Edward M . McCook Edward Moody McCook ( June 15 , 1833 – September 9 , 1909 ) was a lawyer , politician , distinguished Union cavalry general in the American Civil War , American diplomat , and Governor of the Territory of Colorado . He was a member of the famed " Fighting McCook " family of Ohio . Four of his brothers and ten of his first cousins served as officers , with six of the family members becoming generals before the end of the war . Early life and career . McCook was born in Steubenville , Ohio , on June 15 , 1833 . As a young man , he moved to the Kansas Territory and became a lawyer . He joined the Pike ' s Peak Gold Rush in 1859 and represented the Pikes Peak region in the Kansas Territorial House of Representatives . Civil War . With the onset of the Civil War in 1861 , McCook traveled to Washington , D . C . and served for a time as a secret agent for the Federal government , gathering information of value to the military . He then enlisted as a cavalry lieutenant in the regular army . He then joined the volunteer army as a captain in the 2nd Indiana Cavalry , rising to the rank of colonel by the middle of 1862 . McCook commanded a cavalry brigade at the Battle of Perryville , and a division at Chickamauga . On April 27 , 1864 , he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers and given command of the First Cavalry Division in the Army of the Cumberland . His 3 , 600 cavalrymen raided and severed the Macon & Western Railroad in late July 1864 while serving under George Stoneman during the Atlanta Campaign . One of his goals was to release the 32 , 000 prisoners of war being held in the Andersonville Prison . However , as they tried to return to the main army on July 30 , McCook was thoroughly defeated by Confederate cavalry under Joseph Wheeler at the Battle of Brown ' s Mill near Newnan , Georgia , losing 950 men , 1 , 200 horses , and two pieces of artillery . During Stoneman ' s raid , McCook gained a reputation for condoning and encouraging the destruction of civilian property . McCook and his remaining cavalry marched to Tennessee to assist George H . Thomas ' s efforts to stymie the Confederates under John Bell Hood . He served with distinction in the Franklin - Nashville Campaign . In March and April 1865 , as the war near its close , McCook commanded the First Division in Wilson ' s Raid through Alabama and Georgia , as well as at the Battle of Selma , where the Federal cavalry dealt a crushing defeat upon Nathan Bedford Forrest . In early May , McCook ' s division was assigned to re - establish Federal control and authority in Florida , whose ardent secessionist governor , John Milton , had shot himself in the head rather than submit to Union occupation . On May 13 , Col . George Washington Scott surrendered the last active Confederate troops in the state to McCook . On May 20 , General McCook read Abraham Lincoln ’ s Emancipation Proclamation during a ceremony in Tallahassee , officially ending slavery in Florida . That same day , his jubilant troopers raised the U . S . flag over the state capital . McCook reached the rank of brevet major general in the volunteers by the end of the war , and received the official praise of his superior , James H . Wilson . While not a professionally trained soldier , McCook was efficient and brave . He received a total of five brevet promotions in the Civil War , all for gallantry and meritorious service . Postbellum career . He returned to the regular army when his volunteers were mustered out following the war . In 1866 , McCook resigned from the army and returned to civilian life . President Andrew Johnson appointed McCook to serve as the U . S . Minister to the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1866 through 1868 . In 1869 , President Ulysses S . Grant appointed McCook Governor of the Territory of Colorado , a selection bitterly opposed by Jerome B . Chaffee , the Colorado Territorial Delegate to the United States House of Representatives . During his tenure , Governor McCook signed the legislation that created Colorado Agricultural College ( now Colorado State University ) and was among the first territorial governors to endorse women ' s suffrage . He was a member of the Republican National Committee in 1872 . McCook left the governorship when his second term expired in 1875 and turned to various business pursuits . He became very wealthy from numerous shrewd investments in real estate , mining interests , and in new European telephone companies . For a time , he paid more income and business taxes than any man in Colorado . McCook died in Chicago , Illinois , and is buried in Union Cemetery in Steubenville . The city of McCook , Nebraska was named in his honor .