Portrait of George Crook

George Crook (1828–1890) was a Union Army officer. Download high resolution version (675x1024, 92 KB)Gen. ... Download high resolution version (675x1024, 92 KB)Gen. ... The Union Army refers to the United States Army during the American Civil War. ...

Early Life

A native of Ohio, Crook graduated from West Point in 1852, ranking near the bottom of his class. His first assignment was with the 4th Infantry, serving in Oregon and northern California. State nickname: The Buckeye State Other U.S. States Capital Columbus Largest city Columbus Governor Bob Taft Official languages None Area 116,096 km² (34th)  - Land 106,154 km²  - Water 10,044 km² (8. ... Alternate meanings: West Point (disambiguation). ... State nickname: Beaver State Other U.S. States Capital Salem Largest city Portland Governor Ted Kulongoski Official languages None Area 255,026 km² (9th)  - Land 248,849 km²  - Water 6,177 km² (2. ... State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd)  - Land 404,298 km²  - Water 20,047 km² (4. ...

Civil War

Early Service

When the U.S. Civil War broke out, Crook accepted a commission as Colonel of Ohio's 36th regiment and led it on duty in western Virginia. Crook was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in August 1862 and commanded a brigade of Ohio regiments in the Maryland campaign, including the battle of South Mountain and Antietam. The American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 until 1865 between the northern states, popularly referred to as the U.S., the Union, the North, or the Yankees; and the seceding southern states, commonly referred to as the Confederate States of America, the CSA, the Confederacy... State nickname: Old Dominion Other U.S. States Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Governor Mark R. Warner Official languages English Area 110,862 km² (35th)  - Land 102,642 km²  - Water 8,220 km² (7. ... Battle of South Mountain Conflict American Civil War Date September 14, 1862 Place Frederick County and Washington County Result Union victory The Battle of South Mountain was a battle of the American Civil War, considered by some to be prelude to the Battle of Antietam. ... The Battle of Antietam (known as the Battle of Sharpsburg in the South), fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. ...

General Crook commanded a cavalry division in the Army of the Cumberland at the battle of Chickamauga, and then returned to the eastern front as chief of the newly-formed Kanawah Division. The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 18–20, 1863, marked the end of a Union offensive in south-central Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign. ...

Southwest Virginia

Main article: Battle of Cloyd's Mountain
Battle of Cloyds Mountain Conflict American Civil War Date May 9, 1864 Place Pulaski County, Virginia Result U.S. victory The Battle of Cloyds Mountain was a Union victory in western Virginia in 1864 that allowed the Union forces to destroy the last railroad running from Tennessee to...

To open the spring campaign of 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant ordered a Union advance on all fronts, minor as well as major. Grant sent for Brigadier General Crook, in winter quarters at Charleston, West Virginia, and ordered him to attack the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, Richmond's primary link to Knoxville and the southwest, and to destroy the Confederate salt works at Saltville, Virginia. Ulysses S. Grant (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was a Union general in the American Civil War and the 18th (1869–1877) President of the United States. ... Charleston is the capital of West Virginia, a state of the United States of America. ... Richmond is the capital of the state of Virginia (officially the Commonwealth of Virginia) of the United States of America. ... Alternate uses: Knoxville (disambiguation) Knoxville is a city located in Knox County, Tennessee, United States. ... Saltville is a town located in Virginia. ...

The 35 year old Crook, the most magnificently whiskered Civil War general on either side, reported to army headquarters at City Point, Virginia, where the commanding general explained the mission in person. Grant instructed Crook to march his force, the Kanawha Division, against the railroad at Dublin, Virginia, 140 miles south of Charleston. At Dublin he would put the railroad out of business and destroy rebel military property. He was then to destroy the railroad bridge over New River, a few miles to the east. When these actions were accomplished, along with the destruction of the salt works, Crook was to march east and join forces with Major General Franz Sigel, who meanwhile was to be driving south up the Shenandoah Valley. Waterfront at City Point, Virginia (now Hopewell) in 1865 City Point was a town in Prince George County, Virginia in the state of Virginia. ... Dublin is a town located in Pulaski County, Virginia. ... Franz Sigel Franz Sigel ( November 18, 1824 – August 21, 1902) was a German military officer and immigrant to the United States who was a teacher, newspaperman, politician, and served as a Union general in the American Civil War. ... Canoeing on the Shenandoah River near Winchester, Virginia. ...

Crook returned to Charleston and set his force in motion. After long dreary months of garrison duty, the men were ready for action. Crook did not reveal the nature or objective of their mission, but everyone sensed that something important was brewing. "All things point to early action," the commander of the second brigade, Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, noted in his diary. Rutherford Birchard Hayes (October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was the 19th (1877 – 1881) President of the United States. ...

On April 29, 1864, the Kanawha Division marched out of Charleston and headed south. Crook sent a force under Brigadier General William W. Averell westward towards Saltville, then pushed on towards Dublin with nine infantry regiments, seven cavalry regiments, and 15 artillery pieces, a force of about 6,500 men organized into three brigades. The West Virginia countryside was beautiful that spring, but the mountainous terrain made the march a difficult undertaking. The way was narrow and steep, and spring rains slowed the march as tramping feet churned the roads into mud. In places, Crook's engineers had to build bridges across wash-outs before the army could advance. April 29 is the 119th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (120th in leap years). ... 1864 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... William Woods Averell, (November 5, 1892 - February 3, 1900) United States army officer. ...

The column reached Fayette on May 2, and then passed through Raleigh Court House and Princeton. On the night of May 8, the division camped at Shannon's Bridge, Virginia, 10 miles north of Dublin.

The Confederates at Dublin soon learned the enemy was approaching. Their commander, Colonel John McCausland, prepared to evacuate his 1100 men, but before transportation could arrive, a courier from Brigadier General Albert G. Jenkins informed McCausland that the two of them were ordered by General John C. Breckenridge to stop Crook's advance. The combined forces of Jenkins and McCausland amounted to 2,400 men. Jenkins, the senior officer, took command.

Breaking camp on the morning of May 9, Crook moved his men south to the top of a spur of Cloyd's Mountain. Before the Union troops lay a precipitous, densely wooded slope with a meadow about 400 yards wide at the bottom. On the other side of the meadow, the land rose in another spur of the mountain, and there Jenkins' rebels waited behind hastily erected fortifications.

Crook dispatched the third brigade under Colonel Carr B. White to work its way through the woods and deliver a flank attack on the rebel right. At 11 am, he sent Hayes' first brigade and Colonel Horatio G. Sickel's second brigade down the slope to the edge of the meadow, where they were to launch a frontal assault on the Confederates as soon as they heard the sound of White's guns.

The slope before them was so steep that the officers had to dismount and descend on foot. Crook stationed himself with Hayes' brigade, which was to lead the assault. After a long, anxious wait, Hayes at last heard cannon fire off to his left and led his men at a slow double time out onto the meadow and into the rebels' musketry and artillery fire, which Crook called "galling". Their pace quickened as they neared the other side, but just before the up-slope they came to a waist-deep creek. The barrier caused little delay and the Yankee infantry stormed up the hill and engaged the rebel defenders at close range.

The only man to have trouble with the creek was General Crook. Dismounted, he still wore his high riding boots, and as he stepped into the stream, the boots filled with water and bogged him down. Nearby soldiers grabbed their commander's arms and hauled him to the other side.

Vicious hand-to-hand fighting erupted as the Yankees reached the crude rebel defenses. The Southerners gave way, tried to re-form, then broke and retreated up and over the hill towards Dublin.

The Yankees rounded up rebel prisoners by the hundreds and seized General Jenkins, who had fallen wounded. At this point the discipline of the Union men wavered, and there was no organized pursuit of the fleeing enemy. General Crook was unable to provide leadership as the excitement and exertion had sent him into a faint.

Colonel Hayes kept his head and organized a force of about 500 men from the soldiers milling about the site of their victory. With his improvised command, he set off, closely pressing the rebels.

While the fight at Cloyd's Mountain was going on, a train pulled into the Dublin station and disgorged 500 fresh troops of General John Hunt Morgan's cavalry, which had just defeated Averell at Saltville. The fresh troops hastened towards the battlefield, where they soon met their compatriots retreating from Cloyd's Mountain. The reinforcements halted the rout, but Colonel Hayes, although ignorant of the strength of the force now before him, immediately ordered his men to "yell like devils" and rush the enemy. Within a few minutes General Crook arrived with the rest of the division, and the defenders broke and ran. Battle of Cloyds Mountain Conflict American Civil War Date May 9, 1864 Place Pulaski County, Virginia Result U.S. victory The Battle of Cloyds Mountain was a Union victory in western Virginia in 1864 that allowed the Union forces to destroy the last railroad running from Tennessee to... John Hunt Morgan (June 1, 1825 – September 4, 1864) was a dashing young Confederate general and cavalry officer in the Civil War. ...

The Battle of Cloyd's Mountain cost the Union army 688 casualties, while the rebels suffered 538 killed, wounded, and captured. Battle of Cloyds Mountain Conflict American Civil War Date May 9, 1864 Place Pulaski County, Virginia Result U.S. victory The Battle of Cloyds Mountain was a Union victory in western Virginia in 1864 that allowed the Union forces to destroy the last railroad running from Tennessee to...

Unopposed, Crook moved his command into Dublin, where he laid waste to the railroad and the military stores. He then sent a party eastward to tear up the tracks and burn the ties. The next morning the main body set out for their next objective, the New River bridge, a key point on the railroad, a few miles to the east.

The Confederates, now commanded by Colonel McCausland, waited on the east side of the New River to defend the bridge. Crook pulled up on the west bank, and a long, ineffective artillery duel ensued. Seeing that there was little danger from the rebel cannon, Crook ordered the bridge destroyed, and both sides watched in awe as the structure collapsed magnificently into the river. McCausland, without the resources to oppose the Yankees any further, withdrew his battered command to the east.

General Crook, supplies running low in a country not suited for major foraging, now entertained second thoughts about his orders to push on east and join Sigel in the Shenandoah Valley. At Dublin he had intercepted an unconfirmed report that General Robert E. Lee had beaten Grant badly in the Wilderness, which led him to consider whether the Confederate commander might not soon move against Crook with a vastly superior force. Robert Edward Lee, as a U.S. Army Colonel before the war Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a career army officer and the most successful general of the Confederate forces during the American Civil War. ...

Having accomplished the major part of his mission, destruction of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, Crook turned his men north and after another hard march, reached the Union base at Mountain Bluff, West Virginia.

Shenandoah Valley

The following August, Crook took command of the Department and Army of Western Virginia, the forces of which became the VIII corps in Major General Philip Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah. Crook led his corps in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 at the battles of Opequon (Third Winchester), Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek. In October he was promoted to major general of volunteers. Philip Sheridan Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888), a military man and one of the great generals in the American Civil War. ... The Army of the Shenandoah, first promulgated in 1861 and then disbanded, is best known for its creation in 1864 under (later one of the first Generals of the Army) Philip Sheridan. ... Eastern Theater operations in 1864 The Valley Campaigns of 1864 were American Civil War operations and battles that took place in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia from May to October, 1864. ... Battle of Opequon Conflict American Civil War Date September 19, 1864 Place Winchester, Virginia Result Union victory The Battle of Opequon, also known as the Third Battle of Winchester, was a decisive victory for the Union army during the Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War. ... Battle of Fishers Hill Conflict American Civil War Date September 21- 22, 1864 Place Shenandoah County, Virginia Result Union victory In the Battle of Fishers Hill, Phil Sheridan had almost 30,000 men while Jubal Anderson Early had just under 10,000. ... Battle of Cedar Creek Conflict American Civil War Date October 19, 1864 Place Frederick County, Shenandoah County and Warren County Result Union victory The Battle of Cedar Creek, or The Battle of Belle Grove, October 19, 1864, was one of the last battles in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign (August-December...

In February, 1865, General Crook was captured by Confederate raiders at Cumberland, Maryland, and held prisoner in Richmond until exchanged a month later, when he took command of a cavalry division in the Army of the Potomac during the Appomattox campaign. Cumberland is a city located in Allegany County, Maryland. ... Generals Burnside, Hancock, Couch, Ferro, Patrick, Wilcox, Cochrane, Buford and others. ... Appomattox is a town located in Appomattox County, Virginia. ...

Indian Wars

At the end of the Civil War, George Crook received a brevet as Major General in the regular army, but reverted to the permanent rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, serving with the 23rd Infantry on frontier duty. He campaigned against the Paiute Indians where he won the recognition of Ulysses S. Grant. Grant placed Crook in command of the Arizona. Crook's use of Apache scouts brought him much success in forcing the Apache Indians, under chief Cochise onto resrvations. In 1872 the Arizona Territory was at peace and Crook was appointed brigadier general in the regular army, a promotion that passed over and angered several full colonels next in line for promotion to general. He next served against the Sioux. He fought the Lakota at the Battle of the Rosebud and by 1882 was back in command in Arizona. The Apaches had once again taken up arms against the U.S. army under the leadership of Geronimo. Crook repeatedly forced the surrender of the Apaches but saw Geronimo escape. Nelson A. Miles replaced Crook in command of the Arizona Territory and brought an end to the Apache Wars when he sent Geronimo, the Apache nation and the Apache scouts serving in the U.S. army into exile in Florida. After years of campaigning in the Indian Wars, Crook won steady promotion back up the ranks to the permanent grade of Major General, and President Grover Cleveland placed him in command of the Department of the West in 1888. He spent his last years speaking out against the unjust treatment of his former Indian adversaries. He died in service as commander of the Division of the Missouri. The Indian chief, Red Cloud said of Crook when he died, "he never lied to us. His words gave us hope". In the military, brevet refers to a warrant authorizing a commissioned officer to hold a higher rank temporarily (usually without receiving the pay of the higher rank). ... Paiute (sometimes written as Piute) refers to two related groups -- Northern Paiute and Southern Paiute--of Native North Americans speaking languages belonging to the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan family of Native American languages. ... Ulysses S. Grant (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was a Union general in the American Civil War and the 18th (1869–1877) President of the United States. ... The Arizona Territory was an organized territory of the United States that existed between 1863 and 1912, as well as a territory of the Confederate States of America that existed from 1861 to 1865. ... Cochise Cochise (c. ... 1872 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... A Brigadier General, or one-star general, is the lowest rank of general officer in the United States and some other countries, ranking just above Colonel and just below Major General. ... Alternative meaning: Lakota, Côte dIvoire is a département of Côte dIvoire. ... The Lakota (friends or allies, sometimes also spelled Lakhota) are a Native American tribe, also known as the Sioux (see Names). ... Battle of the Rosebud Conflict Black Hills War, Indian Wars Date June 17, 1876 Place Big Horn County, Montana Result Tactical U.S. victory The Battle of the Rosebud is also known the Battle of the Rosebud Creek. ... 1882 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Geronimo Geronimo (Chiricahua Goyaałé One Who Yawns; often spelled Goyathlay in English), (June 16, 1829–February 17, 1909) was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who long warred against the encroachment of settlers of European descent on tribal lands. ... Nelson Appleton Miles (August 8, 1839 – May 15, 1925) was an American soldier who served in the American Civil War, Indian Wars, and the Spanish-American War. ... The Apache Wars were fought during the nineteenth century between the U.S. military and many western tribes. ... Geronimo Geronimo (Chiricahua Goyaałé One Who Yawns; often spelled Goyathlay in English), (June 16, 1829–February 17, 1909) was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who long warred against the encroachment of settlers of European descent on tribal lands. ... Group of Apaches Apache is the collective name given to several culturally related tribes of Native Americans, aboriginal inhabitants of North America, who speak an Southern Athabaskan language. ... State nickname: Sunshine State, Everglade State Other U.S. States Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Governor Jeb Bush Official languages English Area 170,451 km² (22nd)  - Land 137,374 km²  - Water 30,486 km² (17. ... The Indian Wars were a series of conflicts between the United States and Native American peoples (Indians) of North America. ... Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) was the 22nd (1885–1889) and 24th (1893–1897) President of the United States, and the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms. ... 1888 is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... Red Cloud Red Cloud (Sioux: Makhpyia-luta), (1822 – December 10, 1909) was a chief of the Oglala Sioux. ...