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VITAL STATISTICS
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BORN: 1831 in Columbiana County, OH.
DIED: 1903 in Dayton, OH.
CAMPAIGNS: Defense of Washington, First Bull Run, Shiloh,
Perryville, Stone's River, and Chickamauga.
HIGHEST RANK ACHIEVED: Major General
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BIOGRAPHY
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| Alexander McDowell McCook was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, on April 22, 1831. He graduated from West Point in 1852, and served in the West until 1858. He taught at West Point until the Civil War began. Enlisting in the army, he became one of the "Fighting McCooks," fourteen members of the same Ohio family (seven brothers, seven cousins) who served in the US armed forces. Alexander McCook was assigned to the defense of Washington, then served in the First Battle of Bull Run. Promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on September 3, 1861, he led a brigade of the Army of the Ohio at the Battle of Shiloh. McCook was promoted to major general on July 17, 1862, and led troops at Perryville in October and Stone's River in the winter of 1862-63. While McCook was one of the individuals blamed for the Union difficulties at Chickamauga in September of 1863, he was exonerated by a court of inquiry. Nevertheless, he was never given another field command, but was assigned to the District of Eastern Arkansas. After the Civil War, McCook stayed in the Regular Army, with most of his service in the West. He led cavalry and infantry schools at Fort Leavenworth in the 1880s and was commissioned a brigadier general in the Regular Army in 1890. After receiving a further promotion to major general in 1894, he returned in 1895. McCook died on June 12, 1903, in Dayton, Ohio. |
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