tled in Massachusetts. This paternal ancestor had three sons John, the grandfather of General Cooper, Samuel and William. Samuel was President of Harvard University during the Revolutionary War, and was proscribed by General Gage of the British army, and a reward offered for his head. The son of John, also called Samuel, was the father of General Cooper. At eighteen years old, we find him at Lexington, forming one of seventy men that "assembled in front of the meeting house," to whom Major Pitcairn, commanding the British advance, called out "disperse, you rebels, throw down your arms and disperse," on the morning of the 19th April, 1775. Early manifesting such a heroic spirit, it was not surprising that he should have been found upon the night of 16th June marching with Prescott, and working all night upon a redoubt on Breed's Hill (mistaken for Bunker Hill, in the darkness of the night), and obeying sturdy old Putnam's orders on the morning of the 17th, not to fire "till they could see the whites of the eyes of the British."
He afterwards served with distinction in Knox's regiment of artillery, and upon his tombstone appears the following inscription:
"Sacred to the
memory of
Major Samuel Cooper
of the Revolutionary Army,
who in the first onset struck for liberty.
He fought at
Lexington, Bunker Hill, Brandy wine, Monmouth, Germantown,
and on other sanguinary fields,
and continued to wield the sword
in defence of his country
until victory crowned her arms."
At the close of the Revolutionary War, Major Cooper married Miss Mary Horton, of Dutchess county, New York. Two sons and six daughters were born from this marriage. George and Samuel (the subject of this memoir) were the sons. The former graduated at West Point, but afterwards went into the navy.
Adjutant-General Cooper was born in 1798, at Hackensack on the Hudson river, at the family seat of his maternal ancestors, the Hortons. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point when only fifteen years old, the term of service there then being two years only. His first service was as a lieutenant of light artillery. He was promoted a first lieutenant in the Third artillery, and in 1824 was transferred to the Fourth. From 1828 to 1836 he served as aid-de-camp to General Macomb, then commanding the
