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
