Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1898-03-12


Bruces and Nc
Gregors went out. In monarohies the
nobility has its leanings for war, gov
eminent or science But in America
war is an accident and soldering not
profession, but duty. Those were
worthy sons of heroic sires who took
down the swords of Nathaniel Greene
and Light Horse Harry Lee when des-
tiny sent forth the cry "To arms, ye
bravei"
1t was to be expected that in the
south, where the social order is aristo
cratic, great families would become dis
tinguished in the civil war. But to
middle class family of the north, the
Scotch Irish McCooks of Ohio, belongs
the honor of giving to the service the
greatest number of closely related sol
diers recorded in the annals of any
American war. Two brothers, John and
Daniel, natives of Cannonsburg, Pa,
living in Ohio when the war broke out,
sent IS sons to the war whose records
are known, and served themselves to
the best of their ability. Daniel was
killed at the age Of SO and three of his
eight soldier sons died by the hands Of
the enemy. John and his five soldier
sons survived the war.
Living as they did among people
given to the use of Bible types, it was
natural that these McCooks should be
divided by the popular voice into the
"tribe of Dam and the tribe of John. "
Taken together the war history of these
fighting tribes is remarkable. -Four of
the eight sons of the tribe of Dan
reached the rank of general and two of
the tribe of John. Two of the tribe of
Dan had been trained to the profession
of arms and one Of the tribe of John
No doubt this fact had much to do with
determining the fates of the others when
the country was called to arms. In that
crisis brother emulated brother and cous-
in. The glory of the name must be
sustained and just as the blood OF an
Ellsworth stirred the spirit of venge
ance so the death of one of a family
made soldiers out of every true man of
his tribe. AT the first battle of Bull Run
Daniel saw his second youngest boy, a
youth of lS, shot down. What son re-
naming could Withstand the mute APP
peal of that fathers tears while he
spoke of the hour when the blood of his
blood was poured out for the flag?
The tidings of the death of Charles
Morriss McCook, who served as private
in the Second Ohio, reached the ears of
Daniel, Jr, at Leavenworth, Kan,
where he was practicing law. With a
volunteer company which he bad drilled
he took the field in a Kansas regiment
and fought under the heroic Lyon at
Wilson'S Creek, the first pitched battle
Of the west, At Shiloh he was chief Of
staff of the Army of the Ohio when it
saved the day for Grant. In the subse-
quent battles of the west he served as
colonel and brigadier general until the
hour Of his most glorious death on the
slopes of Kenesaw Sherman selected
him to lead in that grand but useless
assault and at the first dash his brigade
followed him to the Confederate works
Two Of his regiments, the One Hundred
and Twenty fifth and Eighty-sixth Hi
nuis, met with the severest regimental
loss in the three divisions which took
part in the assault. While waiting for
the signal to charge Colonel McCook re
peated to his men the first stanza from
Macaulay's poem, "Horatius at the
Bridge"