Edward M. McCook was an American soldier, minister to Hawaii, and governor of Colorado Territory.
Background
Edward Moody McCook was born on June 15, 1833 at Steubenville, Ohio. He was of a family which gave many famous soldiers to the Civil War. A brother of Anson George, Henry Christopher, and John James, and a first cousin of Alexander McDowell McCook, he was the eldest son of Dr. John McCook, a physician, and Catharine Julia (Sheldon).
Education
Educated in public schools at Steubenville, he went to Minnesota when he was sixteen, and in the gold rush of the year 1849 went on to Colorado, where he practised law.
Career
In 1859, McCook represented his district in the legislature of Kansas Territory, and when Kansas became a state he was a leader in the organization of the Territory of Colorado. Upon the fall of Sumter, he joined the Kansas Legion in Washington, and in recognition of his success in carrying dispatches to General Scott through unfriendly Maryland lines, was appointed a lieutenant of cavalry. During the southern campaigns of 1862-63 he made a brilliant record, being brevetted first lieutenant for gallant services at Shiloh, captain for services at Perryville, Kentucky, major for his conduct at Chickamauga, and lieutenant-colonel for cavalry operations in East Tennessee. He was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, April 27, 1864, and commanded the cavalry of the Army of the Cumberland. His most brilliant exploit of the war was performed during the Atlanta campaign when he prevented the reinforcement of General Hood, then shut up in Atlanta. Sweeping with his cavalry in the rear of the city, he destroyed the Confederate transportation trains, cut railroads leading south, captured many prisoners, and finally made his way back to rejoin the main Union army at Marietta, Ga. At the close of the war he received the brevets of brigadier-general, United States Army, and major-general of volunteers in recognition of his record.
After the close of hostilities he acted as military governor of Florida, until June 1865. On May 9, 1866, he resigned his military commission, and until 1869 was United States minister to Hawaii. During his term in this office he negotiated a treaty of commercial reciprocity. In 1869, President Grant appointed him governor of the Territory of Colorado. As governor, he organized a school system, encouraged the building of railroads, secured the opening up of vast mineral and agricultural lands by the transfer of the troublesome Ute Indians to Utah, and was instrumental in the building of water-works for the city of Denver. He was unpopular in Colorado, where he was regarded as an office-seeker trading upon his military reputation; enemies charged him with participation in Indian frauds. At the request of the people of the territory Grant did not reappoint him in 1873, but in January 1874, after McCook had declined the office of postmaster general, the President renominated him for the governorship, and six months later the appointment was ratified by one vote. Early the next year he resigned. After his retirement from public life, McCook had financial interests in many great enterprises in Colorado and the West, and at one time he was the largest real-estate owner and tax-payer in the Territory. Later, his investments extended to European telephone syndicates and to rich mines in Mexico. He died of Bright's disease in Chicago and was buried at Steubenville, Ohio.
Achievements
Views
He was an early advocate of woman's suffrage.
Connections
McCook was married twice: first, in 1865 to Mary Thompson of Peoria, Illinois, granddaughter of Charles Thompson, secretary of the Continental Congress, and after her death, which occurred in 1874, to Mary McKenna of Colorado.