Edwin Stanton McCook
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Edwin Stanton McCook (March 26, 1837 – September 11, 1873) was a Union Army general during the American Civil War and a postbellum politician in the Dakota Territory. He was assassinated in office while serving as acting governor.
One of a famous family of Civil War officers, the "Fighting McCooks," he was born in Carrollton, Ohio, a son of Daniel McCook. He was educated at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, and was a member of the Naval Lodge #69 of the Freemasons in New York City.
When the Civil War erupted, McCook recruited a company and joined the 31st Illinois Infantry, serving under his friend, Col. John A. Logan. He saw action in the battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, where he was severely wounded. He was promoted to brigadier general and assigned to command Logan's brigade when the latter assumed division command. By the Vicksburg Campaign, McCook had again been promoted to replace Logan as division commander, leading it during the Siege of Vicksburg under Ulysses S. Grant. In 1864, he served with distinction in the Chattanooga and Atlanta campaigns and in the March to the Sea under William T. Sherman. He was promoted to the rank of full brigadier and brevet major-general for his services in these campaigns. He was severely wounded three separate times, but survived the war.
After the war, he moved out west and was named as Secretary of the Dakota Territory in 1872. The following year, McCook was shot and killed by Peter P. Wintermute, a banker and political adversary, at a public meeting being held in a saloon in Yankton, Dakota Territory. Wintermute was upset with McCook's stance in the Dakota Southern Railroad dispute.
McCook was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio, along with several other members of the famed family.
McCook County, South Dakota, is named for him.
[edit] References
- Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1964, ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.
- Whalen, Charles and Barbara, The Fighting McCooks: America's Famous Fighting Family, Westmoreland Press, 2006.
- Ohio Historical Society
