Wills House Virtual Identity: Cornelia Hancock

Cornelia Hancock

NPS

You have selected to discover the story of Cornelia Hancock

To Begin. . .
Read the “Before the War” section below and then proceed to the next room in the Wills House and return to page when prompted.

 

Before The War

Cornelia Hancock was born in New Jersey around 1840. Her family was Quaker, a pacifist religion, and yet she knew of many neighbors and relatives who went off to fight in the Civil War including her only brother and some cousins who joined in 1862. In particular, she played close attention to the battle actions of regiments from her home state. Little is known of her life in New Jersey before the war, except that her father was a fisherman by trade, and that she had one brother and one sister. Her sister and brother-in-law, Dr. Henry child, was living in Philadelphia during the Civil War, and Dr. Child would be a significant influence on Cornelia’s journey to Gettysburg and involvement in medical relief.

From Here:
Find out about Cornelia’s journey and service at Gettysburg after you tour the first floor of the home of David Wills.

 

During The Civil War:

Word came to Cornelia Hancock, at her home in New Jersey that a great battle had been fought near a town in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg, and she quickly departed for the place by train. She was 23 years old. On the way, she met Dorothea Dix, superintendent of nurses for the Union army, who turned her away as she was too young and pretty to be a volunteer nurse. Cornelia continued on toward Gettysburg anyway, arriving at the train station one block from the Wills home, on July 6 and writing in her journal that “the need was so great that there was no further cavil about age”. There were countless wounded soldiers waiting on the platform to be put on the train to go to larger hospitals in cities, or to their homes to recover. She went on to work at the 2nd Corps hospital at the Jacob Schwartz farm south of town, and then eventually when the field hospitals were consolidated, she worked and stayed at the large tented general hospital east of town called Camp Letterman.

From Here:
Return to Cornelia Hancock’s life of service after you have toured the second floor.

 

After The Civil War

Cornelia Hancock’s collection of wartime letters were published posthumously and are considered one of the best accounts of the aftermath at Gettysburg. She described field hospitals and her work there to her family in New Jersey: “… four surgeons, none of whom were idle fifteen minutes at a time, were busy all day amputating legs and arms. I gave to every man that had a leg or arm off a gill of wine, to every wounded in Third Division, one glass of lemonade, some bread and preserves and tobacco—as much as I am opposed to the latter, for they need it very much, they are so exhausted… I would get on first rate if they would not ask me to write to their wives; that I cannot do without crying, which is not pleasant to either party. I do not mind the sight of blood, have seen limbs taken off and was not sick at all.”Cornelia remained at Camp Letterman General Hospital in Gettysburg into the fall. During the siege of Petersburg the next year, she worked at the Depot Field Hospital at City Point. After the war, she opened a school for African Americans in South Carolina, before returning north to found several more charitable organizations. She died in 1927 at the age of 87, a long life filled with service to others.