Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/389

 COOKE

COOKE

Shenandoah." He published manj- novels in serial form and a metrical paraphrase of Frois- nart Ballads (1847). His lyric, Florence Vane, was widely translated and set to music. He died at " The Vineyard, " Clark county, Va., Jan. 20, 1850. COOKE, Philip St. George, soldier, was born at Leesburgh, Va., June 13, 1809; son of Dr. Stephen and Catherine (Esten) Cooke. He was graduated at the U.S. militarj* academy in 1827 and was commissioned lieutenant in the 6th U.S. infantry, joining his regiment at Jefferson bar- racks, Mo., in November, 1827. He took part in the Black Hawk war, participating in the battle of Bad Axe, and was promoted first lieutenant, March 4, 1833, and captain in May, 1835. He served in Texas, Arkansas, and New Mexico; de- fended a caravan of Santa Fe traders from the ' ' army of Texas, ' ' and received for the exploit the thanks of President Santa Anna and the official thanks of the commander-in- chief of the U.S. army and of Colonel Kearny commanding the department. In 1845 he accompanied Colonel Kearny through South Pass, Rocky Mountains, and thence to Fort Leavenworth via the head- Avaters of the Arkansas river, a march of twenty- two hundred miles, in ninety-nine days. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in October, 1846, and with an infantry battalion (six companies) of volunteers was ordered to California with a wagon train, exploring and making a practical wagon road en route. The battalion reached San Diego mission Jan. 29, 1847, after suffering great privations while marching eight hundred miles through an enemy's country. Here Colonel Cooke was able to suppress a threatened dead- lock between the army and navy authorities and to support the commanding army official in carrying out the orders of the President, practi- cally acquiring for the governrnent 250,000 square miles of territory and pointing out a feasible railroad route between the Gulf and the Pacific. Captain Cooke was commissioned major of second dragoons, Feb. 16, 1847, and resigned his volunteer commission on May 1 to rejoin his reg- iment in the City of Mexico. He was brevetted lieutenant-colonel for meritorious services in California; superintended the cavalry barracks at Carlisle, Pa., 1848-52; was in command of the 2d dragoons in Texas in 1853 and conducted a

campaign against the Lipan Indians and drove them beyond the Kio Grande. This exploit gained for him promotion to the rank of lieuten- ant colonel, and while in command of Fort Union, N.M., in 1854, he relieved the 1st dragoons, beleaguered in Fort Burgwin, organized a com- pany of " spies and guides " from the Pueblo Indians, and pursued the Jicarilla Apachee In- dians across the Rio Grande and one hundred and fifty miles beyond, where, on April 8, he sur- prised them in camp, captured their baggage and supplies and caused them to sue for peace. This- service, entirely unauthorized and voluntary, was approved by the department commander, and in general orders No. 9, war department, June 21, 1854, he received " special praise and the marked approbation of the President and this department." In 1855 he defeated the Sioux Indians at Blue Water. He was stationed in Kansas, 1856-57; made a winter march to Utah, 1857-58, and was promoted colonel of the 2d dragoons, June, 1858. In 1860 he visited Europe to observe the war between Italy and France and Austria. He was in command of the department of Utah in 1861. In October of that year he evacuated his department and with his troops marched to Washington, D.C., arriving- there Oct. 19, 1861. He was appointed brigadier- general in the regular army and commanded a cavalry division in the Army of the Potomac at the siege of Yorktown, battles of Gaines's Mill, Frayser's Farm, and the other battles on the pen- insula. At Harri-son's Landing he was relieved and was on court-martial duty at St. Louis, Mo., in the winter of 1862-63. He commanded the Baton Rouge district, dejjartment of the Gulf, from October, 1863, to May, 1864, and on March 13, 1865, was brevetted major-general U.S.A., "for gallant and meritorious service during the war." He commanded the depart- ment of the Platte, 1866-67; the department of the Cumberland, 1869-70; and the department of the Lakes, 1870-73, when he was retired from active service. He wrote Scenes and Adventui-es- in the Army (1856); and The Conquest of Xew Mex- ico and California (1878). He died in Detroit, Mich., March 20, 1895.

COOKE, Richard Joseph, clergyman and author, was born in New York city, Jan. 30, 1853; son of Richard and Joan (Geary) Cooke. On both the paternal and maternal sides his^ ancestry dates back to the historic Cooke and Geary families of Limerick, Ireland, in the vicinity of which Cooke castle, the ancestral home of the Cookes, still stands. Richard was- sent to school at an early age and when about eighteen years old went south. In 1876 he was ordained a deacon in the Methodist Episco- pal church, and entered that year the East