Cook, Gustave (1835-1897) to Eliza Cook
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02570.08 Author/Creator: Cook, Gustave (1835-1897) Place Written: near Bowling Green, Ky. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 18 October 1861 Pagination: 4 p. Order a Copy
Cook has kept up his correspondence with the "Houston Telegraph" regarding the daily camp lives of the soldiers. He reports that he didn't have any time to write Eliza and asked his friend John to address her in his letter to Lou (wife or sister?). He did so because,
"We feared that some of the boys would write flaming war letters back and alarm you unnecessarily and John wrote Lou to that effect."
Instructs Eliza to tell the children "…all about the wars, the big guns and [illegible] and everything."
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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