Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/313

 COCHRAN

COCHRANE

COCHRAN, Robert, patriot, was born in Col- rain, Mass., in 1739. He settled in Bennington, Vt., in 1768 and subsequently removed to Rupert, Vt. He was a captain among the Green Moun- tain Boys before the Revolution; led forty men against the " court party '" after the Westminster massacre, and helped to convey the prisoners to the Northampton jail. He was a captain in the Ticonderoga expedition and assisted Seth Warner in the capture of Crown Point. He was one of the eight men outlawed by New York in 1774, and was captain in Colonel Elmore's regiment until July 29, 1776, when congress promoted liim to the rank of major. He commanded Fort Dayton, Tryon county, N.Y., and served in the campaign of 1777, probably on Gates's staff, as he bore disi^atches from that officer to the general committee of safety. In 1778 he was sent to Canada to gain a knowledge of the militarj^ situ- ation and narrowly escaped with his life through the hospitality and faithful ministrations of a woman at whose house he sovight asylum when closely pursued by the enemy. He commanded Fort Schuyler in 1778 and in 1780 was promoted lieutenant-colonel. At the end of the war he was greatly involved in debt and his wife and children were for some time sheltered in the garret of a wretched tavern. Later years brought him prosperity and enabled him to reward the kind woman who had befriended him. He resided at Ticonderoga and in Washington county, N.Y. He died at Sandy Hill, N.Y., July 3, 1812.

COCHRANE, Aaron Van Schaick, representa- tive, was born in Coxsackie, N.Y., March 14, 1858; son of Francis and Barbara (Van Schaick) Cochrane. He was prepared for college at the Hudson river institute, Claverack, N.Y., and was graduated from Yale in 1879. He was admitted to the bar in 1881 and practised in Hudson, N.Y. He was police-justice of Hudson, 1887-88; district attorney of Columbia county, N.Y., 1889-92; and a Republican representative from the 19th dis- trict of New York in the 5.5th and 56th congresses, 1897-1901.

COCHRANE, Clark Beaton, representative, Avas born in New Boston, N.H., May 31, 1815. He removed to Montgomery county, N.Y., and was graduated at Union college in 1841. He became a lawyer in Schenectady, N.Y., and was a member of the state assembly in 1844 and 1845. He left the Democratic part}' in 1848, supported Van Buren and Adams on the Free Soil ticket and in 1854 joined the Repiiblican party. He was a representative in the 35th and 36th congresses, 1857-61, and declined to serve after the close of the 36th congress, his health having become impaired. He removed to Albany, served as a delegate to the Republican national convention of 1864, which renominated Abraham Lincoln,

and was a member of the assembly in 1866. He died in Albany, N.Y., March 5, 1867.

COCHRANE, John, representative, was born in Palatine, Montgomery county, N.Y., Aug. 27, 1813; son of Walter D. and Cornelia W. (Smith) Cochran; and grandson of John and Gertrude (Schuj-ler) Cochran, and of Peter and Elizabeth (Livingston) Smith. His paternal grandfather was surgeon-general and military director of the hospitals during the Revolution; his paternal grandmother was the sister of Ma j. -Gen. Philip Schuyler; his maternal grandfather was a well- known judge and the father of Gerrit Smith, abolitionist; and his __

maternal grandmoth- er was a daughter of Col. James Living- ston of Revolution- ary fame. He was graduated at Hamil- ton college in 1831, was admitted to the bar, and practised at Oswego, Schenectady, and in New York city. In 1853 he was appointed surveyor of fj /p /^ / the port of New York ^ZXcnt^H^ L€'t^f2mi'i^ by President Pierce.

He was a representative in the 35th and 36th con- gresses, 1857-61, serving in the latter as chairman of the conunittee of commerce. In 1860 he was appointed by President Buchanan a member of the board of visitors to West Point, and on June 11, 1861, he was commissioned by Secretary Cameron to recruit and command a regiment of volunteers to serve during the war, leaving New York for Washington with the regiment Aug. 27, 1861. On Noveniber 21 he Avas commissioned colonel of the 1st U.S. chasseurs, with rank from June 11, and on July 19, 1862, was made briga- dier-general of volunteers. He served in General Couch's division of the army of the Potomac in the battles of Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, Antietam, AVilliamsport and Fredericksburg, and on Feb. 25, 1863, resigned on account of physical disa- bility. In 1864 he was nominated at Cleveland, Ohio, by the Independent Republican national convention as vice-president of the United States with Gen. John C. Fremont for President. He was attorney -general of New York, 1863-65; president of the common council of New York city, 1872; chairman of the New York delegation to the Liberal Republican national convention at Cincinnati in May, 1872, where he was chiefly instrumental in the nomination of Horace Gree- ley; was cliairman of the memorial committee, G.A.R., for Decoration day, 1875; was grand marshal of Decoration day iH'Ocession, 1879; was