George Crook (September 8, 1828 – March 21, 1890)[1][2] was a career United States Army officer, most noted for his distinguished service during the American Civil War and the Indian Wars.
Early life
Crook was born to Thomas and Elizabeth Matthews Crook on a farm near Taylorsville, Ohio (near Dayton). He was nominated to the United States Military Academy by Congressman Robert Schenck and graduated in 1852, ranking near the bottom of his class. He was assigned to the 4th U.S. infantry as brevet second lieutenant, serving in California, 1852–61. He served in Oregon and northern California, fighting against several Native American tribes. He commanded the Pitt River Expedition of 1857 and in one of the several engagements was severely wounded by an Indian arrow. He established Fort Ter-Wer in what is now Klamath, California. His promotion to the rank of 1st lieutenant was received in 1856, and to that of captain in 1860. He was ordered east and in 1861 was made colonel of the 36th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
He married a Virginian, Mary Tapscott Dailey.
Civil War
Early service
When the Civil War broke out, Crook accepted a commission as Colonel of Ohio's 36th regiment and led it on duty in western Virginia. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier general on September 7, 1862. He commanded a brigade of Ohio regiments in the Kanawha Division (attached to the IX Corps, Army of the Potomac) in the Maryland Campaign. Crook saw action at the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. He developed a life-long friendship with one of his subordinates, Col. Rutherford B. Hayes of the 23rd Ohio Infantry.
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 Kanawah Division.
Southwest Virginia
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.
The 35-year-old Crook 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 (230 km) south of Charleston. At Dublin he would put the railroad out of business and destroy Confederate 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.
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.
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.
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 (16 km) 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.
Cloyd's Mountain cost the Union army 688 casualties, while the rebels suffered 538 killed, wounded, and captured.
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.
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 Meadow 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. On October 21, 1864, he was promoted to major general of volunteers.
In February 1865, General Crook was captured by Confederate raiders at Cumberland, Maryland, and held as a prisoner of war 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.
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 in the Pacific Northwest. He campaigned against the Paiute Indians where he won the recognition of President Ulysses S. Grant. Grant placed Crook in command of the Arizona Territory. Crook's use of Apache scouts brought him much success in forcing the Apache Indians, under chief Cochise onto reservations. 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 during the Great Sioux War of 1876-77. He fought the Lakota at the Battle of the Rosebud.
On 28 May 1876, Brigadier General George Crook assumed direct command of the Bighorn and Yellowstone Expedition at Fort Fetterman. Crook had drawn together an impressive force from his Department of the Platte. Leaving Fort Fetterman on 29 May, the 1,051-man column consisted of 15 companies from the 2d and 3d Cavalry, 5 companies from the 4th and 9th Infantry, 250 mules, and 106 wagons. On 14 June, the column was joined by 261 Shoshone and Crow allies. Based on intelligence reports, Crook ordered his entire force to lighten itself for a quick march. Each man was to carry only 1 blanket, 100 rounds of ammunition, and 4 days' rations. The wagon train would be left at Goose Creek, and the infantry would be mounted on the pack mules.
On 17 June, Crook's column roused itself at 0300 and set out at 0600, marching northward along the south fork of Rosebud Creek. The holiday atmosphere that prevailed since the arrival of the Indian scouts was suddenly absent. The Crow and Shoshone scouts were particularly apprehensive. Although the column had not yet encountered any sign of Indians, the scouts seemed to sense their presence. For their part, the soldiers, particularly the mule-riding infantry, were apparently fatigued from their early morning reville and the previous day's 35-mile march. Accordingly, Crook stopped to rest his men and animals at 0800. Although he was deep in hostile territory, Crook made no special dispositions for defense. His troops merely halted in their marching order. The Cavalry battalions led the column followed by the battalion of mule-borne foot soldiers,and a provisional company of civilian miners and packers brought up the rear.
Fortunately the Crow and Shoshone scouts remained alert while the soldiers rested. Several minutes later, the soldiers in camp could hear the sound of intermittent gunfire coming from the bluffs to the north. At first, they dismissed the noise as nothing more than the scouts taking potshots at buffalo. As the intensity of fire increased, a scout rushed into the camp shouting, "Lakota, Lakota!" The Battle of the Rosebud was on. By 0830, the Sioux and Cheyenne had hotly engaged Crook's Indian allies on the high ground north of the main body. Heavily outnumbered, the Crow and Shoshone scouts fell back toward the camp, but their fighting withdrawal gave Crook time to deploy his forces. The attackers were driven off by rapid firing soldiers which used up much of the ammunition meant for use later in the campaign. Low on ammo and with a considerable number of wounded, the General returned to his post. Whether Crook's pressing on instead could have prevented the subsequent slaughter of five companies of the 7th Cavalry Regiment led by George A. Custer at the battle of the Little Bighorn is debatable.
He was the Commander of the Department of the Platte from 1875 to 1882, with headquarters at Fort Omaha in North Omaha, Nebraska. During this period, in 1879, he spoke on behalf of the Ponca tribe and Native American rights during the trial of Standing Bear v. Crook. That same year his home, now called the General Crook House, was completed.
By 1882, Crook 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. The Apache, as a mark of respect, nicknamed Crook Nantan Lupan, which means "Grey Fox". Nelson A. Miles replaced Crook in command of the Arizona Territory and brought an end to the Apache Wars when he sent Geronimo, the Chiricahua Apache tribe and the Chiricahua scouts serving in the U.S. Army into exile in Florida. (Crook was reportedly furious and appalled that the scouts, who had faithfully served the Army against their own tribe, were sent as well and telegrammed numerous protests to Washington.) 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 "Military Division of the Missouri" in 1888.
Crook served in Omaha again as the Commander of the Department of the Platte from 1886 to 1888. While he was there, his portrait was painted by artist Herbert A. Collins.[3]
He spent his last years speaking out against the unjust treatment of his former Indian adversaries. He died suddenly in Chicago while serving as commander of the Division of the Missouri. Crook was originally buried in Oakland, Maryland, but was moved to Section 2 of Arlington National Cemetery on November 11, 1898. Red Cloud, a war leader of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux), said of Crook when he died, "He, at least, never lied to us. His words gave us hope."[4]
In memoriam
Crook County, Wyoming, Crook County, Oregon, and the town of Crook, Colorado are named in George Crook's honor, and the Crook Walk in Arlington National Cemetery is near George Crook's gravesite. Crook Peak in Lake County Oregon (elevation 7834 feet) in the Warner Mountains is named after Crook. The peak is near where Crook established Camp Warner (1867-1874) to "subdue" the Paiute Indians.
Fort Crook (1857 – 1869) was an Army post near Glenburn, California, used during the Indian Wars, and later for the protection of San Francisco during the Civil War. It was named for then Lt. Crook by Captain John W. T. Gardiner, 1st Dragoons, as Crook had been injured and was recovering there. California State Historical Marker 355 marks the site in Shasta County. Fort Crook (1890 – 1946) was an Army Depot in Bellevue, Nebraska, first used as a dispatch point for Indian conflicts on the Great Plains, then later as an airfield for the 61st Balloon Company of the Army Air Corp. It was named for Brig. Gen. Crook due to his many successful Indian campaigns in the west. The site formerly known as Fort Crook is now part of Offutt AFB, Nebraska.
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division is nicknamed "Greywolf" in his honor, in an odd mutation of his Apache nickname "Grey Fox". Forest Road 300 in the Coconino National Forest is named the "General Crook Trail", and is a section of the trail which General Crook blazed from Fort Verde to Fort Whipple through Central Arizona, and his good friend and Union Army comrade, President Rutherford B. Hayes, named one of his sons George Crook Hayes in respect of his commanding officer.
The General Crook House at Fort Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska is also named in his honor, as he was the only Commander of the Department of the Platte to live there.
Crook Mountain, a peak in the Cascade Range, was named for George Crook by Wenatchee National Forest supervisor Albert H. Sylvester.
In popular media
Crook was portrayed by Peter Coyote in the television series Deadwood. He was also portrayed by Gene Hackman in the 1993 movie Geronimo: An American Legend.
See also
References
- Aleshire, Peter, The Fox and the Whirlwind: General George Grook and Geronimo, Castle Books, 2000, ISBN 0-7858-1837-5.
- Bourke, John Gregory (1892). On the Border with Crook. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
- Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- Robinson, Charles M., III. "General Crook and the Western Frontier", Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001.
- Schmitt, Martin F., General George Crook, His Autobiography, University of Oklahoma Press, 1986, ISBN 0-8061-1982-9.
- Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1964, ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.
Notes
- ^ Eicher, pp. 191-92; Warner, pp. 102-04. The website of Arlington National Cemetery cites a birth date of September 8, 1828
- ^ Guide to the George Crook Papers 1863-1890, Northwest Digital Archives cites his life as 1829–1890.
- ^ Biography of Herbert Alexander Collins, by Alfred W. Collins, February 1975, 4 pages typed, in the possession of Collins' great-great grand-daughter, D. Dahl of Tacoma, WA
- ^ Schmitt, p. ??.
External links
