Half-length seated studio portrait of General Winfield Scott Hancock (1824-1886) in uniform. Albumen CDV. Philadelphia: Earles' Galleries, 1862. Contemporary ink inscriptions to mount recto and verso identify Hancock. Copyright statement dated 1862 printed to mount recto. Earles' imprint affixed to mount verso.

Hancock graduated 18th in class at West Point and received an officer’s commission in the 6th United States Infantry, stationed in the Red River Valley. During the Mexican-American War, he successfully recruited soldiers in Kentucky before securing a position in Mexico, where he saw action. Hancock was wounded at the Battle of Churubusco, and a subsequent infection kept him from the invasion of Mexico City, but he ended the war as a first lieutenant. He remained in the Army in peacetime, with assignments at Fort Snelling, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri; a tour in Florida during the Third Seminole War; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, during the Bleeding Kansas partisan warfare; Utah Territory; and southern California. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he returned east to assume quartermaster duties but was quickly promoted to brigadier general and given command. His "superb" counterattack at the Battle of Williamsburg earned him the nickname “Hancock the Superb.” Hancock saw action at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, where he was wounded several times.

General Hancock is best remembered for his role during the Battle of Gettysburg, where he organized Union defenses on Cemetery Hill, held the line, and bore the brunt of Pickett's Charge. His heroic efforts are widely credited with the resulting Union victory. His health suffered after recuperating from Gettysburg, but he rejoined command during General Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign.

As a war hero and states-rights advocate, Hancock was put forth as a presidential Democratic candidate in 1880, but lost by a razor-thin margin to Grover Cleveland. 

A nice wartime portrait. 

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Minor toning and edgewear.