Edward Moody McCook

Edward Moody McCook was born June 15, 1833, in Steubenville, Ohio. Edward was one of the “fighting McCooks” of Ohio; four were brothers, eight were cousins, including Alexander M. McCook. At sixteen, he went to Minnesota and later to Colorado, which was then a part of Kansas Territory, where he was one of the first settlers of the Pike’s Peak Region. He was admitted to the bar and, in 1859, served in the legislature of Kansas Territory representing a Colorado district. At the onset of the Civil War, he went to Washington, D. C. and, on May 8, 1861, was commissioned a lieutenant of cavalry in the Regular Army. He later served as major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel of the 2nd Indiana Cavalry. He won brevets at Shiloh (although he was not actively involved), Perryville, Chickamauga, and another in calvary operations in Eastern Tennessee. In the Georgia campaign, he launched a raid against Atlanta’s railroad line with success at Lovejoy’s Station. McCook prevented the reinforcement of General John B. Hood’s army in Atlanta, but suffered the loss of 950 men captured while making his way back to the Union Lines. In what would prove to be his final Civil War feat, he took part in J. H. Wilson’s raid through Alabama and Georgia. He was present at the capture of Selma and was brevetted for a fifth time, and, in the spring of 1864, he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers. In March 1865, he was brevetted brigadier general in the Regular Army and major general in the volunteers. From April to June 1865, he was military governor of Florida. He was mustered out of the volunteers on January 15, 1866, and resigned from the army on May 9, 1866. From his resignation until 1869, he was United States minister to Hawaii, and then served as governor of the Colorado Territory from 1869 to 1873. He promoted development in the Colorado Territory and was an unpopular figure there, but would again hold the post as governor in 1874 and 1875. McCook then devoted himself to his extensive financial interests which included real estate holdings, mining interest, and investments in European telephone companies. At one time Edward Moody McCook was the largest taxpayer in Colorado. He died September 9, 1909, in Chicago, Illinois and was buried in Union Cemetery in Steubenville, Ohio.

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