Hancock the Superb: Washington D.C's Monumental Tribute - The Civil War Story

General Winfield Scott Hancock, famously known as 'Hancock the Superb', earned a horse statue in the heart of Washington D.C, erected by the creative duo, Henry Jackson Ellicott (sculptor) and Paul J. Pelz (architect), on May 12, 1896, inside the United States Navy Memorial Park. Hancock, bred and reared in Montgomery Square, Pennsylvania, was a fighting force to reckon with during the American Civil War. He left his mark at significant battles like Williamsburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, where he took a licking from General Robert E.

Lee's army but managed to snatch command of the entire Second Army Corps. Post-war, he commanded the Military Department of the Atlantic from its Governors Island headquarters in New York until his departure on February 9, 1886. Say what you will, but he was given a sendoff worth remembering – his remains were returned to Norristown, Pennsylvania for burial. The monument was approved by Congress on March 2, 1889, and stands as one of the Civil War Monuments in Washington, D.C.

To be honest, the construction cost Congress about $50,000, but they were too busy strategizing to keep track of the petty details. The statue serves as a grand entry feature in the opening credits of Netflix's House of Cards, but no insider has spilled the beans on the source just yet.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons