John James McCook ( lawyer ) John James McCook ( May 25 , 1845 – September 17 , 1911 ) was an American corporate attorney , business director , and soldier , serving as a Union Army officer during the American Civil War . He was the youngest member of the famed " Fighting McCooks , " a prominent Ohio military family which contributed fifteen members to the war effort . Early years . John J . McCook was born in Carrollton , Ohio , to family patriarch Daniel McCook . He was named for his uncle , John James McCook . He enrolled in Kenyon College , but left school after completing his freshman year to enlist as a private in the 52nd Ohio Infantry on August 12 , 1862 , but was not mustered into the service , initially because of his age . He accompanied the regiment as a volunteer aide - de - camp . On September 12 of that year , he was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the 6th Ohio Cavalry and assigned to the staff of Major General Thomas L . Crittenden in what later became the XXI Corps in the Army of the Cumberland . McCook was involved in several campaigns and battles in the Western Theater , including Perryville , Stones River , the Tullahoma Campaign , Chattanooga , and Chickamauga . In September 1863 , McCook was commissioned as a captain and an aide - de - camp , serving in the Army of the Potomac . He was part of the army of Ulysses S . Grant in the Overland Campaign in Northern Virginia in the spring of 1864 . He was severely wounded near Shady Grove , Virginia , during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House , but recovered , although he never fought again . He received a brevet promotion to major for his " gallant and meritorious " service in that battle . In the omnibus promotions at the end of the war , McCook was breveted as a lieutenant colonel and then a colonel in the volunteer army . Post - war years . After the war , McCook resumed his studies at Kenyon College and graduated in 1866 . He entered the Harvard Law School and graduated in 1869 , and later received honorary law degrees from Princeton University and the University of Kansas . He passed his bar exam and established a prosperous legal practice in New York City in the celebrated firm of Alexander & Green , eventually becoming a senior partner . He joined the New York State Bar Association and served on the boards of directors for several prominent insurance companies , railroads , and financial institutions . He was also a trustee of Kenyon College , as well as being a director of the Princeton Theological Seminary . He was instrumental in establishing a formal statute for an intercollegiate system of academic costume , and provided the money in 1892 for the University of Kansas ' s first athletic stadium , McCook Field , which was in service for thirty years . The Santa Fe Railroad went into receivership in December 1893 , due to rapidly declining stock prices and the failing health of its president , and McCook was one of three men appointed as directors to oversee the struggling railroad as it returned to financial stability . McCook declined an offer to serve in the first Cabinet of President William McKinley . During the Spanish - American War , he chaired the Army and Navy Christian Commission . He became a close friend of Theodore Roosevelt . Death and legacy . John McCook died at his summer home in Sea Bright , New Jersey , at the age of 66 . The village of McCook , Illinois , is named after him , as is McCook Street on the campus of the University of Kansas .