John Esten Cooke

Background

John Esten Cooke was born on November 3, 1880, in Winchester, Virginia, United States. He was the son of John Rogers Cooke and Maria, daughter of Philip Pendleton of Berkeley County and a grandniece of Judge Edmund Pendleton. After a boyhood in the Valley, chiefly at "Glengary" where he roamed the farm with his younger brothers and admired the varied talents of his elder brother, Philip Pendleton, John Esten was taken to the family’s new home in Richmond.

Education

Cooke attended school in Richmond and was prominent in literary society. Unable to realize his hope of attending the University of Virginia, he studied law in his father's office and was admitted to the bar in 1851.

Career

John Esten Cooke practiced law briefly in Richmond. At the same time, he was constantly writing. The ready acceptance of his work by the Southern Literary Messenger and a check from Harper’s (1852) led him definitely to adopt a literary career. In the next eight years, Cooke produced a great number of fugitive poems, essays, stories, and seven volumes of fiction. His first novel, "Leather-Stocking and Silk" (1854), reflects his knowledge of the Valley. "The Virginia Comedians" (1854), a story of late Colonial Virginia, is distinguished alike by dramatic quality and charm of diction and is probably the best work of its author. "Henry St. John" (1859) is a sequel.

Before Cooke was thirty, his recognition was nation-wide, but his success was clouded by the deaths, within a decade, of his mother, father, and three brothers. He was a special friend and admirer of Stuart, and served through the entire war, surrendering with Lee at Appomattox. His advocacy of winning the war rather than defending Richmond may have cost him the majority for which he was recommended by Stuart and by Lee. In the intervals of campaigning, Cooke wrote "Life of Stonewall Jackson" (1863), and after the surrender used his experiences as the basis of literature. "Surry of Eagle’s Nest" (1866) and its sequel "Mohun" (1869) combine stories of love and adventure with an essentially authentic account of the struggle in Virginia. "Wearing of the Gray" (1867) and "Hammer and Rapier" (1870) are collections of essays on military subjects. "A Life of General Robert E. Lee" (1871) is a military rather than a personal biography.

After Appomattox, Cooke had returned to his boyhood surroundings in the Valley. Soon he moved to a nearby estate, "The Briars," which became his home for the remainder of his life. Here, he divided his time between farming and writing. When his Civil War vein was exhausted, he sought in many fields the material for his romances. Most interesting today is "The Heir of Gaymount" (1870) which urges intensive farming as the salvation of the post-war South. After his wife's death, the novels strike a deeper human note but show less of the enthusiastic dash which characterized the author’s best manner. Most widely known is "My Lady Pokahontas" (1885), a pleasing story of the settlement of Virginia. "Stories of the Old Dominion" (1879) is a fascinating book for boys and Virginia (1883) is a history, chiefly of the colonial period. While his energy was still undiminished, Cooke was stricken with typhoid fever, and died, in his fifty-sixth year.

Achievements

• John Esten Cooke occupied a unique place among the southwestern writers. He was best known for his novels of colonial Virginia and of the Civil War. The Virginia Comedians (1854) and Henry S. John (1859) were considered his best historical novels. As a historian, his most enduring work was "Virginia" (1883), which became a popular text in the public schools.
  
  "The John Esten Cooke Fiction Award" was named in his honor.

Works

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  • The Life of Stonewall Jackson

    (The Life of Stonewall Jackson relates key events in the l...)

    1963
  • Wearing of the Gray

    (Wearing of the Gray, published in 1867, contains Cooke's ...)

    1867
  • Hilt to Hilt: Or, Days and Nights on the Banks of the Shenandoah in the Autumn of 1864; From the mss. of Colonel Surry of Eagle's Nest

    (John Esten Cooke's novel of the Civil War is set in the S...)

    1869
  • Mohun, Or, the Last Days of Lee and His Paladins

    (A novel from the mid-19th-century American novelist illus...)

    1866
  • A Life of General Robert Edward Lee: Civil War Classic Library

    (The name of Lee is beloved and respected throughout the w...)

    1871
  • The Virginia Comedians: Or, Old Days in the Old Dominion 1854
  • Hammer and Rapier 1870
  • The Last of the Foresters or, Humors on the Border; a Story of the old Virginia Frontier 1856
  • The Youth of Jefferson: Or, a Chronicle of College Scrapes at Williamsburg, in Virginia, A.D. 1764
  • Leather Stocking and Silk; or, Hunter John Myers and his Times 1854
  • Virginia; a History of the People 1883
  • Fairfax; Or, the Master of Greenway Court; A Chronicle of the Valley of the Shenandoah 1868
  • My Lady Pokahontas: A True Relation of Virginia 1885
  • Stories of the Old Dominion: From the Settlement to the End of the Revolution (Classic Reprint) 1879
  • Out of the Foam. a Novel 1871
  • Colonel Ross of Piedmont; A Novel 1892
  • Beatrice Hallam: A Novel 1892
  • Doctor Vandyke
  • Pretty Mrs. Gaston, And Other Stories 1874
  • The Virginia Bohemians: A Novel 1880
  • Bonnybel Vane: Embracing the History of Henry St. John, Gentleman
  • Captain Ralph
  • Professor Pressensee, Materialist and Inventor: A Story
  • Henry St. John, Gentleman: Of "Flower of Hundreds," in the County of Prince George, Virginia. a Tale of 1774-'75 1859
  • The War Diary of John Esten Cooke: Journal of Southern History 1864

Politics

Cooke was an ardent secessionist. He used his pen to assist in creating a climate for secession.

Personality

Cooke was at heart a chivalric Cavalier, who idealized the past and was unreservedly devoted to Virginia.

Quotes from others about the person

• "John Esten Cooke used and embellished his in-law's fame in a series of stories and novels that made Cooke famous. He never knew that Stuart thought him an enormous bore." - Emory M. Thomas

Connections

On September 18, 1867, Cooke married Mary Frances Page. Their children were Susan Randolph and Edmund Pendleton Cooke.

Father:

John Rogers Cooke

Mother:

Maria Pendleton Cooke

Brother:

Philip Cooke

Wife:

Mary Francis Page Cooke

Sister:

Mary Pendleton Cooke Steger

Daughter:

Susan Randolph Cooke Lee

Son:

Edmund Pendleton Cooke

colleague:

James Stuart

References

• Bold Dragoon: The Life of J. E. B. Stuart
  1999
• The Life Of Stonewall Jackson
• Southern Writers: A New Biographical Dictionary
  2006
• They Followed the Plume
  1993
• Cavalryman of the Lost Cause: A Biography of J. E. B. Stuart
  2008
• Plenty of Blame to go Around: Jeb Stuart's Controversial Ride to Gettysburg
  2006