Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. DOWN TO THE GREAT REBELLION. It has been shown that Hancock's career at West Point was in no sense distinguishe3. He was as far as possible from being one of those prodigies who, appearing every now and then in college or academy, command, often in an absurd degree, the admiration of their fellows, and arouse expectations of a gen- fj eral conflagration when once they shall get into the world. Nor was this failure of Hancock to attract special attention during his undergraduate life due to diffidence or modesty or early disadvantages on his part, or to adverse conditions in the Academy, or to envy or jealousy on the part of his comrades. The fact is, there was no reason at all why Hancock should make a mark at West Point. The qualities which, in their degrees and proportions, made him eminently powerful and successful as a corps or wing commander were not those which would give academic distinction; while the bigness of the plan on which he was cut out, though not as yet made up, and his youth and comparative immaturity upon entrance, caused his career to be, on the whole,rather less than more conspicuous than might have been conjectured from his subsequent achievements. And again, although the young soldier was soon to be brought into the midst of stirring events, and was to be given an opportunity to show his mettle, under the eyes of great captains, in great and memorable actions, he was not destined to win early renown. We shall not truly appreciate Hancock if we fail to see that he was not of that kind. His ultimate success was to be pre-eminently through character, which in a subaltern affords small ground for distinction, and through training, which requires years of experience in petty duties and small commands. Graduating from the Academy on Jun... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.