James W. Cooke

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Captain James Wallace Cooke, CSN

James Wallace Cooke (died 1869) was born in North Carolina, joined the United States Navy in 1828. In May 1861, while holding the rank of Lieutenant, he resigned his United States commission and joined the Virginia State Navy, entering the service of the Confederate States in the following month. Later, in 1861, he was placed in command of the small gunboat, CSS Ellis and was captured with her after a hard fight near Roanoke Island, North Carolina on February 10, 1862. Wounded in that action and soon paroled, he was promoted to Commander in June 1862.

Commander Cooke's next assignment was to oversee the construction of the ironclad ram CSS Albemarle. After many difficulties, Albemarle was successfully completed in April 1864, and Cooke became her commanding officer. On April 19 and May 5, he took her into action against Federal forces, sinking one gunboat and disabling or driving off others. That June he was promoted to the rank of Captain and was later placed in charge of Confederate States Navy forces on North Carolina's internal waters, holding that position until the end of the U.S. Civil War. Captain James W. Cooke died at Portsmouth, Virginia in 1869.