USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 21
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
of these farms. He had the utmost coufidence in the future of the enterprise, as undertakeu, and with a prevision which has had largely to do witli his suecess in life, purchased forty-four acres lying adjacent thereto and added it to the original tract. This section uow comprises one of the most beauti- ful portious of Williamsport and is the site of the most desirable resideuces in the place ; the greater part of the land forming the whole tract was sold in building lots, upon which homes were speedily erected and a flourishing town created. A portion of the land at the lower or southeru eud of the log basin was retained by the firm and on it they built one of the most extensive saw-mills in that section of the State. This mill is still a valuable property, and is operated by the firm of White, Lentz & White, Peter Herdic having withdrawn from the firm in 1867. The large interest of the firm in the Williamsport enterprise was finally sold to Mr. Herdic. With his portion of the proceeds of the sale Mr. Lentz made large purchases, in connection with Col. F. E. Embick and other persons, of Wis- consin lands, which were afterwards sold for nearly a million dollars. He is still interested in a forty thousand acre tract of land in that State, as well as in a valuable tract of timber in Florida containing 27,000 acres, in company with Col. Embick, and is also the owner of a large cattle ranch in North Da- kota. He is likewise the principal owner of the Water Works at Selins Grove and Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, Cairo, Illinois, and Orlando, Florida. He is one of the largest stockholders and a Director of the Williamsport Water Company, and has also been a Director for many years in the West Branch National Bank, as well as in the Savings Bank of Wiliamsport. Actively interested from an early period in its history in the affairs of Williamsport, and largely the promoter of the later growth and devel- opment of the city, he is naturally a prominent figure in its business and social life. No resident of the city has shown a more earnest and active de- sire to aid in its advancement and welfare. Al- though he has reached an age at which even men of great activity and vitality seek rest from their la- bors, he still supervises and directs those in which lie is interested, finding in the work needed exer- cise for both mind and body. His ample fortune, the reward of sagacious enterprise, shrewd invest- ment and untiring labor, has not affected either the simplicity of his tastes or the sympathy which he lias always felt for the struggling and suffering. All his transactions have been marked by a sturdy integrity and in all his business dealings with his fellow-men his couduct has been such as to increase the respect which his moral and social qualities
have inspired. As one of the most euergetic and unselfish of the pioncers of the growtli and prosperity of Williamsport, he will ever be held in honorable remembrance by its citizens. His good- ness of heart is warmly spoken of by many to whom he freely extended a liberal hand in the day of their trials and adversity, and already he is reap- ing the gratifying reward of his numerous good deeds in the love and esteem of an appreciative community. Kind and genial by nature, he has constantly ministered with loving care to the com- forts and pleasures of his family, and his home life is described by those intimate with it as being marked by the most refined and elevating influ- ences. In 1859 Mr. Lentz married Miss Jane C. Wood, daughter of Dr. Jesse Wood of Williams- port. This lady died Ootober 28, 1873. Of the three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lentz, one, a boy named George F., died at the age of sixteen. The surviving children are a son, Mr. Henry W. Lentz, of Williamsport, actively engaged in assist- ing his father in his extensive business interests ; and a daughter, the wife of Mr. D. S. Mahaffey, of Williamsport, whose summer residence (the gift of her father) is a beautiful suburban mansion, for- merly the hospitable country seat of the late ex- Governor J. Andrew Shultze, and which, together with a farm containing several hundred acres of choice land, and well stocked with horses and cattle of the best strains, is admitted to be the model farm of the County of Lycoming.
HERMAN SIMON.
HERMAN SIMON, of Easton, son of Robert and Marie Simon, and one of the firm of R. & H. Simon, large silk manufacturers, having extensive mills at Easton, Pennsylvania, Union Hill and Paterson, New Jersey, was born in Frankfort-on-the-Main, April 29, 1850. His father was born at Dusseldorf, Germany, and educated there, and was, after finish- ing his schooling, employed by Messrs. Winderop & Co., at Rotterdam, Holland, very extensive dealers in leaf tobacco. He attained in a few years the responsible position of General Manager, and his authority in all matters was only second to that of the principals, having power of attorney to sign all papers connected with the firm in the absence of the principals. In 1848 he went to Frankfort-on- the-Main, and commenced business for himself. His confidence in America and American securities was so strong that he invested his money in some of the first bonds issued by the United States Govern-
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ated. In selecting the required tools for the accom- plishment of their policy, the public leaders doubtless made choice of General Hancock among them from a necessity to bend somewhat to the force of a popu- larity which he shared with only three other general officers. Hancock was a life-long Jeffersonian Demo- crat, of good Pennsylvania Democratic stock, and it was thought, doubtless, that personal ambition would induce him to succumb to the coercion it was designed to put upon all the Southern military gov- ernors to force them to agreement with the plans which had been organized for the purpose of estab- lishing as a perpetual condition the power of the Republican Party. On November 29, 1867, General Hancock arrived in New Orleans and assumed " command of the Fifth Military District and of the Department composed of the States of Louisiana and Texas." His first official act was to issue his afterwards celebrated "Order No. 40," in which he distinctly set forth his intention, within his govern- ment, to recognize that the state of war was at an end, and that civil authorities should be permitted to resume their functions. In thus subordinating the military to the civil authority, General Hancock afforded an illustration of the judicial character of his mind, and showed plainly that he could not pos- sibly be employed as an instrument to carry out any political purpose of which his conscience did not approve. The course indicated in his first order was consistently adhered to during General Han- cock's retention of his command. As might have been expected, it speedily aroused the ire and op- position of the Republican party. In a speech be- fore the House of Representatives, General Garfield denounced the plan of government adopted by Gen- eral Hancock, and characterized his action as insub- ordinate. At the same time he sought to deprive the hero of Gettysburg of power and position by in- troducing a bill into Congress, manifestly aimed at General Hancock, reducing the number of Major- Generals in the army. This bill was not pressed to a passage, from shecr fear of the popular indigna- tion which would have followed such an outrageous attempt at the deposition of a favorite and loyal soldier. But by petty and harassing acts of inter- ference with his government the same spirit was shown, and eventually the result immediately desired was accomplished. General Hancock found that his usefulness was being impaired, and accordingly, at his request, he was relieved of his command on March 16, 1868, and on March 31st assumed com- mand of the Division of the Atlantic, covering an enormous territory east of the Mississippi. It would hardly have been possible for General Hancock to have sustained such a brilliant and successful career
as had characterized him during and after the war without achieving great personal popularity, and being brought prominently before the minds of those political leaders who, within his party, influenced and shaped political movements. Indeed, it was already felt that his name might easily become a talisman with which to conjure success; and evidence of this was given in the fact that in the Democratic Convention of July 4, 1868, its presenta- tion gained a vote of 144}. Certain political necessi- ties intervencd, however, and Horatio Seymour was nominated as the Democratic candidate for the Presi- dency. On March 20, 1869, General Hancock was ordered to the command of the Department of Dakota, with headquarters at St. Paul, Minnesota, and there lie remained until November 25, 1872, when he was restored to the Division of the Atlantic. The year 1872 saw another Presidential election ; but, though General Hancock's name was freely canvassed as the wisest for the party, other counsel prevailed and Horace Greeley was nominated as a compromise-candidate, with the result of a disas- trous defeat and the death of Mr. Greeley, mainly from disappointment and chagrin. In December, 1875, General Hancock was a member of the Court of Inquiry summoned to investigate the course of General Babcock, private secretary to General Grant, in connection with the celebrated "whiskey ring" of St. Louis. General Hancock learned that Babcock was to be civilly tried at St. Louis, and his objection to complicating civil and military jurisdic- tion induced him to recommend an adjournment of the Court of Inquiry, pending the conclusion of the St. Louis investigation. Hissuggestion was adopted; and as Babcock was acquitted by the civil court, no military examination was made into the question. From this period until 1877 General Hancock was engaged in the prosecution of his official duties as Commander of the Military Division of the Atlantic, with no occurrence of serious import to engage his attention. But the railroad riots of that year brought liim again prominently before the public. More than one hundred thousand railroad employees and forty thousand miners were on strike in different parts of the country, and, particularly at Pittsburgh, the injury to traffic and the general destruction and pillage were terrific. It fell to General Hancock to direct the United States troops that were hastily summoned from every direction to quell this upris- ing, and it was matter for general public commen- dation that he succeeded in suppressing the disturb- ance-so far as the army was engaged in this duty -- without losing a man and without killing a rioter. The National Democratic Convention met at Cincin- nati, June 22, 1880. General Garfield had been
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nominated by the Republican Convention at Chicago three wecks before, and his acknowledged ability, personal popularity, and political strengthi rendered it necessary to nominate the strongest candidate on the opposing side. It was the highest possible com- pliment to the great General when, on the second ballot, Winfield Scott Hancock was nominated unanimously. Few political contests in this country have awakened so much personal feeling as this one. The nearly equal division of political sentiment in the country, which had so excited the nation in 1876, caused the strife to be bitter and aggressive. It is a splendid tribute to the high character and faithful services of General Hancock that never, during the heat of that contest, was there raised a doubt of his integrity; never did the breath of scandal blow upon his reputation. The closeness of the popular vote was one of those incidents which have aroused the admiration of the world, as illustrating the ten- acity and vitality of the Republican form of govern- ment. In this vote of 9,218,251, of which the Demo- crats received 4,444,952 and the Republicans 4,454,- 416, the remainder being Greenback and Prohibition -a plurality of only 9,464 for Garfield showed how closely public sentiment was divided. In the Elec- toral College the vote stood 214 to 155. General Hancock accepted his defeat philosophically; and if his ambition made the result a disappointment to him, not even his closest friends ever discovered it. Devoting himself with his customary fidelity to his military duties, he had not personally interfered in the canvass; and, the election past, he pursued the even tenor of his way, seemingly undisturbed by any reflections upon his failure to achieve the highest position open to the ambition of an American citizen. Towards the end of January, 1886, General Han- cock, who was apparently in his usual excellent health and spirits, undertook a brief visit to Phila- delphia and Washington. While in the latter city he was attacked with what proved to be a carbuncle, and he returned home, where he was treated for it, and nothing serious in the case gave grounds for alarm. But at the end of the first week in February he began to experience kidney trouble, which
developed into diabetes, and on Sunday, February 7, he took to his bed. During the next day it
became evident that his situation was most grave, and extra medical attendance was summoned from New York, to Headquarters on Governor's Island, where the chieftain lay surely passing away. At 4 A. M. on Tuesday he began to sink, and at nine
minutes to three in the afternoon he died. The
suddenness of this untoward occurrence caused it to
be felt with added severity, and from all parts of the country came to the afflicted widow expressions
of the grief of the people at her and their loss. It was felt that one of the most staunch, loyal and courageous spirits America had ever produced had received the dread summons, and that the country was bereft indeed. General Hancock's remains were embalmed, and, until the funeral, were con- stantly under guard of a commissioned officer and two private soldiers. Mcanwhile preparations for a suitable expression of the public sentiment on the occasion of the funeral were duly made. The Union League Club of New York passed resolutions honor- ing the deceased In Washington the public build- ings were draped, and flags were half-masted on the New York City Hall; and both in Philadelphia and New York a movement was at once undertaken to raise a fund for the widow of the dead General. On Saturday morning, February 13, the remains were taken by boat from Governor's Island to the Federal Barge Office, on the Battery, where the pall-bearers mct the military guard accompanying them. The pall-bearers were-Secretary of State Thomas F. Bayard, representing the President, Gen. William T. Sherman, Gen. P. H. Sheridan, Gen. William B. Franklin, Gen. Alfred H. Terry, Gen. Nelson A. Miles, Gen. John Newton, Gen. James B. Fry, Gen. Francis A. Walker, Gen. William F. Smith, Gen. J. M. Schofield, Gen. Finlay Anderson, Gen. O. B. Willcox, Mr. B. M. Hartshorn, Col. W. P. Wilson and Major W. D. W. Miller. From the Barge Office the procession marched amidst dense crowds of citi- zens and strangers, evidently deeply impressed with the solemnity of the occasion, to Trinity Church, New York, where the burial service was read by Rev. Dr. Morgan L. Dix, the rector. At the close of the service the procession continued its route to the ferry, the remains were transferred to Jersey City and placed on board a special train for Norris- town, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where, on their arrival near sunset, they were finally interred in Montgomery Cemetery, on the day before the anniversary of his birthday. This sketch of the life of General Hancock would be incomplete without some commentary upon the nature it illustrates. A military character dominated by inflexible purpose, daring courage in action, and marked skill and in- tuition in the highest range of generalship, served to raise the soldier from the cadet to the Major-Gen- eral. Meanwhile his judicial powers, combined with unflinching integrity, enabled him to govern with wisdom in time of peace the people whom he had fought victoriously in time of war. It had been impossible to use him as a political general in the field; he refused to become a political tool in the Cabinet. In the Presidential contest he stood upon his merits and his record alone, and no advice or
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liant actions of the war. The General himself was under fire during the whole of this assault, and narrowly escaped death by a musket-ball which passed through his clothes, grazing the skin. Then followed the " Mud March " and the total discomfi- ture of the unfortunate Burnside, who was replaced in command by General Hooker; Chancellorsville was fought, where Hancock had his horse killed under him, and on June 25, 1863, he was placed in command of the Second Army Corps. Raised in three years through sheer prowess and ability as a commander from a captaincy to the head of an army corps, General Hancock's varied gifts were equally recognized by the men under his command and by his superiors at Washington. Lincoln is known to have said that he examincd the despatches from the Army of the Potomac with fear lest he should read, "General Hancock is dead." He was par excellence a favorite with the whole country, his fighting qualities fully admitted, his ability in the direction of vast masses of men being justly es- teemed of the gravest importance to the cause of the Union. Now began the movement of Lee to " carry the war into Africa," which resulted in the battle of Gettysburg and turned the tide of defeat to a splendid flood of victory over the elated Con- federates. The Army of the Potomac was hurried towards the capital. Hooker resigned his command and was succeeded by Major-General George G. Meade. An able general, Meade thwarted Lee's plans; but it fell to General Hancock to decide the scene of the great battle of the war. Gencral Rey- nolds was killed, and Hancock found himself in command of the Eleventh, First and Third Army Corps. Advised by General Meade to examine the ground and choose the best location possible, he reached Cemetery Hill on July 1st, the day before the battle, and finding the army badly disorganized and retreating before the forces of the enemy on Gettysburg, he employed all the wonderful magic of his personal presence, his coolness and masterly control of his men, to stop what threatened to be a rout. The soldiers paused in their headlong career when they heard that Hancock was at the front. Regimental and brigade organizations were speedily re-formed, the lines were re-established, and Gen- eral Hancock despatched an aide to General Meade to say that he "could hold Cemetery Hill until nightfall, and that he considered Gettysburg the place to fight the coming battle." It was three o'clock on the afternoon of the 2d of July that the advance was made by General Sickles towards the Emmetsburg road, which resulted in the disabling of that officer, and the command of the Third Corps, in addition to his own, being given to General Han-
cock. The fighting along the left of the Union line now became general, and continued until darkness closed in and put an end to operations for that day. Some time after noon on the following day the struggle was recommenced by a terrible artillery fire upon our lines from one hundred and twenty guns at once. Now occurred a magnificent act of daring, which by its inspiriting effect went far to decide the fortunes of the battle of Gettysburg. While the terrible fire from the enemy's batteries was at its hottest, General Hancock called his staff about him and, with a private from the Sixth Infan- try carrying the corps flag, rode for more than a mile along the front of the line of battle, exposed to the fierce fire of the whole Confederate artillery, than which, it has been said by an eye-witness, nothing more sublime and appalling has ever been known in war. The shouts and cheers of the Union soldiers attested to their appreciation of the splendid courage of the act, and from that moment, such was the confidence felt by the Union army, a determina- tion to win victory, at whatever hazard, nerved the men to a steady and courageous persistence which resulted in its achievement. For nearly two hours the wreck and devastation in the two armies was unexampled. The roar of artillery was deafening. Caissons were exploded, men were blown to pieces at their guns, regiments and brigades were cut down like grass before the reaper. The crowning scene of the contest was the advance of Pickett's division of infantry, supported by Armistead's brigade, in all eighteen thousand men. This movement in the face of the fire of the batteries of the entire Union line is described as the most magnificent instance of an in- fantry-attack which occurred during the war. Our troops meanwhile held their fire until the enemy was close upon them, when the slaughter became terrific. Human endurance, though sustained by superhuman courage, could not sustain that terrible onslaught. The Confederate columns wavered ; hugh gaps-quickly closed up-attested to the deadly precision of the Union fire. At length a general advance along our whole line drove them back step by step, a hand-to-hand fight ensued, and then a complete rout ended the battle, and Gettys- burg, the turning-point of the war, was lost and won. At the moment when the fight was hottest, Gencral Hancock, who had fearlessly exposed him- self to danger from the beginning, was struck by a Minié ball, and as he fell from his horse was caught by two staff-officers and immediately carried to the rear. The wound was serious and painful. The General was taken to the field-hospital, and after an examination it was thought best to remove him at once to his home. He was accordingly taken by
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railway to Norristown, where under careful surgical treatment, he slowly improved, though he continued to suffer inconvenience for years. The battle of Gettysburg ended on the 3d of July. During the following day the two armies lay quiet, confronting each other, caring for the wounded and burying the dead. On the morning of the 5th the enemy had departed. It was not until December 15, 1863, that General Hancock again reported for duty, and re- sumed the command of the Second Corps. In the spring of 1864 began the series of battles known as those of the " Wilderness," a part of Grant's cam- paign designed to turn Lee's right, the Confederate lines being stretched along the bluffs skirting the - south bank of the Rapidan. On the night of May 3d the Second Corps moved out of camp : eighty- four regiments of infantry and a brigade of artillery, comprising nine batteries-in all nearly thirty thou- sand enlisted men and officers. Crossing the Rapi- dan, the Second Corps found the enemy in force at the intersection of the Orange and Brock plank- roads, and General Hancock at once ordered in- trenchments to be thrown up. This was on May 5th and on that afternoon and during the next day was fought the battle of the " Wilderness," a des- perate hand-to-hand duel, fought under the most forbidding and exasperating circumstances, and with serious loss to the Union army. Hancock's corps alone lost during the two days' engagement nearly four thousand men. Grant persisted in his determination to turn Lee's flank, and the army was moved towards Spottsylvania Court-house, where a splendid victory was gained, including the capture, almost- in its entirety, of Stonewall Jackson's cele- brated brigade. Marching and fighting as they went, the army continued in its movement to Cold Harbor, occupying the time until June 2d. Here siege- operations were conducted until the 12th, when Hancock's corps, broken and almost decimated by its terrible losses, took up the march to James River. From June 17th to 27th General Hancock was forced to accept relief from his command, his suf- ferings from his wound, which still remained open, now becoming unbearable. On the latter date he resumed the command of his corps. During the next month he was engaged in expeditions to destroy the railroads north of Richmond, and on the 25th of August the Second Corps was badly defeated witlı severe loss at the battle of Ream's Station. A con- stant succession of disasters had demoralized the corps; and although General Hancock exposed him- self constantly, and almost with desperation, in his efforts to revive the broken spirits of his men, it was impossible to rouse them to their old enthusiasm. At Ream's Station Hancock's horse was shot under
him, another ball cut his bridle-rein in two, and the preservation of his life scemed a miracle. After Ream's Station occurred the battle of Boydton Road, the last fight in which General Hancock was engaged during the war. This engagement threatened at first to complete the discomfiture of the Second Corps by a crushing defeat. But through an act of extraordinary wisdom and daring on the part of General Hancock, the result was the complete con- fusion of the Confederates, with the loss of nearly two thousand prisoners. The Second Corps moved down to the lincs in front of Petersburg, October 28, 1864, and on November 20th General Hancock relin- quished his command, being ordered to Washing- ton and appointed to form the First Veteran Corps by enlistment. He continued in this service until the following February, when he was requested to take command of the Middle Military Division, with headquarters at Winchester, Virginia. This com- mand he retained until the assassination of President Lincoln, on April 14, 1865, when he was directed to take charge of the Capital, under orders from the War Department. Under these orders it fell to General Hancock to accomplish the detection and arrest of the murderer of President Lincoln and the assailant of the Secretary of State, with their fellow- conspirators. This duty he accomplished with such celerity and completeness that every one of the per- sons engaged in that cowardly conspiracy was even- tually captured and brought to justice. In August, 1866, General Hancock was placed in command of the Department of Missouri, with headquarters at St. Louis, and from this time until the latter part of the following year he was engaged in directing the suppression of the Indian outbreaks which assumed the proportions of a general war upon the frontier settlements, and liave since become historical. On September 12, 1867, General Hancock was appointed by the President to the command of the Fifth Mili- tary District, comprising the States of Louisiana and Texas. The attempt at the reorganization of the Southern States after the war brought about a system of military government in that section of the country which was remarkable for the almost limit- less power which it conferred on its administrators. The States recently in rebellion were divided into military districts, over which was placed in authority an officer who, by the reconstruction acts of 1867-68, was required to be not under the rank of Brigadier- General. This entire scheme was in opposition to the intention and wishes of President Lincoln, and was only carried through by means of the influence of bitter partisan design on the part of men flushed with the pride of victory, and regardless of wisdom and judgment so that their power might be perpetu-
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