Background
George Crook, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Mathers) Crook, was born on September 23, 1829 near Dayton, Ohio. His ancestry was Scotch and German.
(General George Crook, the experienced and successful Indi...)
General George Crook, the experienced and successful Indian fighter, called the Apaches "the representative Indians of America, so far as ferocity, courage, cunning, and skill in savage warfare are concerned." Writing for a military journal in 1886, General Crook outlines the history of North American Indians' interactions with whites; describes how the Indians' acquisition of breech-loading firearms changed their tactics from offensive only to offensive-defensive, with deadly results; details the importance of Indian scouts and describes his selection criteria; emphasizes the importance of the pack-train and its maintenance; gives an example of a pursuit of Apaches into New Mexico and the difficulties of tracking them; and finally, enumerates the four tenets of dealing with the Apache in order to subdue him.
https://www.amazon.com/Apache-Problem-General-George-Crook-ebook/dp/B003E7FDSA?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B003E7FDSA
George Crook, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Mathers) Crook, was born on September 23, 1829 near Dayton, Ohio. His ancestry was Scotch and German.
From the public schools he entered West Point on July 1, 1848, and on graduation four years later was commissioned lieutenant of infantry.
Until the Civil War he served in the Northwest where he was engaged in explorations and in protecting the settlers from periodic Indian raids.
In September 1861 he was commissioned colonel of the 36th Ohio Infantry and with his regiment served in West Virginia, where in May 1862 he received the brevet of major in the regular army for his defeat of a Confederate force under General Heth at Lewisburg. The following August he was made brigadier-general of volunteers and commanded a brigade in the Kanawha Division which was attached to the 9th Corps in the Antietam campaign.
He was engaged in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam and for his conduct in the latter received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel.
In 1863 he commanded a cavalry division in the Army of the Cumberland and took part in the Chickamauga campaign. Shortly thereafter he undertook the pursuit of General Wheeler’s cavalry corps which he engaged successfully at Farmington, Tennessee, on October 7. For this he received the brevet of colonel.
In February 1864 he was again in West Virginia, where in the spring of that year, under the orders of General Grant, he undertook to interrupt railway communication between Lynchburg and East Tennessee.
In this operation he defeated the Confederates at Cloyd Farm on Walker Mountain, captured the station of Dublin, and destroyed the New River bridge and the railway in its vicinity.
For this operation he later received the brevet of brigadier-general.
In August of the same year he was placed in command of West Virginia and in personal command of one of the corps of Sheridan’s Army of the Shenandoah.
He was engaged in the three important battles of that army—Winchester, Fisher’s Hill, and Cedar Creek—and in addition to receiving his promotion to the grade of major-general of volunteers he later received the brevet of majorgeneral in the regular army for his conduct in the battle of Fisher’s Hill.
He now returned to the command of his department. When in March 1865 Sheridan joined Grant in front of Petersburg, he requested that Crook be assigned to the command of one of his cavalry divisions, and in consequence the latter took part in the final battles of the war, being engaged at Dinwiddie Court House, Sailor’s Creek, Farmville, and Appomattox.
In the reorganization of the regular army after the war Crook became lieutenant-colonel of the 23rd Infantry and was assigned to the command of the district of Boise, Idaho, where for three years he was engaged in bringing to an end the Indian war which had been raging for several years in southern Oregon, Idaho, and northern California. For this he received the thanks of the legislature of Oregon and the commendation of his superiors.
In 1871 he was sent by President Grant to end the war with the Apaches and other hostile tribes in northern Arizona, and this he did with such success that he received the thanks of the legislature of the territory, and in 1873 was promoted from lieutenant-colonel to brigadier-general in the regular army, an unusual advancement at that time.
In 1875 he was placed in command of the Department of the Platte, where trouble was expected with the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes of Indians on account of the discovery of gold in the Black Hills of Dakota.
Here he took a prominent part in the great Sioux War of 1876, remaining in the field the entire year, and with his troops enduring incredible hardships.
In 1882 he was sent back to Arizona where the Apaches were again on the warpath. He had no difficulty in pacifying the tribes with whom he had dealt before.
His problem now was the Chiricahua tribe of Apaches whom he had never encountered and who had taken refuge in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico, from which, under their chief Geronimo, they raided settlements both north and south of the boundary.
In 1883 Crook led an expedition into these mountains where no American or Mexican force had ever penetrated, and induced the tribe, some five hundred persons, to return to their reservation.
In 1885 Geronimo with a quarter of the tribe again fled to the mountains and was there pursued until he had only twenty-four followers left.
These later surrendered to Gen. Nelson A. Miles.
In the spring of 1886 Crook returned to the command of the Department of the Platte where he remained until April 1888 when he was promoted to the grade of major-general and assigned to the command of the Division of the Missouri with headquarters at Chicago. Here he died on March 21, 1890.
(General George Crook, the experienced and successful Indi...)
He thoroughly understood the Indian character. Realizing their hopeless struggle to hold their lands against encroachment, he was more prone to pardon than to punish. In his recommendations on the subject of the Indians he was far in advance of his times. He advocated the division of reservations into individual plots, so that the Indians might become self-supporting. He also believed that they should be granted equal rights with the whites in courts of law and all the privileges of citizenship.
As a soldier Crook was fearless both morally and physically, shunning neither responsibility nor personal danger. By nature he was modest and retiring, chary of speech but a good listener. Of a kindly and sympathetic disposition and easy of approach, he made friends in all classes of society. Although he spent most of his life on the frontier he was never profane, indulged in no intoxicating liquors, and was clean of speech.
Quotes from others about the person
Red Cloud, a war chief of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux), said of Crook, "He, at least, never lied to us. His words gave us hope. "
His wife was Mary Dailey of Oakland, Maryland.