Winfield Scott Hancock - Norristown PA - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

He is buried in Montgomery Cemetery, Norristown PA in a mausoleum surrounded by a wire fence.

Description: Civil War Union Army Major General. One of the Union Army’s ablest field commanders, his performance at the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania brought him lasting historical fame and renown. Born with an identical twin brother near present day Montgomeryville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in 1840 he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York by Congressman Joseph Fornance. He graduated in 18th out of 25 in 1844 in a class that included future Confederate Generals Simon Bolivar Buckner and Daniel M. Frost, and future Union Generals Alexander Hays and Alfred Pleasonton. Posted to the 6th United States Infantry, he served on the western frontier until the Mexican War. During that conflict he saw his first combat at the August 1847 Battles of Contreras and Churubusco, where he was wounded. After the September 1847 Battle of Molino Del Rey he became prostrated with sickness, and missed being part of Major General Winfield Scott’s march from Vera Cruz to Mexico City, the campaign that ended the war. In the late 1840s and in the 1850s he served first as a Regimental Adjutant, then as a Quartermaster stationed at various posts in the United States and frontier, including St. Louis, Missouri in 1850, where he met and married Almira Russell. Promoted to Captain, in the late 1850s he was stationed as Quartermaster of the then-small outpost of Los Angeles, California, where he became friends with fellow Army officer and future Confederate General Lewis A. Armistead. When the Civil War began, Armistead and other Southern-born officers resigned and left to join the Confederacy, with Captain Hancock leaving to help raise the growing Union Army. Commissioned Brigadier General, US Volunteers on September 23, 1861, he was assigned to command a brigade in the Army of the Potomac’s II Corps. In the opening stages of the 1862 Peninsular Campaign under Major General George B. McClellan, he led his brigade at the May 5, 1862 Battle of Williamstown, where, despite orders from Corps commander Major General Edwin V. Sumner Sr. to withdraw, he held his ground against an attack by the Confederates, then enacted a counterattack that cleared the area of the rebels. In his dispatches describing the engagement to Washington, DC, General McClellan described General Hancock’s performance as “superb”, which the press then gave him the appellation “Hancock the Superb”. He continued to command his brigade through the June-July 1862 Seven Days Battles and the August 1862 Second Bull Run Campaign. On September 17, 1862 at the Battle of Antietam, Maryland he ascended to command his Division when Major General Israel B. Richardson was mortally wounded in the Army of the Potomac assaults on the “Bloody Lane”. At the December 13, 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg, his three II Corp brigades constituted the second assault on impregnable Confederate positions along Marye’s Heights south of the town, and despite reaching farther than any other Union troops they failed to reach the position and were repulsed with great casualties. In the winter of 1862-1863 he did not participate in the revolt of the high command of the Army of the Potomac against Major General Ambrose E. Burnside, who was eventually replaced by Major General Joseph Hooker. When spring arrived General Hooker enacted a brilliant flank march on the Army of Northern Virginia at Chancellorsville, but subsequently gave up the initiative to Confederate General Robert E. Lee, resulting in the defeat of the Union Army in the battle. General Hancock’s division covered the Army of the Potomac’s retreat over the Rappahannock River, and he was wounded in the withdrawal. II Corps commander Major General Darius N. Couch resigned in disgust after the battle, and General Hancock was elevated to command the Corps. Date of birth: 02/14/1824 Date of death: 02/09/1886 Area of notoriety: Military Marker Type: Tomb (above ground) Setting: Outdoor Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link] Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Not listed

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Date Logged Log   10/09/2021 Don.Morfe visited it