Mathew Brady Studio, active 1844 - 1894 Search this
Sitter:
Winfield Scott Hancock, 14 Feb 1824 - 9 Feb 1886 Search this
David Bell Birney, 29 May 1825 - 18 Oct 1864 Search this
Medium:
Albumen silver print
Dimensions:
Image/Sheet: 12.7 x 20.1 cm (5 x 7 15/16")
Type:
Photograph
Date:
1864
Exhibition Label:
Union general Winfield Scott Hancock (1824–1886) commanded the Second Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He won praise from soldiers and peers alike for his bravery and leadership at Gettysburg in 1863, where he was seriously wounded, and in the Virginia battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor in 1864. At Gettysburg, Hancock’s command repulsed the brunt of Pickett’s Charge. In response to a subordinate who urged Hancock not to ride his horse in the midst of the fight, he replied, “There are times when a corps commander’s life does not count.”
In this photograph of Hancock’s camp head- quarters, possibly near Cold Harbor in June 1864, Hancock is shown in the center, resting his hand on a tree. His division commanders—Francis C. Barlow, who is leaning against the tree, and David Bell Birney and John Gibbon at the front left—stand near him. A woodcut illustration of this photograph, appeared in Harper’s Weekly on August 13, 1864.