Editing Winfield Scott Hancock (section)

==Later life==
Hancock took his electoral defeat in stride and attended Garfield's inauguration.<ref>Walker, p. 311.</ref> Following the election, Hancock carried on as commander of the Division of the Atlantic. He was elected president of the [[National Rifle Association]] in 1881, explaining that "The object of the NRA is to increase the military strength of the country by making skill in the use of arms as prevalent as it was in the days of the Revolution."<ref>Kopel, ''National Review''.</ref> Hancock was a Charter Director and the first president of the [[Military Service Institution of the United States]] from 1878 until his death in 1886.<ref>''Constitution, by-laws and register: together with memoranda relating to the history and work of the institution'', Military Service Institution of the United States, Governor's Island, N.Y.H., Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford co., 1906.</ref> He was commander-in-chief of the [[Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States]] veterans organization from 1879 until his death in 1886. He was the author of ''Reports of Major General W. S. Hancock upon Indian Affairs'', published in 1867.<ref name=Eicher/>

Though he also made a less publicized trip that year to Gettysburg,<ref>Jordan, pp. 312–13.</ref> the last public act performed by Hancock was his oversight of the funeral of Ulysses S. Grant in 1885, and his organizing and leading of Grant's nine-mile funeral procession in New York City. From Grant's home at Mount McGregor, New York, to its resting place in Riverside Park, the casket containing Grant's remains was in the charge of General Hancock. As he appeared on the scene at the commencement of Grant's funeral procession, Hancock was met with a mild applause, but with a gesture he directed a silence and respect for Grant.<ref>[[Winfield Scott Hancock#goodrich|Goodrich, 1886]], pp. 333–34</ref>

Hancock died in 1886 at Governors Island, still in command of the Military Division of the Atlantic, the victim of an infected [[carbuncle]], complicated by [[Diabetes mellitus|diabetes]].<ref name=Tagg/><ref name=Cluff/> He is buried in [[Montgomery Cemetery]] in [[West Norriton Township, Pennsylvania]], near [[Norristown, Pennsylvania]].<ref name=Eicher/> Hancock's wife, Almira, published ''Reminiscences of Winfield Scott Hancock'' in 1887.

In 1893, Republican General [[Francis Amasa Walker|Francis A. Walker]] wrote,<blockquote>Although I did not vote for General Hancock, I am strongly disposed to believe that one of the best things the nation has lost in recent years has been the example and the influence of that chivalric, stately, and splendid gentleman in the [[White House]]. Perhaps much which both parties now recognize as having been unfortunate and mischievous during the past thirteen years would have been avoided had General Hancock been elected.<ref>They Also Ran, Irving Stone, p. 188.</ref></blockquote>

His noted integrity was a counterpoint to the corruption of the era, for as President [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] said,<blockquote>If, when we make up our estimate of a public man, conspicuous both as a soldier and in civil life, we are to think first and chiefly of his manhood, his integrity, his purity, his singleness of purpose, and his unselfish devotion to duty, we can truthfully say of Hancock that he was through and through pure gold.<ref>Jordan, p. 319.</ref></blockquote>
[[File:General Winfield Scott Hancock leading Ulysses S Grant's funeral procession.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|General Winfield Scott Hancock leading Ulysses S. Grant's funeral procession in New York City]]