Background
COOKE, William Mordecai was born on December 11, 1823 in Portsmouth, Virginia, United States, United States. Son of Mordecai and Margaret (Kearns) Cooke.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
William Mordecai COOKE
Edit ProfileEducation
Private school, southern university.
Career
After attending the University of Virginia, he moved to St. Louis in 1843 and studied law. He was a Roman Catholic. He had seven children by his marriage in 1846 to Eliza Von Puhl.
In 1849, he moved to Hannibal, where he was judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He returned to St. Louis in 1854. In a state where party lines had been blurred since 1845, as a result of Thomas Hart Benton’s change of attitude toward slavery, Cooke joined the anti-Benton forces which were trying to break the political hold of Francis P. Blair, Jr.
A secessionist, he sided with the South during the Civil War. In March 1861, he was sent by Governor Claiborne Jackson as a commissioner to President Davis. He served in the provisional Confederate Congress and was elected to the first Confederate House, where he became one of Davis’s trusted friends and advisors.
He was a member of the Accounts, Commerce, Naval Affairs, Inauguration, and Ordnance and Ordnance Stores Committees of the Congress. He did not stand for reelection. As an aide on the staff of Claiborne Jackson, he also saw military service in the battles of Booneville, Carthage, and Oak Hill.
Religion
"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.
Politics
Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.
-
Born
-
Died
April 14, 1863 (aged 39) -
Nationality
United States -
Religion
Roman Catholic