Excerpt from The Life and Public Services of Winfield Scott Hancock, Major-General
To tell the story of the life of a successful general is to recite a romance. Hard and cruel as the work of war may he in reality, it is only while it is doing that its hardships and its roughnesses are seen. When it is done, the glory of the result smooths the crudenesses, and gilds the dark places, and rounds the whole into a picturesque completeness. The love of conflict is as much a part of human nature as the love of peace; and delight in tales of war lies deep down in man"s heart. Stories of heroes and of saints, of warfare temporal and spiritual, form the earliest literature of mankind.
But when to this is added the element of patriotism, and the successful warrior is one who fights not alone for glory or for the love of fighting, but for the love of country, a new zest is given the chronicle of his deeds. And when, still further, this love of country is the love of a free, popular government, - when the struggle is for the sake of liberty and for maintaining the will of the people, - the soldier in such a cause becomes a hero, whether successful or not.
The subject of this sketch is such a hero, and a most successful one. But, great as is his glory in war, the impartial historian will accord him at least equal honor for the display of rare administrative talent in civil affairs, - most rare, indeed, in connection with such superlative military genius as he has shown.
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