St. Clair-Sangamon County IL Archives Biographies.....Cook, John 1825 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000719 August 9, 2008, 10:44 am

Author: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary

COOK, John, soldier, was born in Belleville, Ill., June 12, 1825; son of 
Daniel Pope and Julia Catharine (Edwards) Cook; grandson of Ninian Edwards, 
governor of Illinois, 1826-33; and great-grandson of Benjamin and Margaret 
(Beall) Edwards, in whose home in Maryland William Wirt was brought up and 
educated. John Cook was left an orphan in 1827; was brought up by his maternal 
grandfather, Governor Edwards, and was educated by a clergyman who prepared 
him for Illinois college. Failing eyesight obliged him to discontinue his 
studies and he entered mercantile business at Springfield, Ill., in 1846. In 
1855 he was elected mayor of Springfield and in 1856 sheriff of Sangamon 
county. He served as quartermaster of the state and on April 24, 1861, he was 
commissioned colonel of the 1st Illinois volunteer regiment, the first 
commission issued by Governor Yates. He commanded a brigade under Gen. Charles 
F. Smith, and after the capture of Fort Donelsen, for gallantry there, he was 
made brigadier-general, March 21, 1862. Governor Yates, on behalf of the 
people of the state, presented him a handsome sword. He was ordered with his 
brigade to the army of the Potomac and in the operations of that army he 
commanded three brigades, eleven batteries of artillery, and two regiments of 
cavalry. After Popes defeat he was relieved at his own request and was ordered 
to report to General Pope, commanding the military district of the northwest, 
and on Oct. 9, 1864, he was assigned to the command of the military district 
of Illinois and was mustered out Aug. 24, 1865, a major-general of volunteers 
by brevet. He was elected to the Illinois legislature in 1868, and as chairman 
of the house committee on public grounds and buildings was influential in 
securing the appropriation for the erection of the new state capitol at 
Springfield. He subsequently made his home in Ransom, Mich.

Additional Comments:
Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans.
Vol. I-X. Rossiter Johnson, editor. Boston MA: The Biographical Society. 1904.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/stclair/bios/cook1486gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/

File size: 2.7 Kb