Alexander McDowell McCook

Alexander McDowell McCook (born April 22, 1831 in Columbiana County , Ohio , † June 12, 1903 in Dayton (Ohio) ) was a major general of the Union Forces during the American Civil War .

Life

Alexander M. McCook was the senior officer of the fourteen members of a military family who became known as "The Fighting McCooks" during the Civil War. He was born as of Daniel McCook (1798–1863) and Martha Latimer (1802–1879). His father, seven of his brothers and five of his cousins fought in the war. His brothers Daniel McCook Jr., Edwin Stanton McCook, and Robert Latimer McCook were Union generals, as were his cousins Anson G. McCook and Edward M. McCook. Alexander McCook graduated from the United States Military Academy at Westpoint in 1852 . After it took him five years to complete the four year classes, he was transferred to the 3rd Infantry Regiment. He then served against the Apaches and Yuta in New Mexico from 1853 to 1857, and from 1858 to 1861 he was assistant instructor in infantry tactics at the Military Academy.

At the beginning of the Civil War, McCook was made a colonel in the 1st Ohio Infantry Regiment in April 1861 . He took part in the defense of Washington and the first battle of Bull Run . On September 3, 1861, he was promoted to brigadier general in the Volunteer Army and was given command of a division in Tennessee. He was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel in the regular army for his leadership in the capture of Nashville , Tennessee . Then he commanded the 2nd Division of the Army of the Ohio on the second day of the Battle of Shiloh and the subsequent campaign against Corinth.

On July 17, 1862, he was promoted to major general in the Volunteer Army and was given command of the First Corps in the army of Don Carlos Buell . His corps was thrown back a mile at the Battle of Perryville in October 1862 and suffered heavy losses. The Army of the Ohio was reorganized and the command was integrated as XIV. Corps in the new Army of the Cumberland of General Rosecrans . McCook's Corps suffered heavy casualties again on the last day of 1862 in the Battle of the Stones River . Once again the command structure of the army was reorganized and McCooks Corps was then named XX. Corps designated. At the Battle of Chickamauga , McCook's forces suffered again and were driven from the field. For the defeat he was brought before a military tribunal, made responsible for the disaster in Chickamauga and initially released from the Army of the Cumberland.

He waited almost a year before receiving another command. This fact was due to the Confederate advance in the Shenandoah Valley under Jubal Early and the resulting threat to Washington. McCook was appointed commander of the "Defense of the Potomac River and Washington" and was responsible for all forces that defended the capital at the Battle of Fort Stevens. On the day of the fight, McCook's authority ended again and afterwards no longer had any command of his own. It was only at the end of the war that he was given command of the military district of East Arkansas.

McCook, who converted from the volunteer army to the regular army in October 1865, was transferred to lieutenant colonel in the 26th Infantry Regiment in March 1867 . He then served in Texas primarily in the service of garrisons until 1874. From 1875 to 1880 he was an orderly officer to the General-in-Chief of the US Army, General William T. Sherman . From 1886 to 1890 he commanded the Infantry and Cavalry School in Fort Leavenworth , Kansas. He then commanded the Department of Arizona from 1890 to 1893 and the Department of Colorado from 1893 to 1895. McCook was again regularly promoted to Brigadier General in 1890 and Major General in 1894, and in 1895 he retired. From 1898–1899 he was a member of the Commission to Investigate the Administration of the War Department as it was used during the Spanish-American War. Alexander McCook died in Dayton, Ohio in 1903 and was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio. The city of McCook , Nebraska , was named in his honor.

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personal data
SURNAME	McCook, Alexander McDowell
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American major general
DATE OF BIRTH	April 22, 1831
PLACE OF BIRTH	Columbiana County
DATE OF DEATH	June 12, 1903
Place of death	Dayton (Ohio)