Captain Gwynn Hancock was his own worst enemy. He was an alcoholic, who was convicted of drunkenness in the Fall of 1908. Poor Gywnn was more a victim of circumstance than a threat to the United States Army and the Coastal Artillery unit. In August, one of his colleagues, Captain Peter Hains shot and killed his wife's lover. In his divorce petition, he cited letters by his wife that portrayed Fort Hamilton as a den of iniquity--'"Cigarettes, and Whisky and Wild Wild Women".
General Frederick D. Grant decided that the party was over, and most of the officers mentioned in the letter were court martialed and transferred to other posts. To make matters worse, he denounced Captain Hancock to the press at large, saying he'd been a drunkard since his graduation from West Point. Was this another round in the Grant/Hancock feud? Possibly, but I don't think it was an equal one--the General in charge of the Eastern Department against a Captain in the Coastal Artillery.
Another officer at Fort Hamilton had run up a big bill in the Officers' Club, and taken his unit's funds to pay personal debts. He was drummed out of the Army. So, there was a front page murder trial, with stories about drunken army officers, and their wild orgies. And General Grant had been the Grand Marshal in the 1908 Brooklyn Temperance parade. These stories must have embarrassed him. Perhaps, given all the rumors about his Father, he was very sensitive about Army men who drank too much. Did he ever wonder what would have happened to the country if Lincoln hadn't ignored gossip about US Grant's drinking?
Alcoholism ran in the Hancock family. Gwynn's cousin, Winfield Scott Hancock II, was denounced by his own Father ( Col. John Hancock) as a drunkard. In the Summer of 1905, Winfield had seduced the Hancock's maid, Emma Smallwood, and the young woman died from a botched abortion. When Winfield was indicted by a coroner's jury in the Fall of 1905, his family would not pay for his bail. They did not want him out on the streets, getting into more trouble. He remained in jail for 5 months, until a grand jury freed him in April 1906.
General Hancock's twin brother, Hilary B. Hancock, was known to be a drinker. Since Hilary lived to be 80, how much did he drink?
During their divorce, James Cunningham Bishop accused his wife, Abigail Hancock Bishop ( the General's niece) of being a drug addict and a drunkard. He tried to have her sent to an asylum in 1908, but settled for sending her and a paid companion on a cruise of the Nile River. ( a novel treatment for substance abuse)
Did Gwynn or his cousins ever walk by General Hancock's statue and wonder if it would spring to life and drag them to hell? Gwynn may have been quite ashamed of himself: he was the General's favorite grandchild, and followed in his Grandfather's footsteps by attending West Point. Gwynn Hancock died in December 1912. His mother had died in 1911, and his wife, Marcie M. Hancock had committed suicide in January 1912. Gwynn Hancock's death certificate gave pneumonia as the cause of death, but he lost the will to live.
Since his Grandfather loved him, he would have forgiven him.
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