now comprising his own — Caldwell having returned after dark — and the Third Corps and Doubleday's and Robinson's divis- ions of the First Corps, was substantially that Which he had designated on the previous evening, and extended from the Cemetery Hill to the slopes of Little- Round Top. At daybreak on the third, cannonading upon iS our extreme right announced the reopening of the conflict ; but, excepting artillery engagements and firing of the skirmishers, there was no movement upon Hancock's front during the morning. And after the enemy's dislodgement from Gulp's Hill, about eleven, absolute silence prevailed over the entire field until half-past one, when two guns upon Seminary Ridge signaled the most terrific artillery conflict that has ever shaken the continent. For nearly two hours from one hundred and forty guns the Confederates poured a converging fire upon our centre, eighty of our guns responding. None needed to ask the portent of this awful storm. The direction of the enemy's fire foretold the objective point of the assault that all knew must follow. Subjected to that most trying ordeal of battle — endurance of attack to which they could make no resistance — our men, availing themselves of such shelter as they might find without quitting their lines, waited and watched for the lull in the storm. Whilst the tempest was at Its height, the sun obscur(^d by sulphurous smoke, the air alive with shot and bursting shell, the earth quivering beneath incessant explosions, Hancock rode his line. To assure himself that his men were ready for the coming assault, accompanied by his staff, his 19 corps flag- borne after him, he rocle the length of his command, stopping here and there to warn of the impending blow, and to encourage determined resistance. He had reached the left of his command and M^as returning to the right, when the cessation of the artillery indicated that the attack of which the cannonade had been but the prelude, was to be made. When the smoke lifted, fifteen thousand Confederate infantry were seen advancing from Seminary Ridge. The enemy's line had traversed nearly half the Intervening space when it en- countered the fire of our batteries, but undismayed, steadily pressed on. Coming within closer range, our musketry fire told heavily and drove back many of the troops upon the rebel left, but although great gaps were made in the ranks of the assail- ants, the central division still came forward. Quick- ening step as it came yet nearer, that splendid division impetuously threw itself upon our line and momentarily penetrated the advanced line, of Webb's brigade ; but, despite the gallantry and per- slstance of the onset, Pickett's charge was repulsed. During the progress of the assault Hancock was with the troops In the very front of the battle, and whilst directing the movement against the flank of the enemy's attacking line was unhorsed by a bul- 20 let-wound In the thigh. This wound, which was of such serious character as t6 disable him for several months, compelled his removal from the field, but hot until he had witnessed the ' repulse of the enemy that practically ended the battle of Gettys- burg. Longstreet's assault, the culminating effort of the Confederates, had been directed against Hancock's Command, its main force against his own corps, and he had the proud satisfaction of reporting to General Meade : "The troops of my command have repulsed the enemy's' assaults. We have gained a great victory." Reluctant to quit the field, and as if apologizing for the necessity that compelled him, he dictated another message in which he stated: ''I have been severely, but I trust not seriously wounded. I did not leave the field so long as there was a rebel seen upright." On the 30th of November, 1863, he was pro- moted in the regular army, major and quarter- master. General Hancock resumed command of the Second Corps in December, 1863, but shortly after relin-. quished it for a time, in compliance with the wishes of ^ the Washington authorities, and visited several of the larger northern cities to stimulate enlistments for his corps. 21 Returning to the army in March, 1864, he again took command of the corps, which was enlarged by the addition of two divisions of the Third Corps that had basn discontinued in the reorganization of the army under General Grant. In Grant's campaign from the Rapidan to Petersburg and the defences of Richmond, Hancock had large and important part. Engaged in all of its great battles, conducting many of its principal oper- ations, in most of its movements leading the advance, frequently commanding large bodies of troops addi- tional to his own corps, his history and that of the campaign are one. Executing all his orders with vigor, inspiring his men with his own persistence, he led them again and again to assault entrenched lines where assault seemed futile ; achieving brilliant suc- cess where failure seemed inevitable ; failing only where success was utterly impossible ; unspoiled by success, undaunted by failure, undismayed by diffi- culty, the rnxost brilliant pages of that history are recording the deeds of Hancock and the Second Corps. The bare recital of the principal actions in which he was engaged— Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Totopotomoy, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Deep Bottom, Ream's Station, BoydtonRoad — sug- gests how great was his part In the tremendous cam- 22 paign, whilst to state the losses of the Second Corps in the six months embracing those battles — exceed- inof fifteen thousand men killed and wounded — is to tell how costly was each advance, how determined each attack, how desperate every resistance. During this campaign, although he still suffered from the wound received at Gettysburg, he was con- tinuously on duty except during ten days in June, when he was completely disabled, but did not leave the front. General Grant in his recently published Me- moirs thus characterizes General Hancock: "Hancock stands the most conspicuous figure of all the general officers who did not exercise a separate command. He commanded a corps longer than any other one and his name was never mentioned as having committed in battle a blunder for which he was responsible. His personal cour- age and his presence with his command in the thickest of the fight won for him the confidence of troops serving under him. No matter how hard the fight, the Second Corps always felt that their commander was looking after them." On the 1 2 th of August, 1864, General Hancock was appointed brigadier general United States Army "for gallant and distinguished services in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, and in all the operations of the army in Virginia under Lieutenant-General Grant." In November, 1864, in accordance with the wishes of the War Department, he was reHeved from duty with the Army of the Potomac and authorized to recruit from the men whose terms o enHstment had expired, an organization to be known as the First Veteran Corps; he entered heartily into the work, and had secured some ten thousand men, when the renewal of active operations in Virginia made him desirous to return to the front ; but instead of being reassigned to the Second Corps he was appointed to command the Middle Military Divi- sion, including the Army of the Shenandoah, with headquarters at Winchester. He retained this command until the close of the war, headquarters being transferred to Washington in April, 1865. In March, 1865. he was brevetted major-general United States Army, "for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Spottsylvania. Va." The military division was discontinued in July. and General Hancock was assigned to the Middle Military Department, subsesquently being transfer- red successively to the Department of Missouri, the Fifth Military District — embracing the States of Louisiana and Texas— the Military Division of the Atlantic, the Department of Dakota, and again, fin- 24 ally, to the Military Division of the Atlantic, with headquarters at Governor's Island, New York. He was promoted to be major-general, United States Army, July 26, 1866. Excepting the operations against the Indians whilst he commanded the Department of Missouri and the duties resulting from his command in Louisiana and Texas during the reconstruction period, and the precautionary movement of troops during the Railroad Riots of 1877, General Han- cock's services subsequent to the War of the Rebellion were principally those pertaining to the administrative routine of military departments in time of peace. His last conspicuous service was the arrange- ment and conduct of the funeral ceremonies of General Grant, a duty whose varied details and large responsibilities required the greatest patience and discretion, and that was discharged with the utmost fidelity and with dignity befitting the National character of the obsequies. General Hancock's last appearance in uniform at the head of troops was on this occasion. None who on that day beheld his martial bear- ing, his noble person — splendid yet despite the changes wrought by time and keenest private sorrow — apprehended that he so soon would go 25 "the way of all the earth." His death was so unexpected save by those immediately about him that its announcement, by its suddenness and by its sadness doubly shocked the Nation. With simpHcity of ceremony, in striking contrast with the solemn pageantry he had so recently directed, in the modest burial-place of an inland town, within the shadow of his boyhood's home, far removed from the scenes of his manhood's career, all that was mortal of this great soldier was com- mitted to the tomb. Subordinate in rank and command to Grant and McClellan, lacking equal opportunity to prove his fitness for duties even higher than those he had so well discharged ; in purity of character, in sin- gleness of purpose, in devotion to his country's cause he was subordinate neither to them nor to any that followed the country's flag. No lofty column may overshadow his grave, no costly statue in the State's metropolis or in the Nation's capital may perpetuate his name, but so long as these hills endure the world will not forget what he did here, and Gettysburg itself shall be Hancock's lasting monument. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS IllllllUlill 013 700 286 3i £V67 ./ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 700 286 3 #* pei^imlipe* pHSJ