Skip to content
The American Political Almanac
RECONSTRUCTION & THE GILDED AGETHE SYSTEM OF 1896THE NEW DEAL ORDERTHE LONG REALIGNMENTPOLARIZED ERA1868RRRRD1888RDRRR1908RDDRR1928RDDDD1948DRRDD1968RRDRR1988RDDRR2008DDRD2024R
Winfield Scott Hancock

Mathew Benjamin Brady · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Democrat · 1824–1886

Winfield Scott Hancock

Winfield Scott Hancock was a major general in the United States Army and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service in the Mexican–American War and as a Union general in the American Civil War. Known to his Army as "Hancock the Superb", he was noted in particular for his personal leadership at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. His military service continued after the Civil War, as Hancock participated in the military Reconstruction of the South and the United States's western expansion and war with the Native Americans at the Western frontier. This concluded with the Medicine Lodge Treaty. From 1881 to 1885 he was president of the Aztec Club of 1847 for veteran officers of the Mexican-American War.

On the Ballot

One presidential run
1880Lost48.2% of the vote · 155 EV · v. James A. Garfield

Strongest counties, 1880

Countytwo-party sharevotes
Bienville, LA100.0%783
De Soto, LA100.0%795
Franklin, LA100.0%571
Lincoln, LA100.0%1,115
Newton, MS100.0%1,026

Weakest counties, 1880

Countytwo-party sharevotes
Lac qui Parle, MN5.1%925
Beaufort, SC5.9%6,419
Grant, MN6.7%639
Isanti, MN7.1%903
Yellow Medicine, MN7.6%926