Civil War Union Brigadier General. Born in Bucksport, Maine, he received a common school education, then traveled to Bangor to became a printer. He dropped the "c" from his family name in early life but reinstated it in 1871. In 1849 he moved to Boston, attained prominence, and by 1855 was a member of the Massachusetts legislature, and the city council. The following year he was appointed to a position in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. That same year saw him move to Lynn, Massachusetts and though he retained his position in the Secretary's office, he took up studying law. In 1859, he was appointed adjutant of the 8th Regiment of Massachusetts militia. In December 1860, when Major Robert Anderson was holding Fort Moultrie and expecting attack by the forces of South Carolina, he offered his services for the defense of the Fort in a letter which brought grateful acknowledgment from Major Anderson. On this ground he has been spoken of as the first volunteer of the war. On April 15, upon the news of the capture of Fort Sumter and President Lincoln's call for troops, he hastened to Boston and urge the Governor to accept the 8th Regiment as part of the Massachusetts quota of 1,500 men called for by Lincoln. The Governor accepted his proposal, and he immediately sent messages to every town in the state for members of the regiment to meet in Boston. The following morning, he march into Faneuil Hall with the three companies from the town of Marblehead. On April 17, through the influence of Benjamin F. Butler, he was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the 8th Regiment, leaving with the regiment the following day for Washington D.C. By mid-May he was promoted to Colonel and soon afterward resigned his Regular commission. He then gave up his position with the 8th Regiment, taking command of the 19th Massachusetts on August 3. His active service began near Annapolis, Maryland, where his men repaired the disabled Baltimore and Washington Railroad and soon put the railroad back in running order. He and his regiment received the Thanks of Congress for this. His men also guarded the railroads and bridges. Late in 1861 he participated in the debacle at Ball's Bluff and the following spring served under Major General George B. McClellan in the Peninsula Campaign. Wounded at White Oak Swamp, he became a casualty again at Antietam. Although thought at first to be mortal, the wound disabled him for 6 months and caused him pain and debility for the rest of his life. For this action he was brevetted Colonel in the Regular Army. While on convalescent leave, he was promoted to Brigadier General of Volunteers. After partially recovering, he went on recruiting duty until given command of a Maryland prison camp in March 1864. A month later, he took over a XVIII Corps division composed of black soldiers. As a member of Major General Benjamin F. Butler's Army of the James, he served creditably during the first part of the campaigning for Richmond and Petersburg, though often ill or prostrated by his wounds. His afflictions helped persuade Butler to suspend a promising assault by his division against Petersburg on May 9. For his actions during the assault he received the brevet of Brigadier General in the Regular Army. By July 1864 he was forced to quit active service. Till war's end, by which time he was a brevet Major General of Volunteers, he was again on recruiting service. Resigning his volunteer commission in June 1865, he later became Lieutenant Colonel of a regiment of Regulars. He was retired in December 1870 as Colonel of the 25th Infantry, for disability resulting from his wounds. From 1870 to 1880, he held the position of governor of Soldiers' Homes, first at Hampton, Virginia, then Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Returning to Cambridge, Massachusetts, he served on the Board of Aldermen. Having outlived two wives and two children, he was taken care of at the end of his life by his brother, Captain Elisha Hincks. Captain Hincks had also suffered a dangerous wound at Antietam. After a long and painful illness, due to his wounds received in battle, he died in Cambridge. In his will he left a library fund in the memory of his daughter to Radcliffe College. Six months after his death, in gratitude for his service at the Soldier Home in Wisconsin, the GAR members of Fond Du Lac County named their post after him.