Alexander McDowell McCook
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Alexander McDowell McCook (April 22, 1831June 12, 1903) was a career
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
officer and a Union general in the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
.


Early life

McCook was born in
Columbiana County, Ohio Columbiana County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 101,877. The county seat is Lisbon and its largest city is Salem. Created in 1803, the county name is derived from that of 15th-centur ...
. A Scottish family, the McCooks were prominent in army service — his father Daniel McCook and seven of Alexander's brothers, plus five of his first cousins, fought in the war. They were known as " The Fighting McCooks", for whom
McCook Field McCook Field was an airfield and aviation experimentation station in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It was operated by the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps and its successor the United States Army Air Service from 1917 to 1927. It was named f ...
in
Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...
, was named. His brothers Daniel McCook, Jr., Edwin Stanton McCook, and Robert Latimer McCook were all Union generals, as were his cousins Anson G. McCook and Edward M. McCook. Their grandfather George McCook had participated in the
Irish Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 (; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Turn out'', ''The Hurries'', 1798 Rebellion) was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The m ...
and escaped to the United States after it was defeated. McCook graduated from the
United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...
in 1852, served against the
Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...
s and Utes in
New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
in 1853–57, and was assistant instructor of infantry tactics at the military academy in 1858–61. He held the rank of 1st lieutenant in the regular army when war broke out in 1861.


Civil War

At the start of the Civil War, McCook received a commission as
colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
of the
1st Ohio Infantry The 1st Ohio Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It served in the Western Theater in a number of campaigns and battles. Three-months regiment With the outbreak of the Civil War in the spr ...
in April 1861. He served in the Washington defenses and saw action at the
First Battle of Bull Run The First Battle of Bull Run, called the Battle of First Manassas
.
by Confederate States ...
. McCook was promoted to captain in the regular army in May. On September 3, 1861, he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers, commanded a brigade in Kentucky that fall, and led a division by February 1862. He earned the brevet of lieutenant colonel in the
regular army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a ...
for his part in the capture of
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
. McCook then commanded the 2nd Division in the
Army of the Ohio The Army of the Ohio was the name of two Union Army, Union armies in the American Civil War. The first army became the Army of the Cumberland and the second army was created in 1863. History 1st Army of the Ohio General Orders No. 97 appointed ...
at the
Battle of Shiloh The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the American Civil War fought on April 6–7, 1862. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater of the ...
on the second day of fighting, and then in the subsequent campaign against Corinth. He was promoted to major general of volunteers on July 17, 1862. McCook was given command of the I Corps in the Army of the Ohio. His corps suffered heavy casualties and driven back a mile at the
Battle of Perryville The Battle of Perryville, also known as the Battle of Chaplin Hills, was fought on October 8, 1862, in the Chaplin Hills west of Perryville, Kentucky, as the culmination of the Confederate Heartland Offensive (Kentucky Campaign) during the Ame ...
in October 1862. Command of the Army of the Ohio was reorganized and his command designated the Right Wing of the XIV Corps in the new
Army of the Cumberland The Army of the Cumberland was one of the principal Union armies in the Western Theater during the American Civil War. It was originally known as the Army of the Ohio. History The origin of the Army of the Cumberland dates back to the creatio ...
. His command again suffered heavy losses at the
Battle of Stones River The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro, was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Ci ...
. Once again the command structure was reorganized and his corps named the XX Corps. For the third and final time, at Chickamauga, McCook's troops suffered heavily and were driven from the field. He was court-martialed and partially blamed for the Union disaster at Chickamauga. He was not convicted but relieved of duty in the Army of the Cumberland. McCook's demotion from command was in large part political, as he was a pro-slavery Democrat and had earned the ire of Secretary of War
Edwin Stanton Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. Secretary of War, U.S. secretary of war under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stanton's manag ...
. He waited almost a year before receiving another command assignment of any kind. It came thanks in part to Confederate General
Jubal Early Jubal Anderson Early (November 3, 1816 – March 2, 1894) was an American lawyer, politician and military officer who served in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. Trained at the United States Military Academy, Early resigned his ...
and his threat against Washington, D.C. McCook was placed in command of the "Defenses of the Potomac River and Washington" and was in charge of all forces defending the capital at the
Battle of Fort Stevens The Battle of Fort Stevens was an American Civil War battle fought July 11–12, 1864, in Washington County, D.C. in present-day Northwest Washington, D.C., during the Valley campaigns of 1864 between forces under Confederate Lieutenant Ge ...
. The day the battle ended, so did McCook's command of the city's defenses and he was again without command. At the close of the war he was given command of the District of Eastern Arkansas. He received brevet promotions to brigadier general and major general in the regular army for service throughout the war.


Postbellum career

McCook resigned from the volunteer service in October 1865 and reverted to the regular army rank of captain. In 1867, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the 25th US Infantry. He served in
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
, mostly in garrison duty, until 1874. From 1875 to 1880, he served as the aide-de-camp to the general-in-chief of the U.S. Army, Gen.
William T. Sherman William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...
. In 1880, he was promoted to full colonel. From 1886 to 1890 (except for brief terms of absence), he commanded
Fort Leavenworth Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...
,
Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
, and the infantry and cavalry school there. He then commanded the Department of Arizona from 1890 to 1893 and the Department of Colorado from 1893 to 1895. McCook became a full brigadier general in 1890, a major general in 1894, and retired in 1895. One of his final actions before retirement was helping send Army troops to break up the 1894 Chicago railroad strike. In 1898–99, he served on a commission to investigate the
United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, als ...
as administered during the
Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...
. McCook died at his daughter's home in Dayton, Ohio, on June 12, 1903, after suffering a stroke and was buried in
Spring Grove Cemetery Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum is a nonprofit rural cemetery and arboretum located at 4521 Spring Grove Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio. At a size of 733 acres (2.97 km2), it is the third largest cemetery in the United States, after the Calverto ...
,
Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
. The town of
McCook, Nebraska McCook is a city in and the county seat of Red Willow County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 7,446 at the 2020 census. History McCook was platted in 1882 when the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad was extended to that poin ...
, was named in his honor.


See also

* List of American Civil War generals (Union)


References

* Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher. ''Civil War High Commands''. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. .


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCook, Alexander McDowell 1831 births 1903 deaths People from Columbiana County, Ohio Union army generals United States Military Academy alumni People of Ohio in the American Civil War Burials at Spring Grove Cemetery McCook family Commandants of the United States Army Command and General Staff College Military personnel from Ohio American proslavery activists