DEC 4: Like Father, Like Son (pt. 2)

Editor’s Note: George A. Custer did not come from a military family. But other officers fighting for the Union did. This is the second installment on notable Civil War officers in military families.

John Rogers Cooke was a Confederate general during the Civil War. He was the son of Union General Philip St. George Cooke, a career Army officer.

Cooke was born at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri on June 9, 1833. He was schooled privately in Missouri, in Carlisle, Penn., Alexandria, Va., and studied enginering at Harvard College, but never received a degree. 

His sister Flora married another Army officer, who became Confederate Major General JEB Stuart.

When Virginia seceded from the Union, in 1861, Cooke followed his brother-in-law to join the Confederate States Army. To his dismay, his father remained loyal to the Union, as did several relatives.

If anything can be said about Cooke, he was resilient. He fought at the First Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam where he was wounded, The Battle of Fredericksburg (badly wounded), Battle of Bristoe Station (seriously wounded), Battle of Spotsylvania (wounded) – but remained on the field to lead an assault on horseback – and the Battle of Sutherland’s Station (unscathed.) The highest rank he attained was Brigadier General.

When the war ended, Cooke went to Richmond, became a businessman and helped found the Confederate Soldiers’ Home. The family breach with his father—who had stayed loyal to the Union—was healed some time after the end of the War. John Rogers Cooke died of pneumonia in Richmond, Va., on April 10, 1891 at the age of 57.

Union General Philip St. George Cooke. (Credit: National Archives)

Maj. General JEB Stuart of the Confederacy. (Credit: Library of Congress)