- Fighting McCooks
The Fighting McCooks were members of a family of
Ohio ans who reached prominence as officers in theUnion Army during theAmerican Civil War . Two brothers, Daniel and John McCook, and "thirteen" of their sons were actively involved in the army, making the family one of the most prolific in American military history. Six of the McCooks reached the rank of brigadier general or higher. Several family members were killed in action or died from their wounds. Following the war, several others reached high political offices, including governorships and diplomatic posts.The family
Daniel McCook, a
Canonsburg, Pennsylvania , attorney, had moved to eastern Ohio in 1826, settling in Carrollton. His younger brother John also soon moved to the Buckeye State. Their clans would become affectionately known as the "Tribe of Dan" and the "Tribe of John." Yet another brother, Dr. George McCook, and his son Dr. George McCook, Jr. served as unpaid surgeons during the Civil War, the latter serving underGeorge B. McClellan during thePeninsula Campaign . Their father, another George McCook, had emigrated fromScotland to Pennsylvania and had fought in theWhiskey Rebellion ."Tribe of Dan"
*Daniel McCook (1798–1863), Major, killed in action at theBattle of Buffington Island duringMorgan's Raid
** Dr.Latimer A. McCook (1820–1869), Major, 31st Illinois Infantry, wounded at Vicksburg and again duringSherman's March to the Sea ; died of complications from his wounds and exposure following the war
**George Wythe McCook (1821–1877), Lt. Colonel,2nd Ohio Infantry ; Colonel, 157th Ohio Infantry
**Robert Latimer McCook (1827–1862), Brigadier General, killed by one ofJohn Hunt Morgan 's cavalrymen nearSalem, Alabama , as he laid in an ambulance after a previous injury.
**Alexander McDowell McCook (1831–1903), Major General; commanded XX Corps
**Daniel McCook, Jr. (1834–1864), Brigadier General, killed in action at Kennesaw Mountain
**Edwin Stanton McCook (1837–1873), Major General and Governor of theDakota Territory , assassinated in office
**Charles Morris McCook , (1843–1861), Private, 2nd Ohio Infantry, killed in action at theFirst Battle of Bull Run ; died in his father's arms. He had declined an offer of aLieutenant 's commission in the regular army and is buried inSpring Grove Cemetery ,Cincinnati, Ohio . [Howe, p. 369.]
**John James McCook (lawyer) (1845–1911), Colonel, prominent postbellum New York attorney and railroad executive
** (Another son, J. James McCook (1823–1842), had died nearRio de Janeiro ,Brazil , while serving in theU.S. Navy )"Tribe of John"
* Dr.John James McCook (1806–1865), volunteer surgeon during the Civil War
**Edward Moody McCook (1833–1909), Major General and Governor of theColorado Territory
**Anson George McCook (b. 1835–1917), Brigadier General and postbellum politician
**Roderick McCook (1839–1886), Commander, first Naval officer to capture a Confederateregiment
**Henry Christopher McCook (1837–1911), Lieutenant, Presbyterian Chaplain; tended to the wounded and often joined in the fighting
**John James McCook (professor) (b. 1843), Lieutenant, Presbyterian Chaplain, seriously wounded inNorthern Virginia and left the serviceDaniel McCook's house in Carrollton, Ohio, is preserved as a museum.
McCook Field , a former air station nearDayton, Ohio (1917-1927), was named in honor of the Fighting McCooks. A granite memorial to Daniel McCook, Jr. is at theKennesaw Mountain National Battlefield , and a marker to his father is located on State Route 124, near Buffington Island in theOhio River .A number of the McCooks, as well as wives and children, are interred in
Spring Grove Cemetery inCincinnati, Ohio .References
* Whalen, Charles and Barbara, "The Fighting McCooks: America's Famous Fighting Family", Westmoreland Press, 2006.
* [http://www.ohiohistory.org/etcetera/cover_archives/1999apr_cover.html Ohio Historical Society]
* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~henryhowesbook/carroll.html "Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio"] . Vol 1., 1907.Notes
External links
* [http://www.historicalmarkerdb.org/marker.asp?MarkerID=290 Ohio Historical Marker in Carrollton]
* [http://www1.kenyon.edu/publications/bulletin/20_1/kcabcook.htm Kenyon College]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.