Daniel McCook

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Daniel McCook (June 20, 1798 – July 21, 1863) was an attorney and an officer in the Union army during the American Civil War. He was one of two Ohio brothers who, along with 13 of their sons, became widely known as the “Fighting McCooks” for their contributions to the war effort.

McCook was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, the son of an Irish revolutionary, George McCook, who had fled to the United States about 1780. He graduated from Jefferson College. On August 28, 1817, he married Martha Latimer; they would have twelve children (nine boys and three girls). In 1826 the family moved to New Lisbon, Ohio, then to Carrollton, where McCook practiced law. He became an elder in the Presbyterian church and was a pioneer in the regional Sunday School movement.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, McCook, although 63 years old, volunteered his services to the Union. He was commissioned as a major and paymaster. When Confederate Brig. Gen. John H. Morgan led his troops through southern Ohio during Morgan's Raid, Major McCook joined in the advance of the Union pursuit. Early in the morning of July 19, 1863, Federal troops attacked Morgan at Buffington Island, where the Confederates were planning to cross the Ohio River back into Kentucky. McCook was shot and mortally wounded. He died two days later, and his body was buried with full military honors in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio.