Cook, Gustave (1835-1897) to Eliza Cook
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02570.28 Author/Creator: Cook, Gustave (1835-1897) Place Written: Hayneville, Alabama Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 17 August 1862 Pagination: 3 p. + postscript. Order a Copy
Cook recounts his visits with his sister Ginny, "When I went to see her and the servant told her who it was in the parlor the nervous little woman came running with arms outstretched and tears streaming from her eyes. She threw herself upon my breast and sobbed as though her heart would break saying whenever she could speak, 'oh, my brother I am so glad you are alive' 'I thought you might be dead' etc, etc. She held me around the neck for fifteen minutes looking up at me every few moments to see if it was really brother Gustave and then hiding her little face to weep for very joy." Continues with family news. Writes that he will include a dream he had on a separate piece of paper. Continues, "To tell you the candid plain truth my darling I am terribly in love again and though it may be no flattery to tell you as it is with you."
Born in Alabama on July 3, 1835, Cook moved to Texas alone at the age of 15 and studied law independently. Cook enlisted as a private in 8th Texas Cavalry, "Terry's Texas Rangers," in 1861 and was promoted to colonel by July 1863. After the war he became a circuit court judge for Galveston, served in the Texas state legislature and led an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1890. He died in 1897 of complications from a wound suffered during his military service.
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