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Civil War Soldiers - Crook
| Crook, George, major-general, U.S.
Army, was born near Dayton, Ohio, Sept. 8, 1828, was graduated at West
Point in 1852, and served in California as 2nd lieutenant in the 4th
U. S. infantry until 1861, participating in the Rogue river expedition
in 1856, and commanding the Pitt river expedition in 1857, where he
was engaged in several actions, in one of which he was wounded by an
arrow. He had risen to a captaincy at the time of the outbreak of the
Civil war, and was ordered east to become colonel in the 36th Ohio
volunteer infantry. He commanded a brigade in western Virginia, being
wounded at the affray at Lewisburg, and then engaged in the northern
Virginia and Maryland campaigns, winning the brevet of
lieutenant-colonel U. S. A. for his services at Antietam. He was in
command, in 1863, of the 2nd cavalry division, Army of the Cumberland,
and, after the battle of Chickamauga, in which he distinguished
himself, pursued Wheeler's cavalry, driving it across the Tennessee
into Alabama with great loss. In Feb., 1864, he was transferred to the
command of the military district of West Virginia, made constant
raids, partook in various actions and won the battle of Cloyd's
mountain, May 9, 1864, and later in the year took part in Sheridan's
Shenandoah campaign. For his services he received, March 13, 1865, the
brevets of major-general and brigadier-general in the regular army. He
commanded the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac in March and April,
1865, during which time he was engaged at Dinwiddie Court House,
Jetersville, Sailor's creek and Farmville, until the surrender of Lee
at Appomattox. He was afterwards transferred to the command of
Wilmington, N. C, where he remained from Sept. 1, 1865, until mustered
out of the volunteer service, Jan. 15, 1866. After the war Gen. Crook
gained great fame as a fighter of Indians, and manager of them, being
equally skillful in both. After a short leave of absence, he was
commissioned lieutenant-colonel U. S. A., July 28, 1866, and assigned
to service in Idaho, where he actively engaged against hostile Indians
until 1872, when he was ordered to quell Indian disturbances in
Arizona. He sent an ultimatum, ordering the chiefs to return at once
to their reservations or "be wiped off the face of the earth," and,
this being disregarded, he attacked them in what was considered an
impregnable stronghold, the Tonto basin, and soon brought them to
subjection. Next, in 1875, he defeated the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians
at Powder river, Wy., following this victory with two more, one at
Tongue river and one at Rosebud. The final victory so incensed the
Sioux that they massed eleven tribes and at Little Big Horn massacred
Gen. Custer with 277 of his famous troopers, in what has since been
known as the "Custer Massacre." Crook was given reinforcements, and
proceeded so vigorously that by May, 1877, all the hostile tribes in
the northwest had yielded. Returning to Arizona in 1882, he drove off
white marauders from lands belonging to the Apaches, and pledged the
Indians the protection of the government. This action he followed in
1883 by regaining a large amount of plunder stolen by the Chiricahuas,
and making those Indians peaceable and self-supporting, and then for
two years had complete charge of Indian affairs. Gen. Crook was
promoted major-general in 1888 and assigned to the Department of the
Missouri. He died in Chicago, Ill., March 1, 1890.
Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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