MAJOR GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK - MANUSCRIPT LETTER SIGNED 06/25/1885 - HFSID 30313

WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK
Hancock will be "very much gratified" if the letter bearer can be given employment in the San Francisco Custom House.
Manuscript Letter signed: "Winfield Scott Hancock", 1 page, 5½x8½. Governor's Island, New York 1885 June 25. To Col. Edward Taylor, Naval Offices, San Francisco, California., in full: "The bearer of this letter, Mr. Thos. H Kearney is known to me. He desires employment in the San Francisco Custom House. Should you find that his recommendations are good and that he is fitted for the duties of that department, I would be very much gratified if you would give him employment. It is unusual for me to interfere in matters of this nature and I hope you will pardon the intrusion. I am yours very truly". Winfield Scott Hancock (1824-1886), a highly successful Union Corps commander during the Civil War and a hero of the Battle of Gettysburg (1863), was the Democratic Party's candidate for President in 1880, losing very narrowly to James A. Garfield by a margin of fewer than 40,000 votes out of 9 million cast. (The Electoral Vote margin was wider, but far from a landslide: 214-155.) Hancock was Commanding General of the U.S. Army's Department of the East, headquartered on Governor's Island, from 1877 until his death. One horizontal and one vertical fold. Lightly creased. Slightly worn. Ink stain from signature at lower left edge (barely visible). Otherwise, fine condition.