- John Esten Cooke
John Esten Cooke (
November 3 ,1830 –September 27 ,1886 ) was an Americannovelist and the brother of poetPhilip Pendleton Cooke .Born in the
Winchester, Virginia , he was noted for writing about that state. He illustrated Virginia life and history in the novels, "The Virginia Comedians " (1854), and "The Wearing of the Gray ", a tale of theAmerican Civil War , and more formally in a respected Virginia history. His style was somewhat high-flown. He was the author of "The Youth of Jefferson ".Early life
Cooke was one of 13 children of John Rogers Cooke and Maria Pendleton Cooke. He was born on the family's
plantation , "Amber's Hill," nearWinchester, Virginia , in theShenandoah Valley . At his father’s urging, he studied and practiced law briefly in Richmond. He abandoned that in 1854 after his father’s death, and almost immediately became a successful novelist and prolific short story writer, eventually authoring 31 books and almost 200 published articles and poems. Cooke joined the Richmond Howitzers, amilitia artillery unit, in the 1850s, earning the rank ofsergeant .Civil War
In March and April 1862, Cooke served as an unpaid volunteer aid for Maj. Gen.
J.E.B. Stuart in the Confederatecavalry . Cooke was a first cousin of General Stuart's wife, Flora Cooke Stuart. OnMay 19 ,1862 , he was formally commissioned as alieutenant and officially joined Stuart's staff. Cooke participated in thePeninsula Campaign and Stuart's subsequent ride around the Union army ofGeorge B. McClellan , later writing a detailed description of the action. During the war, he served Stuart as an aide, ordnance officer, and assistantadjutant general , earning the rank ofcaptain . Following Stuart's death atYellow Tavern in May 1864, Cooke served on other generals' staffs, eventually rising to the rank ofmajor by the end of the war. In 1863, he wrote the first of several popular biographies ofStonewall Jackson . He also published a novel on Jackson, "Surry of Eagle's Nest" (1866) as well as a biography ofRobert E. Lee , officers that he had personally known.Postbellum career
In 1867, Cooke married Frances Page and settled down three miles north of
Boyce, Virginia , to become a prosperous farmer and gardener. He had three children. He died oftyphoid fever at his home, "The Briars." Cooke was buried in Old Chapel Cemetery inMillwood, Virginia .The "John Esten Cooke Award for Southern Fiction" is presented annually to the author of the best historical novel dealing with the South.
References
*Hettle, Wallace. "A Romatic's Civil War: John Esten Cooke, Stonewall Jackson, and the Ideal of Individual "Genius,'" "Historian" 2005 67(3): 434-453.
* [http://www.authorandbookinfo.com/cgi-bin/auth.pl?C005478 Author and Book Info.com]
* [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/eaf/authors/jec.htm eText Library of Virginia]
*A Short Biographical Dictionary of English LiteratureExternal links
*gutenberg author| id=John+Esten+Cooke | name=John Esten Cooke
*findagrave|7413610 Retrieved on2008-02-13
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