Philip St. George Cooke

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Philip St. George Cooke

Philip St. George Cooke (born June 13, 1809 in Leesburg , Virginia , † March 20, 1895 in Detroit , Michigan ) was a cavalry officer in the United States Army who served as a Union General in the American Civil War. He was the author of a manual for the cavalry and was also called the father of the US cavalry .

Early life

Cooke was born in Leesburg on June 13, 1809. He completed his military training at West Point in 1827 and was appointed to the infantry with the provisional rank of lieutenant . He served in many units in the west and in the Black Hawk War . In 1833 he was promoted to lieutenant in the newly formed 1st Dragoon Regiment.

Cooke made numerous campaigns in the Far West with the Dragoons. As a captain, he disarmed and arrested Colonel Snively's Texan company, which was in the process of stopping trade along the Santa Fe Trail . This campaign became known as the 2nd Texas Santa Fe Expedition.

Probably his greatest act during the Mexican-American War was leading a Mormon battalion from Missouri to California . For this mission in California he was promoted to first lieutenant . The route chosen by Cooke in 1847 was the first wagon route to California and was later used in large parts for the first railroad routes.

With the 2nd Dragoon Regiment he defeated the Jicarilla Apaches in Ojo Caliente (New Mexico) in 1854 and stood in the battle of Ash Hollow in 1855 against the Sioux . In 1856 he was sent to Bleeding Kansas as a peacemaker . At the side of Brigham Young he participated in the Utah War in 1857 and 1858 . After completing these operations, he was promoted to colonel and was given command of the 2nd Dragoons. He was an observer for the US Army in the Crimean War and in command of the Department of Utah from 1860 to 1861.

The Civil War

The Civil War divided Cooke's family into two camps. While he himself was loyal to the Union, his son John Rogers Cooke became the commander of an infantry brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia . Jeb Stuart , the famous Confederate cavalry commander, was Cooke's son-in-law. Cooke and Stuart never spoke to each other again. Stuart said: "He will regret it one day and he will do it forever!" At the start of the Civil War, the US Army had five mounted regiments. Cooke commanded the 2nd Dragoons, now called the 2nd U.S. Cavalry Regiment.

Cooke was promoted to Brigadier General in the Army on November 21, 1862 . President Abraham Lincoln nominated him for this promotion, which was approved by the U.S. Senate on March 7, 1862. He commanded a cavalry brigade and took over the defense of Washington, DC In the Peninsula Campaign , he took over the cavalry reserve the size of a division of the Army of the Potomac on the orders of George B. McClellan . When the Confederates surrendered the city of Yorktown , Cooke was sent out in pursuit with Major General George Stoneman . Their troops were wiped out in the siege of Fort Magruder. He took part in the Battle of Williamsburg , the Battle of Gaines Mill , the Battle of White Oak Swamp and the Seven Day Battle , which killed almost an entire regiment.

After the peninsula campaign, he withdrew from the battlefields. One reason for this was his son-in-law Jeb Stuart, who served on the Confederation side. Cooke was a judge in the military tribunal, commanded the Baton Rouge district and was superintendent of the US Army for the adjutant general's office. On June 17, 1866, President Andrew Johnson awarded Cooke the honorary rank of major general in the US Army.

Military career after the Civil War

Cooke commanded the Department of the Platte from 1866 to 1867. He retired after more than 50 years of service on October 29, 1873 as a brigadier general from the army. Cooke is the author of several books that he wrote while serving.

  • Notes of a Military Reconnaissance, from Fort Leavenworth, in Missouri, to San Diego, in California (1848)
  • Scenes and Adventures in the Army: or, Romance of Military Life (1857)
  • Cavalry Tactics (1862), Handy Book for United States Cavalry (1863)
  • The Conquest of New Mexico and California (1878).

Cooke died in Detroit and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery there. Camp Cooke , an army camp in Santa Barbara County , California, was named after him. It is now on the territory of Vandenberg Air Force Base .

literature

  • Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher. Civil War High Commands . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3 .
  • Longacre, Edward G. Lincoln's Cavalrymen: A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of the Potomac . Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2000. ISBN 0-8117-1049-1 .
  • Thomas, Emory M. Bold Dragoon: The Life of JEB Stuart . Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986. ISBN 0-8061-3193-4 .
  • Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders . Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964. ISBN 0-8071-0822-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John H. Eicher, David J. Eicher: Civil War High Commands . Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3 , p. 183.
  2. ^ Josiah Gregg : Commerce of the Prairies: or, The journal of a Santa Fé trader, 1831-1839 . AH Clark, 1905, pp. 227-233
  3. ↑ Thomas, p. 95.
  4. ↑ a b Eicher, 2001, p. 716
  5. ↑ Eicher, 2001, p. 706
  6. ↑ Eicher, 2001, p. 184
personal data
SURNAME Cooke, Philip St. George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cavalry officer
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1809
PLACE OF BIRTH Leesburg , Virginia
DATE OF DEATH March 20, 1895
Place of death Detroit , Michigan