Philip St. George Cocke (Notable Americans)

COCKE, Philip St. George, soldier, was born in Fluvanna county, Va., April 17, 1809; son of Gen. John Hartwell and Anne Blaws (Barraud) Cocke; grandson of John Hartwell Cocke; and grandson five degrees removed of Richard Cocke, who was a member of the house of burgesses in 1632 and progenitor of the main line of the Cocke family of Virginia. He was graduated at the U.S. military academy, West Point, N.Y., in 1833, and served at Huntsville, Ala., as lieutenant in the 2d artillery, 1832-33. He was promoted adjutant and resigned April 1, 1834. He was extensively engaged in planting, having large interests both in Virginia and Mississippi; and from 1853 till 1856 was president of the Virginia state agricultural society. In the civil war he commanded the fifth brigade, Virginia volunteers, of the Confederate army at Manassas, and before the end of 1861 was obliged to leave the army by reason of physical disability and nervous prostration. He was married to Sally Elizabeth Courtney Bowdoin, June 4, 1834. He died at "Belmead," Powhatan county, Va., Dec. 26,1861.