February 9 Tuesday – General Winfield Scott Hancock (1824-1886) died of an infected carbuncle, complicated by diabetes. Sam noted in his letter to Webster the following day that General Grant seldom mentioned Sherman, Sheridan, or Hancock in his Memoirs without adding a compliment. Hancock was an 1844 West Point graduate, and much distinguished in the Civil War. He ran on the Democratic ticket and lost to Garfield in the 1880 presidential election in the closest popular vote for the office in history. Hancock had an identical twin brother. Grant wrote of Hancock:

Hancock stands the most conspicuous figure of all the general officers who did not exercise a separate command. He commanded a corps longer than any other one, and his name was never mentioned as having committed in battle a blunder for which he was responsible. He was a man of very conspicuous personal appearance…. His genial disposition made him friends, and his personal courage and his presence with his command in the thickest of the fight won for him the confidence of troops serving under him. No matter how hard the fight, the 2d corps always felt that their commander was looking after them [Personal Memoirs: II 539-40].

R.H. Pennington wrote to Sam from Wilmington, Del. This was a “begging letter,” asking for money to buy a sewing machine. Sam wrote on the envelope: “Southern begging-letter” [MTP].