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J.E. Cooke

J.E. Cooke

Confederate (CSV)

Captain

John Esten Cooke

(1830 - 1886)

Home State: Virginia

Command Billet: Staff Officer

Branch of Service: Artillery

Unit: Stuart's Cavalry Division

Before Sharpsburg

A poet and writer, he had been a member of the 1st Company, Richmond Howitzers since 1859 and served with the battery in action at First Manassas in July 1861, but was discharged at the rank of Sergeant in January 1862. He joined the staff of General JEB Stuart first as a volunteer aide, then continuing after being commissioned First Lieutenant of Artillery on 19 May 1862. He was promoted to Captain in August to date from 25 July 1862.

The rest of the War

He was appointed (Asst?) Chief of Ordnance of the Cavalry Division at some time in 1862, and served on Stuart's staff until the General's death at Yellow Tavern, Virginia in May 1864. He was then assigned as Assistant Adjutant General of the Artillery Corps of the ANV to the end of the War.

After the War

He resumed a productive writing career, and was known as a strong spokesman for Virginia (ex)Confederates and the Lost Cause.

References & notes

Nephew of Federal Cavalry General Philip StGeorge Cooke, so cousin to both the General's daughter Flora (wife of JEB Stuart) and son John Rogers Cooke (commanding the 27th North Carolina Infantry at Sharpsburg). Bio details from Richmond Volunteers1 and Encyclopedia Virginia2. His photograph is from the University of Virginia, Special Collections Library.

Birth

11/03/1830; near Winchester, VA

Death

09/27/1886; Clarke County, VA; burial in Old Chapel Cemetery, Clarke County, VA

Notes

1   Manarin, Louis H., and Lee A. Wallace, Jr., Richmond Volunteers 1861-1865, Richmond: Westover Press, 1969, pp. 8-9  [AotW citation 1136]

2   Wolfe, Brendan, Ed., The Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Encyclopedia Virginia, Published 2009, first accessed 07 March 2012, <http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org>, Source page: /Cooke_John_Esten_1830-1886  [AotW citation 1135]