Winfield Scott Hancock Autograph Letter Signed to Senator Samuel Bell Maxey of Texas concerning political matters. Five page... (Total: 3 Items)

Description

Hancock addresses this letter, which has been passed down from the descendants of Senator Maxey, to "My Dear Senator" and writes in part about Speaker of the House Michael C. Kerr: "I have met him and that is about the extent of our acquaintance personally. I offered myself before his nomination to my friends, as if the belief that his election would better find the timid and the condition and purposes of the Democratic Party than the elevation of any other gentleman named in that connection and probably better than any member of the House."

Winfield Scott Hancock (1824-1886) was a career army officer who served with distinction in the Mexican War; he was especially known for his personal leadership during the Battle of Gettysburg. Following the Civil War, he served as the army's senior major general with headquarters in New York. When this letter was written, he was hoping to receive the Democratic presidential nomination for 1876; however, New York Governor Samuel J. Tilden received the nomination but was defeated in the general election by Republican Rutherford B. Hayes.

Samuel Bell Maxey (1825-1895), an attorney from Paris, Texas, was promoted to Confederate brigadier general during the Civil War. Following his post-war pardon, he was elected to two terms as senator from 1875 through 1887.