Customer Reviews

Winfield Scott Hancock: A Soldier's Life

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There is little doubt that Winfield Scott Hancock should get far more press than he gets. In reading about the Civil War in the east one time and again runs into the name Hancock. He was there for most of the major battles and he and his men could almost always be counted on when most of the rest of the army could not be. Between the movie "Gettysburg" and this fine book maybe Hancock will get some of the credit that should be his.

David Jordan has put together a book that is both informative and very easy to read. In fact, I would call it a real page turner.

Since Hancock's politics without a doubt held him back both during and after the war Jordan handles that early on by introducing the reader to Hancock's father, an avid Democrat. Hancock's views were set early on and he stuck by his beliefs in spite of Republican domination of both the government and the army. The reader is led through hancock's life and is also treated to many funny stories about Hancock many of which include his close friend Harry Heath who would lead his Confederates toward Gettysburg and kick off the great battle. We also find out that Hancock was one of the best cursers in the Union army and that he and General Zook could be counted on to lighten the mood of the second corps every so often with a heated exchange of some of the finest swear words known to man.

Jordan does a good job of recounting Hancock's performance in battle without getting to stuck in the mire of names and regiment numbers. He also manages to handle Hancock's political campaigns both for the Democratic Presidential nomination and as his party's candidate without getting his reader lost in the jungle of politicans most of which the average reader would not have heard of.

It is very hard to paint a picture of Hancock's contribution to a battle without getting the reader lost in detail or simply putting them to sleep. Jordan walks that fine line as well as most and better than many but he does fall a little short of giving us enough detail. Just a little bit more information on some of these battles would have made this a far better book. Still, if one must fall to one side of that fine line or the other Jordan picked the right side to land on.

The lack of detail by itself did not cost this book a star and in spite of this problem I would probably awarded Jordan five stars if he had not repeated the old myth that Harry Heath was on his way to Gettysburg looking for shoes. A man who could turn out this superb book should have known better.

I heartily agree with the above reviews. Jordan has written a masterpiece, extensively researched and extremely well written. The author's admiration for Hancock is obvious, but understandable: the reader - if he/she had not known it before - soon comes to realize that Hancock was an extraordinary soldier and person....My two complaints: that the book did not cover the Civil War in more depth (but that would have required many more pages in an already lengthy work); and that the more personal side of Hancock was not revealed more fully (but, then again, Hancock's wife burned all of Hancock's correspondence after writing her own book on her husband).....On the whole, Jordan treated Hancock and others - including Hancock's rivals - very fairly, something rarely done in such research-intensive biographies......I highly recommend the book.

"On each of the three days of the (Gettysburg) battle (Hancock) played a significant role - rallying the beaten forces on July 1 and selecting the battlefield, redressing the Sickles blunder the next day and saving the left wing of the army, and finally beating back the last and greatest assault of the Army of Northern Virginia. ... Gettysburg was Hancock's field." - author David Jordan

It was these three days in July, 1863 that established Winfield Scott Hancock as perhaps the best corps commander to serve in the Army of the Potomac. Yet, his career of loyal service to his superior officers, his Commanders-in Chief, and his country extended for a multitude of years on either side of his command of the Second Corps, which encompassed the relatively brief period from June of 1863 to November 1864, and which included the battles at Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and skirmishes around the Petersburg entrenchments.

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.

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.

If there's a failing to this volume, it's that it suffers from a limited photo section, and helpful maps are either absent or rudimentary. Beyond that, the book is a fine tribute to an American for whom much honor is due in the nation's history.

Jordan's book is an excellent biography of an overlooked and almost forgotten general of the Civil War. While Hancock was an excellent fighter and tactician, he is often overlooked in favor of Lee, Grant, Sherman, and Jackson. Thankfully, Hancock's important contributions to the Union are chronicled in Jordan's interesting text.

The book is full of interesting anecdotes of the following periods of Hancock's life:

1. Early childhood and life leading up to West Point.
2. West Point years.
3. Service in the Mexican War and just before the Civil War.
4. Excellent leadership at the Civil War battles of Antietam, Williamsburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Petersburg.
5. Role during the Reconstruction Period.
6. Political aspirations and almost presidency.
7. Final years.

As I read Jordan's book, I came to appreciate Hancock more and more. Jordan is able to keep the reader's interest throughout the text. For instance, while I was much more interested in Hancock's Civil War service instead of his politics, Jordan was able to keep me interested in Hancock's run for the presidency.

The only reason I did not give the book 5 stars is because the maps were few and of mediocre quality. When reading a Civil War book, I like several maps to enable me to better understand troop movements. Adding more high-quality maps would have done much to better clarify Hancock's movements during a certain battle.

Despite this minor complaint, I highly recommend this book as the definitive biography of and excellent leader!

I'd have to say that this is one of the best biographies available on Hancock (a close second to Glenn Tucker's "Hancock the Superb"). It's well written, and thoroughly researched from reliable sources. I can't give a full five stars because like most biographies written on Hancock, it is somewhat biased. Jordan has given a concise record of the General's life but apparently refrained from drawing conclusions when it came to Hancock's personality and character, which can leave a reader unfamiliar with other mediums on Hancock, wanting. Which is understandable when his resources gives little reference to his personality without being completely biased with praise. With all that aside, it still is an excellent account of Gen. Hancock's life an belongs on the shelf of every Civil War buff.

This highly readable account of Winfield Hancock's life does not disappoint. Never commanding a Union Army on his own, Hancock emerges from the Civil War one of the most accomplished, most successful of all Union battlefield commanders. His performance at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor and Petersburg earned him the sobriquet McClelland bestowed upon him early in the war during the Peninsula Campaign, "Hancock the Superb". Simply stated, he was one of the most important commanders in the American Civil War.

Jordan does a very credible job of tracing Hancock's origins from the Mexican and Civil Wars to his service in the Plains Indian Wars, his controversial reconstruction command at New Orleans and ultimately, his unsuccessful bid for the Presidency in the 1880 campaign. Combining broad strokes with an eye for interesting detail David Jordan delivers a biography of a most interesting personality whose life embodied a unique reflection of America's history for much of the nineteenth century.

At the Battle of Williamsburg, as the Army of Potomac crept up the Peninsula toward Richmond, Virginia, General Winfield Scott Hancock attempted an aggressive flank attack on Confederate positions. At a moment when serious damage could have been wrought against the Confederate forces, a timid Union commander recalled him. Even at that, he was able to deliver one last serious sting to the southern forces. General George McClellan noted that "Hancock was superb yesterday." Hence, the nickname "Hancock the Superb."

This is a serviceable book on this talented Union general. There is not enough detail on the battles in which Hancock was engaged; much of the book is "underdetailed." Nonetheless, one gets a sense of why Hancock was held in such great respect.

The book covers his early years, his time in West Point, his service in the "Old Army" (with the capstone being the lugubrious final meeting after the firing on Fort Sumter among him and future Confederate generals Lewis Armistead and Albert Sidney Johnston in California).

Briefly, he was consigned to a desk job. Soon, however, McClellan got him a brigade command. Then, his service where he earned the sobriquet "The Superb." He did good service at one point at Second Manassas/Bull Run; he served well at Antietam, where he advanced to division command. Then, the dreary battles at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville where, once more, he served the Union well. After Chancellorsville, he earned command of the Second Corps.

It is at Gettysburg, though, where he may have had the best three days of generalship of almost any commander in the Civil War. He brought order out of chaos at the end of the First Day; he shuffled troops all over the place on the Second Day, providing "Hairsbreadth Harry" narrow escapes (think his ordering of the First Minnesota into a suicidal attack against vastly superior forces to buy a few moments time for reinforcements to get to the scene); his command of the center of the Union line on the Third Day, where he commanded the troops who destroyed the charge by Pickett's, Pettigrew's, and Trimble's attacking forces. He was also seriously injured, and the damage done to him hindered his physical ability throughout the rest of the war.

After a convalescence, he did well at the Wilderness (his flank was rolled up by Longstreet, but he rallied his troops and led them well); he led a massive in depth attack at the Muleshoe at Spotsylvania. Eventually, his Second Corps bled down and he gave up his command in front of Petersburg.

After the war, he served in the South, against the Indians, and had a long career as a general officer. He even ran for President of the United States. This book introduces us to Hancock; I wish that there had been more exploration of his character and more detail in a number of the chapters. But for those who want to learn more about "Hancock the Superb," this is a good starting point.

A well written biography of a mostly forgotten soldier. Hancock was in many battles and his influence was felt long after the Civil War.

David Jordan deserves credit for bringing to light the military and civil contributions of Winfield Hancock. The book is a fine chronical of the General's military service and political career during the turbulent reconstructions years. Hancock is deservedly in the pantheon of outstanding military leaders serving either side during the Civil War. For the uninitiated, Jordan does a fine job of highlighting Hancock's keen judgment and outstanding leadership. Jordan illustrates the politics in the Army of the Potomac that too often rendered it impotent (e.g., Burnside, Sickles). I do fault Jordan in two areas. First, the military chapters of the book would have benefited from more frequent and detailed maps. The discussion of commands, troop movements, landmarks and engagements bogs down in their scarcity. The second criticism is Jordan's clear bias. In areas of debate, the author often makes an effort to point out both sides of the issue. In nearly every case, however, Jordan defers to Hancock imparting an unnecessary aire of perfection. This is most glaringly obvious in Hancock's relationship with John Gibbon and the chapter discussing the Kansas expedition. For example, Jordan questions Hancock's choice of provisions for the expedition but rationalizes that since Hancock discussed the plan with W.T. Sherman, it must be Sherman's fault. Likewise, Jordan lets Hancock off easy after the subject precipitates an Indian war by burning a Native village. Jordan dances around the fact that Hancock was out of his element in Kansas, probably doing more harm than good. Jordan does infer, however, that Hancocks sense of "no blese oblige" is both a strength and a fraility, as in his deteriorating relationship with Grant.

All in all, Jordan does a fine job with Hancock, a deserving and important subject in the American 19th Century.

Arrived promptly. The book is a thorough and fascinating treatment of one of the Union's most effective generals.