Scholarship
James K. Hogue, "Cooke, Philip St. George," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00262.html.
Just before the outbreak of the Civil War, he published Cavalry Tactics (1861), which earned him a reputation as the acknowledged expert on that subject in the U.S. Army.
Because of his expertise, military experience, and reputation, both the Union and the Confederacy wooed Cooke in 1861. His decision to remain loyal to the Union was complicated when his son and both of his sons-in-law chose Virginia over the Union and became Confederate officers. His son, John Rogers Cooke, became a Confederate brigadier general. One of his sons-in-law, J. E. B. Stuart, achieved fame as Robert E. Lee's renowned cavalry commander, which provoked rumors that Cooke did not enthusiastically favor prosecuting the war and eventually contributed to his professional decline.
Because of his expertise, military experience, and reputation, both the Union and the Confederacy wooed Cooke in 1861. His decision to remain loyal to the Union was complicated when his son and both of his sons-in-law chose Virginia over the Union and became Confederate officers. His son, John Rogers Cooke, became a Confederate brigadier general. One of his sons-in-law, J. E. B. Stuart, achieved fame as Robert E. Lee's renowned cavalry commander, which provoked rumors that Cooke did not enthusiastically favor prosecuting the war and eventually contributed to his professional decline.
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