William E. Cooke

He was a schoolteacher, then passed the bar and practiced law, and was elected to the state legislature from Avoyelles Parish in 1857. He was a 30 year old lawyer in Baton Rouge, LA when he enlisted as Private, Company A, 8th Louisiana Infantry on 19 June 1861. He was promoted to Corporal on 30 April 1862 and elected Junior 2nd Lieutenant on 7 May.

He was mortally wounded in action on 17 September 1862 at Sharpsburg and left to "fall into the hands of the enemy."

He died from wounds soon afterward, date not given. He was originally buried "west of George Line's house in his new ground along side of an old white oak tree near his pond" near the battlefield at Sharpsburg.

He was probably reinterred at Hagerstown in about 1874.

Service information from Booth.1 Burial information from Pruett,2 as W.E. Cork. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860. His memorial is on Findagrave, source also of details from his obituary in the Richmond Daily Dispatch of 26 November 1862, written by "A.L.G" (Captain Antoine L Gusman, Company A).

c. 1831; Philadelphia, PA

1862; Sharpsburg, MD; burial in Washington Confederate Cemetery, Hagerstown, MD