Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 4.djvu/327

Rh whole army, he was promoted to brigadier-general, and put in command of a brigade of North Carolinians, the Fifteenth, Twenty-seventh, Forty-sixth, Forty-eighth and Fifty-ninth regiments. At Fredericksburg he supported General Cobb, holding the famous stone wall, and all through the war, until its close, he and his brigade were in the thickest of the fray. He was wounded seven times, at Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Bristoe Station, and in the Wilderness campaign. No officer bore a more enviable reputation than General Cooke for prompt obedience to orders, skill in handling his men, splendid dash in the charge, or heroic, patient, stubborn courage in the defense. After the close of hostilities General Cooke entered mercantile life at Richmond, and during his subsequent life was prominent in the affairs of the city and State. He served several years as a member of the city committee of the Democratic party, was a director of the chamber of commerce, and president of the board of directors of the State penitentiary. During the years of peace and reconciliation, the estrangement in his family which had followed his espousal of the Southern cause, was fully healed; but he remained loyal to his old comrades. He was prominent as a founder and manager of the Soldiers Home at Richmond, was one of the first commanders of the Lee camp, Confederate veterans, and acted as chief of staff at the laying of the cornerstone of the Lee monument, and at its unveiling. He married Nannie G. Patton, of Fredericksburg, daughter of Dr. William F. Patton, surgeon U. S. N., and they had eight children. General Cooke s death occurred April 10, 1891.

Brigadier-General William Ruffin Cox was born March 11, 1832, at Scotland Neck, Halifax county, N. C. He is of English and Scotch-Irish descent, and his ancestors were early and prominent colonists in the new world. The father of General Cox died when the latter was four