Editing Winfield Scott Hancock (section)

==Post-war military service==

===Execution of Lincoln assassination conspirators===
[[File:Execution Lincoln assassins.jpg|thumb|The [[Capital punishment|execution]] of the [[Abraham Lincoln assassination|Lincoln assassination]] conspirators, July 7, 1865]]
At the close of the war, Hancock was assigned to supervise the execution of the conspirators in the [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|assassination of President Abraham Lincoln]].<ref>Jordan, p. 177.</ref> Lincoln had been assassinated on April 14, 1865, and by May 9 of that year, a military commission had been convened to try the accused.<ref>Trefousse, pp. 211–12; Jordan, pp. 176–77.</ref> The actual assassin, [[John Wilkes Booth]], was already dead, but the trial of his co-conspirators proceeded quickly, resulting in convictions. President [[Andrew Johnson]] ordered the executions to be carried out on July 7. Although he was reluctant to execute some of the less-culpable conspirators, especially [[Mary Surratt]], Hancock carried out his orders, later writing that "every soldier was bound to act as I did under similar circumstances."<ref>Jordan, pp. 179–80; Tucker, p. 272.</ref>

===Service on the Plains===
After the executions, Hancock was assigned command of the newly organized [[Middle Military Division|Middle Military Department]], headquartered in [[Baltimore]].<ref>Jordan, p. 182.</ref> In 1866, on Grant's recommendation, Hancock was promoted to major general and was transferred, later that year, to command of the military [[Department of the Missouri]], which included the states of [[Missouri]] and [[Kansas]] and the territories of [[Colorado]] and [[New Mexico]].<ref>Jordan, pp. 183–84.</ref> Hancock reported to [[Fort Leavenworth]], Kansas, and took up his new posting.

Soon after arriving, he was assigned by General [[William Tecumseh Sherman|Sherman]] to lead an expedition to negotiate with the [[Cheyenne]] and [[Sioux]], with whom relations had worsened since the [[Sand Creek massacre]].<ref>Jordan, pp. 185–89.</ref> The negotiations got off to a bad start, and after Hancock ordered the burning of an abandoned Cheyenne village in central Kansas, relations became worse than when the expedition had started.<ref>Jordan, p. 194; Walker, p. 296.</ref>

The official report to the President by the [[Indian Peace Commission]] found that the actions of [[George Custer]] and other subordinates just after Hancock's arrival led to an instigation of violent reprisals by the Native Americans:

{{Blockquote
|text=Orders were then given to surround the village and capture the Indians remaining. The order was obeyed, but the chiefs and warriors had departed. The only persons found were an old Sioux and an idiotic girl of eight or nine years of age. It afterwards appeared that the person of this girl had been violated, from which she soon died. The Indians were gone, and the report spread that she had been a captive among them, and they had committed this outrage before leaving. The Indians say that she was an idiotic Cheyenne girl, forgotten in the confusion of flight, and if violated, it was not by them.

The next morning General Custer, under orders, stated in pursuit of the Indians with his cavalry, and performed a campaign of great labor and suffering, passing over a vast extent of country, but seeing no hostile Indians. When the fleeing Indians reached the Smoky Hill they destroyed a station and killed several men. A courier having brought this intelligence to General Hancock, he at once ordered the Indian village, of about 300 lodges, together with the entire property of the tribes, to be burned.

The Indian now became an outlaw -- not only the Cheyennes and Sioux, but all the tribes on the plains. The superintendent of an express company, Cottrell, issued a circular order to the agents and employees of the company in the following language: "You will hold no communications with Indians whatever. If Indians come within shooting distance, shoot them. Show them no mercy, for they will show you none." This was in the Indian country. He closes by saying: "General Hancock will protect you and our property."

Whether war existed previous to that time seems to have been a matter of doubt even with General Hancock himself. From that day forward no doubt on the subject was entertained by anybody. The Indians were then fully aroused, and no more determined war has ever been waged by them. The evidence taken tends to show that we have lost many soldiers, besides a larger number of settlers, on the frontier. The most valuable trains belonging to individuals, as well as to government, among which was a government train of ammunition, were captured by those wild horsemen. Stations were destroyed. Hundreds of horses and mules were taken, and found in their possession when we met them in council; while we are forced to believe that their entire loss since the burning of their village consists of six men killed.

The Kiowas and Comanches, it will be seen, deny the statement of Jones in every particular. They say that no war party came in at the time stated, or at any other time, after the treaty of 1865. They deny that they killed any Negro soldiers, and positively assert that no Indian was ever known to scalp a Negro. In the latter statement they are corroborated by all the tribes and by persons who know their habits; and the records of the adjutant general's office fail to show the loss of the 17 Negro soldiers, or any soldiers at all. They deny having robbed Jones or insulted Page or Tappan. Tappan's testimony was taken, in which he brands the whole statement of Jones as false, and declares that both he and Page so informed Major Douglas within a few days after Jones made his affidavit. We took the testimony of Major Douglas, in which he admits the correctness of Tappan's statement, but, for some reason unexplained, he failed to communicate the correction to General Hancock. The threats to take the horses and attack the posts on the Arkansas were made in a vein of jocular bravado, and not understood by any one present at the time to possess the least importance. The case of the Box family has already been explained, and this completes the case against the Kiowas and Comanches, who are exculpated by the united testimony of all the tribes from any share in the late troubles.

The Cheyennes admit that one of their young men in a private quarrel, both parties being drunk, killed a New Mexican at Fort Zarah. Such occurrences are so frequent among the whites on the plains that ignorant Indians might be pardoned for participating, if it be done merely to evidence their advance in civilization. The Indians claim that the Spaniard was in fault, and further protest that no demand was ever made for the delivery of the Indian.

The Arapahoes admit that a party of their young men, with three young warriors of the Cheyennes, returning from an excursion against the Utes, attacked the train of Mr. Weddell, of New Mexico, during the month of March, and they were gathering up the stock when the war commenced.

Though this recital should prove tedious, it was thought necessary to guard the future against the errors of the past. We would not blunt the vigilance of military men in the Indian country, but we would warn them against the acts of the selfish and unprincipled, who need to be watched as well as the Indian. The origin and progress of this war are repeated in nearly all Indian wars. The history of one will suffice for many.

'''Nor would we be understood as conveying a censure of General Hancock''' [empasis added] for organizing this expedition. He had just come to the department, and circumstances were ingeniously woven to deceive him. His distinguished services in another field of patriotic duty had left him but little time to become acquainted with the remote or immediate causes producing these troubles. If he erred, he can very well roll a part of the responsibility on others; not alone on subordinate commanders, who were themselves deceived by others, but on those who were able to guard against the error and yet failed to do it. We have hundreds of treaties with the Indians, and military posts are situated everywhere on their reservations. Since 1837 these treaties have not been compiled, and no provision is made, when a treaty is proclaimed, to furnish it to the commanders of posts, departments, or divisions. This is the fault of Congress.
<ref name="ipc-report">Indian Peace Commission 1868</ref>}}

===Reconstruction===
[[File:Andrew Johnson.jpg|thumb|[[Andrew Johnson]] thought Hancock was the ideal Reconstruction general.]]
Hancock's time in the West was brief. President Johnson, unhappy with the way Republican generals were governing the South under [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]], sought replacements for them.<ref>Trefousse, pp. 289–90.</ref> The general who offended Johnson the most was [[Philip Sheridan]], and Johnson soon ordered General Grant to switch the assignments of Hancock and Sheridan, believing that Hancock, a Democrat, would govern in a style more to Johnson's liking.<ref name=jordan200>Jordan, pp. 200–01.</ref> Although neither man was pleased with the change, Sheridan reported to Fort Leavenworth and Hancock to [[New Orleans]].<ref name=jordan200/>

Hancock's new assignment found him in charge of the [[Fifth Military District]], covering [[Texas]] and [[Louisiana]]. Almost immediately upon arriving, Hancock ingratiated himself with the secessionist white population by issuing his General Order Number 40 of November 29, 1867. In that order, written while traveling to New Orleans, Hancock expressed sentiments in support of President Johnson's policies, writing that if the residents of the district conducted themselves peacefully and the civilian officials perform their duties, then "the military power should cease to lead, and the civil administration resume its natural and rightful dominion."<ref>Jamieson, pp. 152–53.</ref> The order continued:
{{blockquote|The great principles of American liberty are still the lawful inheritance of this people, and ever should be. The right of trial by jury, the habeas corpus, the liberty of the press, the freedom of speech, the natural rights of persons and the rights of property must be preserved. Free institutions, while they are essential to the prosperity and happiness of the people, always furnish the strongest inducements to peace and order.<ref>Jordan, p. 203.</ref>}}
Hancock's order encouraged white Democrats across the South who hoped to return to civilian government more quickly, but discomforted blacks and Republicans in the South who feared a return to the antebellum ways of traditional white dominance.<ref>Jordan, pp. 204–05; Tucker, pp. 279–84.</ref>

Hancock's General Order Number 40 was quickly condemned by Republicans in Washington, especially by the [[Radical Republicans|Radicals]], while President Johnson wholeheartedly approved.<ref name=jordan206>Jordan, pp. 206–08; Walker, pp. 301–03.</ref> Heedless of the situation in Washington, Hancock soon put his words into action, refusing local Republican politicians' requests to use his power to overturn elections and court verdicts, while also letting it be known that open insurrection would be suppressed.<ref name=jordan206/> Hancock's popularity within the Democratic party grew to the extent that he was considered a potential presidential nominee for that party in [[1868 United States presidential election|the 1868 election]].<ref>Jordan, 213–28; Warner, p. 204.</ref> Although Hancock collected a significant number of delegates at the 1868 convention, his presidential possibilities went unfulfilled. Even so, he was henceforth identified as a rare breed in politics: one who believed in the Democratic Party's principles of states' rights and limited government, but whose anti-secessionist sentiment was unimpeachable.<ref>Jordan, p. 212; Walker pp. 301–02.</ref>

===Return to the Plains===
Following [[Ulysses S. Grant|General Grant's]] 1868 presidential victory, the Republicans were firmly in charge in Washington. As a result, Hancock found himself transferred, this time away from the sensitive assignment of reconstructing the South and into the relative backwater that was the [[Department of Dakota]].<ref>Jordan, p. 229.</ref> The Department covered [[Minnesota]], [[Montana Territory|Montana]], and [[Dakota Territory|the Dakotas]]. As in his previous Western command, Hancock began with a conference of the Indian chiefs, but this time was more successful in establishing a peaceful intent.<ref>Jordan, pp. 220–21.</ref> Relations worsened in 1870, however, as an army expedition committed [[Marias massacre|a massacre]] against the [[Blackfoot|Blackfeet]].<ref>Jordan, p. 232.</ref> Relations with the [[Sioux]] also became contentious as a result of white encroachment into the [[Black Hills]], in violation of the [[Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)|Treaty of Fort Laramie]].<ref>Jordan, pp. 233–34.</ref>

It was during this tour that Hancock had the opportunity to contribute to the creation of [[Yellowstone National Park]]. In August 1870, he ordered the 2nd Cavalry at [[Fort Ellis]] to provide a military escort for General [[Henry D. Washburn]]'s planned exploration of the Yellowstone Region. The expedition, which was a major impetus in creating the park, became known as the [[Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition]]. Hancock's order led to the assignment of Lt. [[Gustavus Cheyney Doane]] and a troop of 5 cavalrymen from Fort Ellis to escort the expedition. In 1871, Captain [[John W. Barlow]] during his exploration of the Yellowstone region formally named a summit on what would become the southern boundary of the park [[Mount Hancock (Wyoming)|Mount Hancock]] to honor the general's decision to provide the escort.<ref>{{cite book |last=Whittlesey |first=Lee |title=Yellowstone Place Names |publisher=Wonderland Publishing Company |location=Gardiner, MT |isbn=1-59971-716-6|year=1996 |page=178}}</ref>

===Command in the East and political ambitions===
In 1872, [[George Meade|General Meade]] died, leaving Hancock the army's senior major general. This entitled him to a more prominent command, and President Grant, still desirous to keep Hancock from a Southern post, assigned him command of the [[Military Division of the Atlantic|Division of the Atlantic]], headquartered at [[Fort Columbus]] on [[Governors Island]], in [[New York City]].<ref>Jordan, p. 235; Tucker, p. 292.</ref> The vast department covered the settled northeast area of the country and was militarily uneventful with the exception of the army's involvement in the [[Great Railroad Strike of 1877]]. When railroad workers went on strike to protest wage cuts, the nation's transportation system was paralyzed. The governors of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland asked President Hayes to call in federal troops to re-open the railways. Once federal troops entered the cities, most of the strikers melted away, but there were some violent clashes.<ref>Jordan, pp. 242–50.</ref>

All the while Hancock was posted in New York, he did his best to keep his political ambitions alive. He received some votes at the Democrats' [[1876 Democratic National Convention|1876 convention]], but was never a serious contender as New York governor [[Samuel J. Tilden]] swept the field on the second ballot.<ref>Jordan, p. 239.</ref> The Republican candidate, [[Rutherford B. Hayes]], won the election, and Hancock refocused his ambition on 1880. The [[Electoral Commission (United States)|electoral crisis]] of 1876 and the subsequent end to Reconstruction in 1877 convinced many observers that the election of 1880 would give the Democrats their best chance at victory in a generation.<ref>Robinson, Lloyd, ''The Stolen Election: Hayes versus Tilden–1876'', Agberg, Ltd. 1968, pp. 199–213.</ref>