NEWS
MONTGOMERY COUNTY OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
COURT HOUSE, NORRISTOWN, PA., BOX 311, 19404-0311
PHONE (610) 278-3061 FAX 278-5943
COMMISSIONERS:
JAMES R. MATTHEWS, Chairman, JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL, Vice Chairman, BRUCE L. CASTOR, JR, Commissioner
RELEASE: IMMEDIATELY 07/22/08 PR#08-23
Famed Civil War General Honored With Renaming of Public Square
NORRISTOWN — The Montgomery County Commissioners honored famed Civil War General Winfield Scott Hancock Wednesday by renaming the Public Square at the Court House after him.
A brief ceremony including Civil War re-enactors, musicians playing Civil War era music and an overview by Hancock biographer David Jordan marked the occasion.
The Commissioners were joined by members of the WS Hancock Society, the Historical Society of Montgomery County and the Norristown Preservation Society for the event.
Gen. Hancock, considered a hero of the Battle of Gettysburg, was born in Montgomery Square (currently Montgomeryville) and his family moved to Norristown when he was a young child. He recovered from wounds he received at Gettysburg at his family home, which was located where the state Department of Environmental Resources building stands now across Main Street from the public square that bears his name.
Gen. Hancock, commander of the First, Second and Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg, had so distinguished himself as an officer that he earned the sobriquet “Hancock the Superb.”
He was a candidate for the President of the United States in the election of 1880 and lost that election by the smallest margin in U. S. history.
Gen. Hancock died on February 9, 1886 and is buried near Norristown in Montgomery Cemetery.
(left to right) Montgomery County Commissioners Chairman James R. Matthews, Commissioners Joseph M. Hoeffel and Bruce L. Castor, Jr. at the dedication of Hancock Square.
