Civil War Union Brigadier General. A member of a prominent Ohio family, “The Fighting McCooks”, he was an 1858 alumni of the University of Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Forward from this graduation, he returned to his native Ohio and began the study of law. With his passing of the Bar exam, he made a career move to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and began a law practice with two colleagues (and future union Generals), Thomas Ewing and William Tecumseh Sherman. At the outset of Civil War in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln issued a May, 1861 call for volunteers who would serve three years. Upon learning of the President’s petition, he put his law career on hold and elected to enlist in the 1st Kansas Volunteer Regiment forming at Camp Lincoln, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Accepting a commission of Captain, he and the regiment was inducted into United States service on June 3, 1861. His first baptism of hostile fire was at the battle of Wilson’s Creek, Missouri in August, 1861 where he earned the reputation of a fighter and gallant battle commander. It was recorded afterwards that his "boys [were] doing the best fighting” and that his regiment had sustained a 51% casualty loss at the conclusion of it. He transferred to the staff of General George Thomas to serve that officer as Assistant Adjutant General (AAG) and was at that post during the 1862 battle of Shiloh. His promotion to Colonel occurred in the summer of 1862 with the forming of the 52nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry at Camp Dennison, Ohio. An ensuing assignment to serve as a brigade commander in General W.T. Sherman’s division followed thereafter. Engaged with the Confederates during the 1862 autumn battle at Perryville, Kentucky, his command’s subsequent action was a supporting role during the 1863 battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. During that battle (AKA Stone’s River), he was charged with the responsibility to be a protector of the trains. Assigned to a Reserve Corps, his soldiers further saw limited action in September, 1863 at the battle of Chickamauga. His brigade actively participated in the relief of General Burnside’s stressed forces at Knoxville, Tennessee in December, 1863. He was stricken with sickness thought to be from a protracted case of pneumonia in late 1863, and would return in time to join his command during the campaign for Atlanta, Georgia. General W.T. Sherman, an old law colleague from Fort Leavenworth and now his commanding officer, conferred McCook’s brigade the honor to lead the attack on the Confederates positioned on Kennesaw Mountain. On June 27, 1864, McCook formed his brigade opposite the southern slope of Kennesaw Mountain. Before his order to go forward, he encouraged his men with the mystical words of the Roman warrior, Horatius Cocles. McCook led the ensuing attack across open ground and upon reaching the entrenched Confederates, was mortally wounded. The dying officer was transferred to Steubenville, Ohio where he succumbed to his wounds on July 17, 1864. He had been promoted to Brigadier General of Volunteers the day before, July 16, 1864.