Background
McCook was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, the son of a local attorney, Daniel McCook and Martha Latimer McCook.
McCook was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, the son of a local attorney, Daniel McCook and Martha Latimer McCook.
He graduated from Ohio University and subsequently studied law with Edwin M. Stanton, and afterward became his partner.
He was the Ohio Attorney General and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was one of an evantual twelve children (nine boys and three girls). In 1826 the family moved to New Lisbon, Ohio, and then to Carrollton.
He served as an officer in the 3rd Ohio Infantry Regiment throughout the Mexican War, and returned from the war as its commander.
He was the Attorney General of Ohio from 1854–1856 and edited the first volume of the "Ohio State Reports." During his term in office, McCook specialized in railroad law. His skill in this area was noticed by the Steubenville and Indiana Railroad Company, and after his term ended, the company sent him to Europe on legal business.
McCook was a delegate to the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina. At the war"s outset, McCook was one of the first four brigadier generals selected by the Governor of Ohio to command the troops from that state, but, because of impaired health from his Mexican service, McCook was prevented from accepting that post.
Later, he was appointed as the lieutenant colonel of the 2nd Ohio Infantry, and spent much of the war recruiting volunteers for several new regiments.
He was named by Governor William Dennison as the Ohio Adjutant General. Later, he accepted an appointment as the colonel of the 157th Ohio Infantry, Hundred Days Regiment. He was second-in-command of the prisoner-of-war camp at Fort Delaware.
At the end of the war, he received the brevet rank of brigadier general, dating from March 13, 1865.
After the war, McCook resumed his legal practice and political career. In 1871 he was the Democratic candidate for governor of Ohio.
However, he lost to another former Union Army officer, Colonel Edward F. Noyes, by more than twenty thousand votes.
McCook died in Steubenville and is buried in Union Cemetery.
He was a member of the famed Fighting McCooks, a prominent military family that contributed more than a dozen officers to the war effort.
