Cook, Gustave (1835-1897) to Eliza Cook
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02570.60 Author/Creator: Cook, Gustave (1835-1897) Place Written: Chattahoochie, River. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 15 July 1864 Pagination: 8 p. Order a Copy
Writes about his and Eliza's wedding day, 11years ago. Reminds her of God's blessings regardless of all the illness and death that has been bestowed upon them. Wishes he had kept and journal and "let our children see the joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, disappointments and successes through which we have passed."
Apologizes for his indiscretions and selfishness throughout the years. He writes, "I have so often annoyed you by attentions to others which though harmless in themselves I should have known were troublesome to you. I have often thought to give you a full true account of all these affairs but fearful to commit them to paper." Cook writes that he could never learn to love anyone else. He writes, "…I have amused myself with others but you have ever been the being upon whom my hearts most devoted affections have been and now are lavished."
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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