Alexander McDowell McCook was a US Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War.
Background
Alexander McDowell McCook came of a Scotch-Irish family known as "the fighting McCooks" from the fact that his father with eight sons and the five sons of his uncle saw distinguished service in the Union forces during the Civil War. His paternal grandfather, George McCook, emigrated from Ireland about 1780 and settled in Canonsburg, Pa. , whence he subsequently moved to Carroll County, Ohio. Daniel and John, in the second generation, also settled in Ohio and here, in Columbiana County, Alexander was born to Daniel and Martha (Latimer) McCook. He was the fifth of nine sons, of whom one died in infancy.
Education
Alexander McDowell McCook graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1852, thirtieth in a class of forty-seven members, and was commissioned lieutenant in the 3rd Infantry.
Career
After serviceat frontier posts and field duty against hostile Utes and Apaches, in 1858-61 he was assistant instructor in infantry tactics at West Point. The day that President Lincoln called for volunteers, he was commissioned colonel, 16t Ohio Volunteers, and in the action at Vienna, Va. , on June 17, and at Bull Run, July 21, 1861, was commended for coolness and good conduct. He commanded a brigade in Kentucky until January 1862, and a division in the Army of the Ohio until the end of June of that year, and distinguished himself at Corinth, Nashville, and Shiloh, receiving the brevets of lieutenant-colonel and of colonel. Promotion to the grade of major-general of volunteers followed, July 17, 1862, and during the operations of the Army of the Ohio in northern Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky, McCook commanded the I Army Corps at Nashville and in the battle of Perryville, Kentucky.
For distinguished service in the latter engagement, he was brevetted brigadier-general, United States Army. After the organization of the Army of the Cumberland, he commanded the XIV and later the XX Corps with distinction, serving in the battle of Stone River, the advance on Tullahoma, and the battle of Chickamauga. He received blame for the disaster to the Union forces at Chickamauga and was relieved from command, October 6, 1863, but a court of inquiry, convened at his request, exonerated him from responsibility. He was on duty with the defenses of Washington until October 1864, commanded the District of Eastern Arkansas until May 1865, and served with a joint committee of Congress, investigating Indian affairs, until October of the same year. For gallant and meritorious services in the field throughout the war he received the brevet of major-general, United States Army, March 13, 1865. In post-war army reorganization, McCook was appointed lieutenant-colonel, 26th Infantry, at the age of thirty-seven years, and again saw arduous frontier service. In 1874-75 he was acting inspector-general and from 1875 to 1881, aide-de-camp to Gen. William T. Sherman. He was promoted colonel, 6th Infantry, December 15, 1880, and after protracted duty in the West and a period in command of the Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. , was promoted brigadier-general (1890) and major-general (1894). He was retired from active service for age, April 22, 1895. In May 1896 he represented the United States at the coronation of Nicholas II as Czar of Russia, and in September 1898 was a member of the commission appointed to investigate the conduct of the War with Spain. He died at Dayton, Ohio.
Achievements
McCook known as a major general in 1894. In 1898–99, he served on a commission to investigate the United States Department of War as administered during the Spanish–American War. The town of McCook, Nebraska, was named in his honor.
Connections
McCook was twice married: on January 23, 1863, to Kate Phillips of Dayton, Ohio, who died in 1881, and on October 8, 1885, to Annie Colt of Milwaukee, who survived him, as did three daughters by his first marriage.
