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 A BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH 
 
 OF THE 
 
 "Fighting McCooRs." 
 
 REPRINTED FROM THE PROCEEDINGS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH SOCIETY OF AMERICA 
 
 New York 
 
 The James Kempster Printing Company 
 
 117-119-131 Liberty Street 
 
 4^ 
 
6 A 
 
(Froiii the I'ditori.-il |i;ij;i* of t lie New York TriliiiiK'. .Iiinc 13, 1 903.) 
 
 "ON FAME'S ETERNAL CAMPING GROUND," 
 
 General Alexander McDowell McCook, who died jes- 
 terdaj', was perhaps, as a soldier, the most prominent 
 of all the members of the two Ohio families that gave 
 both fathers and fourteen sons to the military service of 
 the nation. The lapse of years has obscured the indi- 
 vidual achievements which make ui> a record astonisIiin<^ 
 and g^lorious, if not absolutely unprecedented under any 
 flag; but the appellation of "'the fighting McCooks" is 
 still almost ;is familiar as his own name to every Ameri- 
 can boy. 
 
 It is a title which contains not the faintest suggestion 
 of such reckless and violent propensities as would have 
 tainted the honor of wearing it. It was conferred bj' pop- 
 ular acclaim on men of peaceful temper but heroic strain, 
 who simply could not resist the country's call for sons 
 who loved her well enough to die proudly' and gratefully 
 in her defence. The mists of time have enveloped those 
 fields of valor and sacrifice, but the thought of such a 
 race of patriots will always touch the heart and stir the 
 blood of ever}' one who is fit to be an American citizen. 
 

 A BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH 
 
 OF THE 
 
 "Fighting McCooks." 
 
 REPRINTED FROM THE PROCEEDINGS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SCOTCH-IRISH SOCIETY OF AMERICA 
 
V 
 
 THE FIGHTING McCOOKS. 
 
 BY HOWE. 
 
 One of the best-known Scotch-Irish families who have 
 contributed their full share to the honorable record of 
 that race in the United States are the Ohio McCooks, who 
 acquired a wide reputation during the Civil War as the 
 "Fighting McCooks." In the various current notices of 
 them they are spoken of as one family, but were really 
 two families, the sons of Major Daniel McCook and Dr. 
 John McCook. Of the former family, there were engaged 
 in military service the father. Major Daniel McCook, 
 Surgeon-Major Latimer A. McCook, General George W. 
 McCook, General Robert L. McCook, General Alexander 
 McD. McCook, General Daniel McCook, Jr., General Ed- 
 win Stanton McCook, Private Charles Morris McCook, and 
 Colonel John J. McCook. Another son. Midshipman J. 
 James McCook, died in the naval service before the 
 rebellion. Thus the father and nine sons of that family, 
 ten in all, honorably served their country. 
 
 Of the latter family, there were engaged in the service 
 General Edward M. McCook, General Anson G. McCook, 
 Chaplain Henry C. McCook, Commander Roderick S. 
 McCook, U. S. N., and Lieutenant John J. McCook— five 
 in all. This makes a total of fifteen, every son of both 
 families commissioned officers except Charles, who was 
 killed in the first battle of Bull Run, and who declined a 
 commission in the regular army, preferring to serve as a 
 private of volunteers. 
 
6 The Fighting McCooks 
 
 The two families have been familiarly distinguished 
 as the "Tribe of Dan" and the "Tribe of John." 
 
 7. The Daniel McCook Branch. 
 
 Major Daniel McCook, the second son of George 
 McCook and Mary McCormack, was born June 20, 1798, 
 at Cannonsburg, Pa., the seat of Jefferson College, where 
 he received his education. On August 28, 1817, he married 
 Martha Latimer, daughter of Abraham Latimer, of 
 Washington, Pa. In 1826 they removed to New Lisbon, 
 Ohio, and later to Carrollton, Ohio. Mr. McCook was an 
 active member and an elder for many years of the 
 Presbyterian Church of Carrollton, organizing and con- 
 ducting as superintendent the first Sunday school of that 
 Church. 
 
 At the beginning of the war he was in Washington, 
 D. C, and, although sixty-three years of age, at once 
 tendered his services to President Lincoln. Each of his 
 eight sons then living also promptly responded to the call 
 of the President for troops. When the rebel general, John 
 Morgan, made his raid into Ohio, Major McCook was 
 stationed at Cincinnati, and joined the troops sent in his 
 pursuit. Morgan undertook to recross the Ohio River 
 at Bulfington Island. Major McCook led an advance 
 party to oppose and intercept the crossing. In the 
 skirmish that took place he was mortally wounded, and 
 died next day, July 21, 1863, in the sixty-sixth year of his 
 age. He was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery, near 
 Cincinnati. 
 
 In a proclamation to the people of Ohio, announcing 
 the capture of John Morgan, dated Columbus, July 26, 
 1863, Governor David Tod, among other things, said : 
 
 "The losses on our side have been trifling, so far as 
 
The Fighting McCooks 7 
 
 numbers are concerned; but I am pained to be compelled 
 to announce that a few gallant spirits have been taken from 
 us. Prominent among the number is the brave Major 
 Daniel McCook, the honored father of the heroic boys who 
 bear his name, and who have won so much glory and re- 
 nown for our arms in this great struggle. Major McCook, 
 although advanced in years, had imperilled his life as a 
 volunteer upon many of our battlefields. Believing that 
 he could be of service in ridding the state of her invaders 
 he volunteered and fell in the engagement near Bufflng- 
 ton Island. His memory will be cherished by all, and the 
 sincere sympathies of all true jjatriots will be given to his 
 widow and children." 
 
 He was a man of commanding presence, an ardent 
 patriot, and an earnest Christian. He possessed a most 
 gentle and amiable disposition, combined with the highest 
 personal courage, untiring energy, and great force of 
 character. He ruled his household in the fear of the 
 Lord, and died as he had lived, in the active performance 
 of his duty. 
 
 His wife, Martha Latimer, daughter of Abraham 
 Latimer and Mary Greer, was born at Washington, Pa., 
 March 8, 1802. Her maternal ancestors were Scotch-Irish, 
 but on the father's side they were English, coming origi- 
 nally from Leicestershire, and from the family which gave 
 the martyr Bishop Hugh Latimer to the English Eeforma- 
 tion. 
 
 During the war of the rebellion Mrs. McCook was in 
 a peculiarly difficult position. Her husband and eight 
 sons were all in the service. No battle could take place 
 but some of her loved ones were in danger. Each succeed- 
 ing 3^ear brought death to a member of her family upon 
 
8 The Fighting McCooKs 
 
 the battlefield. Her husband and three sons were thus 
 taken from her ; and the others were so frequently wound- 
 ed that it seemed as if in her old age she was to be bereft 
 of her entire family. Her life during those long years of 
 anxiety was well-nigh a continuous prayer for her 
 country and for her husband and sons who had given 
 themselves for its defense. This patriotic woman well 
 illustrates the heroic sufferings endured by the women 
 of the republic no less than by the men. 
 
 Mrs. McCook died November 10, 1879, in the seventy- 
 eighth year of her age, at New Lisbon, Ohio, and was buried 
 beside her husband in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati. 
 
 The children of this couple are as follows: 
 
 1. Latimer A. McCook, M. D., was born at Cannons- 
 burg, Pa., April 26, 1820. He was educated at Jefferson 
 College, Cannonsburg, studied medicine with his uncle, 
 Dr. George McCook, a physician of great skill and 
 eminence, and received his degree from Jefferson Medical 
 College, of Philadelphia. He entered the army in 1861 as 
 assistant surgeon, and was soon promoted to be surgeon, 
 with the rank of major, of the Thirty-first Regiment, 
 Illinois Volunteer Infantry, known as "John A. Logan's 
 Eegiment." 
 
 He served throughout the campaigns of the Army of 
 the Tennessee, from the capture of Forts Henry and 
 Donaldson to the end of the war, and while caring for the 
 wounded of his regiment, during action, he was himself 
 twice wounded — once in the trenches before Vicksburg, 
 and again at Pocotaligo Bridge, in General Sheridan's 
 movement northward from Savannah. He survived the 
 war, but was broken down in health, and died August 23, 
 1869, from general debility, resulting from wounds and 
 
The Fighting McCooks 9 
 
 exposure incident to his service in the army, and was 
 buried at Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati. 
 
 2. George Wythe McCook was born at Cannonsburg, 
 Pa., November 2, 1821. He graduated from the Ohio Uni- 
 versity, at Athens, and studied law with and afterwards 
 becai^e the partner of Edwin M. Stanton, the great War 
 Secretary. He served as an officer in the Third Ohio 
 Regiment throughout the Mexican War, and returned as 
 its commander. He was Attorney-General of the State 
 of Ohio in 1854 - 56, and edited the first volume of the 
 *'Ohio State Eeports." He was one of the first four 
 brigadier-generals appointed by the Governor of Ohio to 
 command the troops from that State at the outbreak of 
 the rebellion, but the condition of his health prevented him 
 from taking any command that required continued ab- 
 sence from home. However, he organized and commanded 
 for short periods several Ohio regiments, among them the 
 157th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during its service in the 
 field, in the summer of 1864. 
 
 He was the Democratic candidate for Governor of Ohio 
 in 1871, but his health undermined by his service during 
 the Mexican and Civil War broke down during the can- 
 vass, and he was compelled to abandon the campaign. 
 He and the Rev. Charles C. Beatty D.D. were the largest 
 contributors to the erection of the Second Presbyterian 
 Church at Steubenville, Ohio, of which he was a trustee. 
 He died December 28, 1877, and was buried at Steuben- 
 ville. 
 
 3. John James McCook, born at Cannonsburg, Pa., 
 December 28, 1823, was educated at the United States 
 Naval Academy. While serving as midshipman on the 
 United States frigate "Delaware," off the coast of South 
 
10 The Fighting McCooks 
 
 America, he was taken ill with a fever, following long- 
 continued exposure while on duty. He died March 30, 
 1842, and was buried in the English burying ground at 
 Rio Janeiro, Brazil. Admiral Farragut, in his autobiog- 
 raphy, pays a high tribute to the personal character and 
 professional ability of Midshipman McCook. 
 
 4. Robert Latimer McCook was born at New Lisbon, 
 Ohio, December 28, 1827. He studied law in the office of 
 Stanton & McCook, at Steubenville, then removed to 
 Cincinnati, and in connection with Judge J. B. Stallo 
 secured a large practice. When the news reached Cin- 
 cinnati that Fort Sumter had been fired upon, he organ- 
 ized and was commissioned colonel of the Ninth Ohio 
 Regiment of Volunteer Infantry, enlisting among the Ger- 
 mans, a thousand men in less than two days. He was 
 ordered to West Virginia, put in command of a brigade, 
 and made the decisive campaign there under McClellan. 
 His brigade was then transferred to the Army of the Ohio, 
 and took a most active part in the battle of Mills Spring, 
 in Kentucky, where he was severely wounded. The rebel 
 forces were driven from their lines by a bayonet charge of 
 General McCook's brigade, and so closely pursued for 
 many miles that their organization as an armed force was 
 completely destroyed. Mills Spring is one of the very few, 
 if not the onlv recorded case, where such results followed 
 a battle during the Civil War. 
 
 General IMcCook rejoined his brigade before his 
 wound had healed, and continued to command it when 
 he was unable to mount a horse. His remarkable 
 soldierly qualities procured him the rank of brigadier-gen- 
 eral and the command of a division. He met his death 
 August G, 1862, while on the march near Salem,' Ala. He 
 
The Fighting McCooks 11 
 
 had been completely prostrated by his open wound and a 
 severe attack of dysentery, and was lying in an ambulance, 
 which was driven along in the interval between two regi- 
 ments of his division. A small band of local 
 guerrillas, commanded by Frank Gurley, dashed 
 out of ambush, surrounded the ambulance and dis- 
 covered that it contained an officer of rank, who 
 was lying on the bed, undressed and unable to rise. 
 They asked who he was, and, seeing that the Federal 
 troops were approaching, shot him as he lay and made 
 good their escape, as the nature of the country and their 
 thorough familiarity with it easily enabled them to do. 
 This brutal assassination of General McCook aroused 
 intense feeling throughout the country. The murdered 
 commander was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery, and 
 his devoted soldiers and friends, at the close of the war, 
 erected a monument to his memory in Cincinnati. 
 
 5. Major-General Alexander McDowell McCook was 
 born on a farm near New Lisbon, Columbiana County, 
 Ohio, April 22, 1831. He entered the United States 
 Military Academy, at West Point, and graduated in the 
 class of 1852. During the five years following his gradu- 
 ation he saw active service on the western frontier, and 
 in campaigns against the Indians, chiefly in New Mexico. 
 This service was recognized by special reference in the 
 annual reports of General Scott then commanding the 
 Army, and by his transfer to West Point as an instructor. 
 
 At the opening of the war he was promptly made 
 colonel of the First Ohio Regiment of Volunteer Infantry, 
 which he led among the very earliest troops to the relief 
 of the capital, and commanded at Bull Run, or Manassas 
 where his regiment with the Second Ohio, acted as the rear 
 
12 The Fighting McCooKs 
 
 guard of the defeated forces. He became a brigadier-gen- 
 eral in September, 1861, and commanded a division under 
 General Buell in the Army of the Ohio. He was made a 
 major-general for distinguished services at the battle of 
 Shiloh, and was placed in command of the Twentieth Army 
 Corps, forming the right wing of the Army of the Cum- 
 berland, with which he served during the campaigns of 
 Perryville, Stone's River, Tullahoma, and Chicamauga. 
 General McCook subsequently commanded one of the 
 trans- IMississippi departments. 
 
 As a professional soldier his record in the regular 
 armv of the United States is as follows : 
 
 Appointed brevet second lieutenant, Third Infantry, 
 June 30, 1852 ; second lieutenant, June 30, 1854 ; first lieu- 
 tenant, December 6, 1858; colonel, First Ohio Volunteers, 
 April 16, 1861; captain. United States Army, May 14, 
 1861; brigadier-general volunteers, September 3, 1861; 
 major-general volunteers, July 17, 1862; lieutenant- 
 colonel, Twenty-sixth Infantry, INIarch 5, 1867; trans- 
 ferred to Tenth Infantry, March 15, 1869; colonel, Sixth 
 Infantry, December 16, 1880, brigadier-general. United 
 States Army, July 11, 1890; major-general, November 9, 
 1894 ; retired from active service under the law, April 22, 
 1895. Brevetted in regular service for gallant and meri- 
 torious service during Civil War as major, July 21, 1861 
 (Bull Run); lieutenant-colonel March 3, 1862, (capture 
 of Nashville, Tenn.) ; colonel, April 7, 1862, (Shiloh) ; 
 brigadier-general, March 13, 1865, (Perryville, Ky) ; 
 major-general, March 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious 
 services in field during the war. Represented United 
 States at coronation of Czar of Russia, Moscow, May 1-24, 
 1896; member commission appointed by President to in- 
 
The Fighting McCooks 13 
 
 vestigate War Department, during war with Spain, Sep- 
 tember 23, 1898, to February 10, 1899.* 
 
 6. Daniel McCook, Jr., was born at Carrollton, Ohio, 
 July 22, 1834. He was rather delicate and overstudious, 
 and with a view to improving his health, entered 
 Alabama University, at Florence, from which he 
 graduated with honor. He returned to Ohio with health 
 greatly improved, and entered the law office of Stanton 
 & McCook, at Steubenville. 
 
 After admission to the bar in Ohio, he removed to 
 Leavenworth, Kansas, where he formed a partnership with 
 William Tecumseh Sherman and Thomas Ewing. When 
 the Civil War opened that law office closed, and each of 
 the partners soon became general officers. General Sher- 
 man at the close of the war being second in rank to Gen- 
 eral Grant. 
 
 An ardent Unionist, upon the secession of some of the 
 southern states, and long ere Sumter was fired upon, 
 Daniel McCook had joined with other Leavenworth citi- 
 zens in organizing several companies of local militia for 
 the time of need, which they saw was inevitably coming. 
 He was made captain of one of these companies called 
 the "Shields Guards" in the local records, although it ap- 
 pears that this name was subsequently changed to 
 "Leavenworth State Guard." How early this company was 
 formed is not positively known, but it was probably in 
 January, 1861. The first private, or individual, tender 
 of troops made to the government, so far as the printed 
 
 *Smce the publication of the above sketch in the proceedings of the Scotch- 
 Irish Society of America, Major-General A. McD. McCook died at Dayton, 
 Ohio, on June 12th, 1903, and was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery, Cin- 
 cinnati, Oliio. 
 
14 The Fighting McCooks 
 
 records of the rebellion show, was that of one Chas. H. 
 Volk, "captain of Elk Artillery No. 1," of Elk County, Pa. 
 It is a historical fact worth recording that Captain Daniel 
 McCook stands of record as having made the second ten- 
 der of local troops to the Washington authorities. Cap- 
 tain McCook's offer was couched in the following terms: 
 
 Leavenworth City^ Kan.^ February 20, 1861. 
 
 Hon. Joseph Holt^ 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 Sir : — I have the honor to tender to you and the govern- 
 ment the service of the volunteer militia company, con- 
 sisting of sixty rank and file, infantry, which I at present 
 command. We are willing to serve in any capacity, and 
 any way, and against any powers which the public need 
 may require, or the constituted authorities order. Hoping 
 that you will at least give us an equal chance, I remain, 
 with sentiments of highest respect. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Daniel McCook, 
 Captain Leavenworth State Guard. 
 
 No record of any reply to Captain McCook's tender of 
 troops can be found in the War Department, but doubt- 
 less one was made. At any rate, he was not long in get- 
 ting into the service. Under the first formal call by the 
 President for volunteers to enforce the national authority 
 the First Kansas Volunteer Infantry was quickly organ- 
 ized at Leavenworth, and the "Leavenworth State Guard" 
 was one of the ten companies composing it, with Daniel 
 McCook as its captain. Inside of two weeks this new regi- 
 ment was on its way to the southern Kansas border to 
 meet the advance of the rebels. 
 
 Captain McCook served under the gallant General 
 Lyon at the small but important and furious engagement 
 
The Fighting McCooKs 15 
 
 at Wilson's Creek. He then served as Chief of Staif of 
 the First Division of the Army of the Ohio in the Shiloh 
 campaign, and became colonel of the Fifty-second Ohio 
 Regiment of Volunteer Infantry in the summer of 1862. 
 He was assigned to the command of a brigade in General 
 Sheridan's division, and as such continued to serve with 
 the Army of the Cumberland. 
 
 He was selected by his old law partner, General Sher- 
 man, to lead the assault on Kennesaw Mountain on June 
 27, 1864. After all the arrangements for the assault 
 had been made, the brigade was formed in regiment front 
 and five deep. Just before the assault Colonel McCook 
 recited to his men in a perfectly calm manner the stanza 
 from Macaulay's "Horatius" in which occur these lines: 
 
 Then out spake brave Horatius, 
 
 The captain of the gate: 
 "To every man upon this earth 
 
 Death cometh soon or late. 
 And how can man die better 
 
 Than facing fearful odds. 
 For the ashes of his fathers 
 
 And the temples of his gods?" 
 
 Then he gave the word of command and dashed 
 forward. He had reached the top of the enemy's works, 
 and was encouraging his men to follow, when he was 
 riddled with minie balls and fell back into their arms, 
 v,'Ounded unto death. For his courage and gallantry in 
 this assault which was one of, if not the most difficult 
 and desperate of the war, he was promoted to the full 
 rank of brigadier-general, an honor which he did not live 
 to enjoy, as he survived but a few days. He died July 
 17, 1864, and was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery, 
 Cincinnati. 
 
16 The Fighting McCooks 
 
 General Sherman never failed to express his admiration 
 for the patriotic spirit, the gallantry and soldierly abilities 
 of his old friend and former law partner, who, in the per- 
 formance of his duty, went to the assault at Kennesaw 
 and to his death, as promptly and steadily as he ever 
 marched to parade. 
 
 In a letter to a personal friend on December 28, 1886, 
 General Sherman, among other things, wrote as follows: 
 
 "Both political parties in 1864 urged on our soldiers to 
 acts of heroism. Without such men as my old law part- 
 ner at Leavenworth, Dan McCook, who, with father and 
 five brothers, was killed in the Civil War, we now could 
 have no government, nothing would be left to us but degra- 
 dation and ruin. 
 
 "Dan McCook when leading his brigade in the assault 
 at Kennesaw was shot down upon the enemy works and 
 died of his wounds. I ordered that assault and thereby 
 occasioned his death. You can readily understand how 
 deeplj^ I feel about it, for no adequate return can ever be 
 made, by any nation or people for such services. 
 
 "The government of the United States exists alone be- 
 cause of such sacrifices as Dan McCook made of his young 
 life." .... 
 
 Very truly, your friend, 
 
 (Signed) W. T. Sherman. 
 
 7. Edwin Stanton McCook was born at Carrollton, 
 Ohio, March 26, 1837. He was educated at the United 
 States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, but, preferring the 
 military arm of the service, when the Civil War began he 
 recruited a company and joined the Thirty-first Illinois 
 Volunteer Infantry, of which his friend, John A. Logan, 
 was colonel. lie served with his regiment at the battles of 
 Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, where he was severely 
 wounded. In his promotions he succeeded General 
 
The Fighting McCooRs 17 
 
 Logan, and followed him in the command of regiment, 
 brigade, and division throughout the Vicksburg and 
 other campaigns under Grant, in the Chattanooga and 
 Atlanta campaigns, and in the march to the sea under 
 Sherman. 
 
 He was promoted to the rank of brigadier and 
 brevet major-general for his services in these campaigns. 
 He was three times severely wounded, but survived the 
 war. While acting Governor of Dakota, and while oc- 
 cupying the chair and presiding over a i^ublic meeting. 
 September 11, 1873, he was shot and killed by a man w^ho 
 was not in sympathy with the object of the meeting, and 
 was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati. 
 
 8. Charles Morris McCook was born at Carrollton, 
 Ohio, November 13, 1843. He was a member of the fresh- 
 man class at Kenyon College when the war began, and, 
 although less than eighteen years of age, volunteered as 
 a private soldier in the Second Ohio Regiment of Infantry 
 for the three months' service. Secretary Stanton offered 
 him a lieutenant's commission in the regular army, but he 
 preferred to serve as a volunteer. By his soldiery char- 
 acteristics and close attention to duty he soon won the 
 respect and admiration of his comrades, and the confi- 
 dence of his officers. 
 
 At the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, Charles 
 McCook served with his regiment, which was covering the 
 retreat of the shattered army. As he passed a field hospital 
 the lad saw his father, who had volunteered as a nurse, at 
 work among the wounded, and stopped to assist him the 
 regiment passing on. As he started to rejoin his company 
 young McCook was surrounded by an officer and several 
 troopers of the famous Black Horse Cavalry, who 
 
18 The Fighting McCooKs 
 
 demanded his surrender. His musket was loaded, and he 
 quickly disabled the officer, and, as he was highly trained 
 in the bayonet exercise, he kept the other horsemen at bay. 
 His father, seeing the odds against the boy, and hearing the 
 repeated demands for his surrender, called out to him to 
 give himself up. To this he replied, "Father, I will never 
 surrender to a rebel," and a moment later he was shot 
 down by one of the cavalrymen who then rode away in 
 pursuit of the retreating troops. His father ran to him 
 and while holding him in his arms, the dying lad sent a 
 loving message of farewell to his mother and then said, 
 "Tell her that I refused to surrender, that I am not afraid 
 of death, that I am glad to die for my country." When the 
 father leaned down to catch the last word, as the voice grew 
 weaker and less distinct, he heard him repeat over and 
 over again a favorite quotation from Horace "Dulce et 
 decorum est pro patria mori" — it is sweet and glorious 
 to die for one's country; words which had inspired his 
 young life as a student at Kenyon College, and were 
 fittingly shown forth in his untimely death. The aged 
 father removed his remains from the field, and they were 
 afterwards buried at Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati. 
 9. John James McCook the ninth and youngest son, was 
 born at Carrollton, Ohio, May 25, 1845. He was a student 
 at Kenyon College when the war began, and, after com- 
 pleting his freshman year, enlisted in Company E of the 
 Fifty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was refused 
 muster because of his youth but accompanied the regi- 
 ment to the field as a volunteer aide to the brigade com- 
 mander, lie was promoted to a first lieutenancy in the 
 Sixth Ohio Cavalry on September 12, 1862, and later was 
 assigned to duty on the staff of Major-General Thomas L. 
 
The Fighting McCooKs 19 
 
 Crittenden, commanding a corps of the Army of the Ohio, 
 which subsequently became the Twenty-first Corps of the 
 Armv of the Cumberland. 
 
 He served with the troops commanded by Generals 
 Nelson and Wright in resisting Kirby Smith's invasion 
 of Kentucky and in the campaigns of Perryville, Stone's 
 Elver, Tullahoma, Chicamauga, Chattanooga and Mission- 
 ary Eidge, with the Western armies, and in General 
 Grant's campaign with the Army of the Potomac, from the 
 battle of the Wilderness to the crossing of the James Eiver. 
 He was commissioned a captain and aid-de-camp of United 
 States volunteers in September, 1863, and was brevetted 
 major of volunteers for gallant and meritorious services in 
 action at Shady Grove, Va., where he was severely and 
 dangerously wounded. He was afterwards brevetted lieu- 
 tenant-colonel and colonel for gallant and meritorious 
 services in the same camimign. 
 
 Colonel McCook still survives, the only member of a 
 family of ten when the war began, and is a lawyer engaged 
 in active practice in New York City. For a number of years 
 he has been the legal adviser and active in the management 
 of many important financial, insurance, and railway 
 corporations. Colonel McCook gives much attention to 
 educational matters, and is an active Trustee of 
 Princeton University and a director of Princeton Theo- 
 logical Seminary. He has received the following uni- 
 versitv degrees: A. B. and A. M. from Kenyon College, 
 Honorary A. M. from Princeton, LL. B. from Harvard, 
 and LL.D. from the University of Kansas and from 
 Lafavette College. Colonel McCook is a member of the 
 Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, of New York. Having 
 been appointed by his Presbytery a member of the Prose- 
 
20 The Fighting McCooKs 
 
 cuting Committee, in the now celebrated Briggs heresy 
 case, Colonel McCook, by reason of the ability, industry 
 and knowledge of the theological and critical questions 
 involved, is credited with having done much to bring that 
 case to a successful conclusion and in securing the 
 deliverance upon, and testimony of the General Assembly 
 of the Presbyterian Church to the integrity of the Scrip- 
 tures, as opposed to the so-called higher critical views of 
 Dr. Briggs and his followers. 
 
 Colonel McCook is an active and consistent Republican 
 in politics, and his party and public services were recog- 
 nized by President McKinley inviting him to a place in his 
 first cabinet. 
 
 The following is an abstract of the record and services 
 of Brevet-Colonel John James McCook, A. D. C. United 
 States Volunteers, compiled from the Memorial Reunion 
 volume of the Fiftv-second Ohio Volunteer Infantrv : 
 
 Enlisted as private Company E, Fifty-second Ohio 
 Volunteer Infantry, August 12, 1862, but he was refused 
 muster because under age. Accompanied regiment to front 
 acting as volunteer aide-de-camp to brigade commander. 
 Appointed first lieutenant Sixth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, 
 September 12, 1862. Assigned to duty as acting aide-de- 
 camp on staff of Colonel Daniel McCook, commanding 
 thirty-sixth brigade, eleventh division, third corps, Army 
 of the Ohio. Appointed and commissioned captain and 
 aide-de-camp. United States Volunteers, June 18, 1863, 
 to date from December 18, 1862. Mustered out as first lieu- 
 tenant Sixth Ohio Cavalry June 24, 1863. Assigned to duty 
 December 1, 1862, and served as aide-de-camp on staff of 
 General Thomas L. Crittenden, commanding twenty-first 
 corps. Army of the Cumberland, to November, 1863, and 
 
The Fighting McCooks 31 
 
 first division, ninth corps, Army of the Potomac, May- 
 June, 18G4. Temporary assignment as additional aide-de- 
 camp to ^Major-General George H. Thomas, headquarters 
 Army of the Cumberland, November, 1863, to January, 
 1864, participating in the following battles and campaigns : 
 Served with the Fifty-second Ohio Infantry, the rear 
 guard covering retreat Nelson's forces from Richmond, 
 Ky., to Louisville, Ky., August 30 to September 5, 1862. 
 Battle of Perryville, Ky., October 8, 1862. (Special 
 mention in official reports.) March to Nashville, Tenn., 
 October 20 to November 7, 1862. Advance on Mur- 
 freesboro, Tenn., December 26-30, 1862. Battle of Stone 
 River, December 30-31 and January 1-3, 1863. (Special 
 mention and recommended for promotion.) Middle Ten- 
 nessee or Tullahoma campaign, June 21-July 15, 1863. 
 (Special mention for efficient services.) Occupation of 
 Middle Tennessee, passage of Cumberland Mountains and 
 Chicamauga, Ga., campaign, August 16-September 22. 
 1863. Battle of Chicamauga, Ga., September 19-20. 
 (Special mention for gallantry.) Operations about Chatta- 
 nooga, Tenn. Battle of Chattanooga and assault and cap- 
 ture of ]Missionary Ridge, with Harker's brigade of Sheri- 
 dan's division, November 25, 1863, General Grant's cam- 
 paign in Virginia, May-June, 1864. Battles of the Wilder- 
 ness, May 5-7; of Spottsylvania, ]May 8-12; of River Po, 
 May 9-10; of Spottsylvania Court House, May 12-26. 
 Operations and engagements on line of the North 
 Anna River, ]May 23-26. Operations on line of the 
 Pamunky River, May 26-28. Operations and engagements 
 on line of the Tolopotomoy, May 28-31. Shady Grove, May 
 30. Wounded at Shady Grove but remained on duty. 
 Battles about Cold Harbor, June 1-3. Bethesda Church, 
 
22 The Fighting McCooks 
 
 June 2-3. (Special mention for gallantry in the above 
 engagements and for faithful and eflflcient services through- 
 out the campaign.) Absent on leave because of wounds 
 till October. Resigned October 13, 1864, and honorably 
 discharged from service November 1, 1864. Endorsement 
 of Major-General Thomas L. Crittenden, upon the resigna- 
 tion of John J. McCook, captain and aide-de-camp United 
 States Volunteers, October 10, 1864 : 
 
 "Within resignation approved and its acceptance 
 recommended. Captain McCook ran away from school 
 when sixteen years old to enter the army. He has served 
 faithfully and gallantly in several campaigns and in many 
 engagements and battles. He is at present incapacitated 
 from further active service from a wound received in bat- 
 tle which requires constant surgical attention. He should 
 be honorably discharged. 
 
 "Captain McCook's father and three brothers have been 
 killed in battle, and all the other members of his family 
 are in the service. With such a family and personal 
 record, I am constrained to refer to it when parting with 
 a valued staff officer, and recommending the acceptance 
 of his resignation. 
 
 "(Signed) T. L. Crittenden^ 
 
 "Major-General, U. S. Vols." 
 
 Brevetted major "for gallantry in action at Shady 
 Grove, Va., May 30, 1864," and lieutenant-colonel and 
 colonel United States Volunteers to date from March 13, 
 1865, "for gallant and meritorious services." 
 
\ 
 
 The Fighting McCooKs 23 
 
 The Second Subdivision of the Family 
 Includes the Following Members 
 
 //. The John McCook Branch. 
 
 Dr. John McCook was born and educated at Cannons- 
 burg, Pa., the seat of Jefferson College ; was a man of fine 
 presence, genial nature, and a physician of unusual 
 ability. His wife was born at Hartford, Ct., of an old 
 New England family, and was a woman of rare culture. 
 She was remarkable for her gift of song and musical 
 attainments, and her fine intellect and sprightly manner. 
 She greatly excelled in reading aloud, and taught her 
 sons this art, instructing them also in declamation and 
 composition before these branches were introduced into 
 the schools of the neighborhood. She was particularly 
 fond of poetry, and could render from memory chapters 
 of Scott's "Marmion" and "Lady of the Lake," as well as 
 the poems of Burns. Her influence was decided upon the 
 character of her five sons. 
 
 Dr. McCook practiced medicine for many years in New 
 Lisbon, Ohio, whence he removed to Steubenville. He 
 was an ardent patriot, and, although a lifelong Democrat, 
 joined the Union-Kepublican party and gave the whole 
 weight of his influence and service to the support of the 
 government during the Civil War. He died just after its 
 close, October 11, 1865, at the headquarters of his son. 
 General Anson G. McCook, in Washington, D. C, during 
 a temporary visit, and was buried at Steubenville, Ohio, 
 by the side of his wife, who had preceded him just six 
 months. 
 
 He united with the Presbyterian Church of New 
 Lisbon, Ohio, together with his wife, after the birth of 
 all their children. The latter were baptized on the same 
 
24 The Fighting McCooKs 
 
 Sabbath by the late Dr. A. O. Patterson. Dr. McCook 
 was a warm friend of Sunday schools, and was superin- 
 tendent for years of the school of the First Church of 
 Steubenville, under the late Dr. H. G. Comingo. 
 The children of the above couple are as follows: 
 
 1. Major-General Edward Moody McCook was born at 
 Steubenville, Ohio, June 15, 1833. He was one of the 
 earliest settlers in the Pike's Peak region, where he had 
 gone to practice his profession, law. He represented that 
 district in the Legislature of Kansas, before the division 
 of the Territory. He was temporarily in Washington in 
 the troubled era preceding the war, and by a daring feat 
 as a volunteer secret agent for the government won such 
 approbation that he was appointed into the regular army 
 as a lieutenant of cavalry. At the outbreak of the 
 rebellion he was appointed major of the Second Indiana 
 Cavalry, rose rapidly to the ranks of colonel, brigadier, 
 and major-general, and after brilliant and effective 
 service, retired at the close of the war with the rank of 
 lieutenant-colonel in the regular army. His most diffi- 
 cult and dangerous service, perhaps, was penetrating the 
 enemy's lines by way of diversion previous to Sherman's 
 march to the sea. He returned from this "forlorn hope," 
 having inflicted great damage upon the enemy, defeated 
 and captured a large number, whom he was compelled to 
 release, and retired in the face of Hood's entire army. 
 He resigned from the regular army to accept the appoint- 
 ment of United States Minister to the Sandwich Islands. 
 He was subsequently twice appointed Governor of 
 Colorado Territory by President Grant. 
 
 2. Brigadier-General Anson George McCook was born 
 at Steubonville, Ohio, October 10, 1835. He was educated 
 
The Fighting McCooKs 35 
 
 in the public schools of New Lisbon, Ohio, and at an early 
 age crossed the plains to California, where he spent 
 several years. He returned shortly before the war, and 
 was engaged in the study of law in the office of Stanton 
 & McCook, at Steubenville. At the outbreak of the 
 rebellion he promptly raised a company of volunteers, 
 and was elected captain of the company, which was the 
 first to enter the service from Eastern Ohio. He was 
 assigned to the Second Ohio Regiment, and took part in 
 the first battle of Bull Run. Upon the reorganization 
 of the troops he was appointed major of the Second Ohio, 
 and rose by death and resignation of his seniors to the 
 rank of colonel. At the battle of Peach Tree Creek, near 
 Atlanta, he commanded a brigade. He was in action in 
 many of the principal battles of the West, including those 
 of Perryville, Stone's River, Lookout Mountain, Mis- 
 sionary Ridge, Resaca, etc. On the muster out of the 
 Second Ohio, at the close of three years' service, he was 
 appointed colonel of the One Hundred and Ninety-fourth 
 Ohio, and was ordered to Virginia, where he was assigned 
 to command a brigade. He was brevetted a brigadier- 
 general at the close of the war. He returned to Steuben- 
 ville, whence, after several years' residence, he removed to 
 New York City, his present residence. He served six years 
 in Congress from the Eighth New York District in the 
 Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh Congresses. 
 3. Rev. Henry G. McCook, D. D., the third son, was 
 born July 3, 1837, at New Lisbon, Ohio, and married an 
 Ohio lady. Miss Emma C. Horter, of New Lisbon. He 
 graduated at Jefferson College. He was a student in 
 the Western Theological Seminary (Presbyterian), 
 Alleahenv Citv, on the outbreak of the rebellion, and, 
 
26 
 
 The Fighting McCooks 
 
 having made an engagement to go West to spend his 
 summer vacation, stopped at Clinton, DeWitt County, 
 111. Here he was actively engaged in raising troops for 
 the service until the first battle of Bull Run, when he 
 enlisted as a private soldier, stumped the county to raise 
 troops, and was mustered into the Forty-first Illinois as 
 first lieutenant. He was appointed chaplain of the 
 regiment, and returned home for ordination by the 
 Presbytery of Steubenville, Ohio. He served for less than 
 a year, and resigned, with the intention of taking another 
 position in the army; but, convinced that he could serve 
 his country best in a public position at home, returned 
 to his church at Clinton. He was subsequently a home 
 missionary and pastor in St. Louis, Mo., whence he was 
 called to Philadelphia in 1869, where he continues pastor 
 of one of the most prominent churches of the East. He 
 is the author of a number of popular theological and 
 ecclesiastical books, but is particularly known as a 
 naturalist. His studies of ants and spiders, on whose 
 habits he has written several important books and 
 numerous papers, have made his name well known among 
 the naturalists of Europe and America. 
 
 4. Commander Roderick Sheldon McCook, U. S. N., 
 was born in New Lisbon, Ohio, March 10, 1839. He 
 graduated at the Naval Academy, Annapolis, in 1859, and 
 his first service was off the Congo River, Africa, whence 
 he was sent home with a prize crew in charge of a 
 captured slaver. From 1861 to 1865 he took active part 
 in aggressive operations before New Berne, Wilmington, 
 Charleston, Fort Fisher, and on the James River. At 
 New Berne he bore an active and successful part in the 
 battle on land. He offered himself and the services of 
 
The Fighting McCooks 27 
 
 his marines to the land force in moving a battery of guns 
 from his vessel. With this battery he took a conspicuous 
 part in the conflict, and had the honor of receiving the 
 surrender of a Confederate regiment of infantry, probably 
 the only surrender of this sort which occurred during 
 the Civil War. During his arduous services with monitors, 
 particularly the "Canonicus," at Fort Fisher, he seri- 
 ously impaired his health. He was engaged in the 
 operations on the James River, and also those ending in 
 the surrender of Charleston. He attained the grade of 
 commander September 25, 1873. His last service was in 
 lighthouse duty on the Ohio River, on whose banks, in the 
 family plot in the Steubenville cemetery, his remains are 
 buried. Failing in health, he was retired from active 
 service February 23, 1885, when he went to Vineland, 
 N. J., seeking restoration of strength in the occupations 
 of farm life. His death was caused by being thrown 
 from his buggy upon his head, sustaining injuries which 
 resulted in suffusion of the brain. He married Miss 
 Elizabeth Sunderland, of Steubenville, Ohio, who, with 
 one son, survives him. 
 
 5. The fifth son and sixth child. Rev. Prof. John James 
 McCook, was born at New Lisbon, Ohio, February 4, 1843. 
 He served as lieutenant in the First Virginia Volunteers 
 during a short campaign in West Virginia, a regiment 
 recruited almost exclusively from Ohio. There were so 
 many volunteers from this state that its quota of 
 regiments was immediately filled, and many of its 
 citizens entered the service with regiments from other 
 States. He was at Kelleysville, one of the earliest 
 engagements of the war. He graduated at Trinity 
 College, Hartford; began the study of medicine, but 
 
28 The Fighting McCooKs 
 
 abandoned it to enter the Protestant Episcopal ministry. 
 He was rector of St. John's, Detroit, and is now of St. 
 John's, East Hartford. He is distinguished as a linguist, 
 and is the author of a witty booklet, "Pat and the 
 Council." He is at present Professor of Modern 
 Languages in Trinity College, Hartford. 
 
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