John Alexander Cocke John Alexander Cocke ( 1772 – February 16 , 1854 ) was an American politician and soldier who represented Tennessee ' s 2nd district in the United States House of Representatives from 1819 to 1827 . He also served several terms in the Tennessee Senate and the Tennessee House of Representatives , and was Speaker of the latter for two sessions ( 1811 – 1813 and 1837 – 1839 ) . During the Creek War , Cocke commanded the Eastern Division of the Tennessee militia . Early life . Cocke was born in Brunswick , Nottoway County , Virginia in 1772 , the eldest son of frontiersman and future senator , William Cocke , and wife Mary ( Maclin ) Cocke . While still a young child , he moved with his parents across the Appalachian Mountains to what is now Tennessee , where his father was active in the State of Franklin movement . The family settled in what is now Grainger County , but was then part of Hawkins County . The younger Cocke studied law , and was admitted to the bar in 1793 . Cocke was elected to the inaugural Tennessee Senate in 1796 , serving until 1801 . In 1807 , he was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives , and was elevated to Speaker in 1811 . On April 26 , 1808 , Cocke shot and mortally wounded Knoxville merchant Thomas Dardis in a duel . In November 1811 , during the first year of Cocke ' s speakership , the House voted to impeach his father , William , then a state supreme court justice . Creek War . At the outbreak of the War of 1812 , Cocke was Major General of the Eastern Division of the Tennessee militia , while Andrew Jackson was Major General of the Western Division . Responding to President James Madison ' s request for troops , Governor Willie Blount ordered Jackson and the Western Division south to Natchez in early 1813 . Though Jackson ' s army was recalled within a few weeks , members of the Eastern Division grew restless , wanting to join the war . Cocke and a number of men ( including his 65 - year old father , William ) joined Colonel John Williams on a raid into the Seminole country of Florida in February 1813 . Following the Fort Mims massacre in August 1813 , Governor Blount ordered both Jackson and Cocke to invade Alabama and quell the hostile Red Stick Creeks . Since Jackson had received his commission earlier than Cocke , he was the senior commander . Planning to march against Talladega in November 1813 , Jackson waited impatiently for Cocke ' s arrival at Fort Strother . Cocke , however , halted before reaching the fort , and instead dispatched James White to attack the Hillabee tribe , not knowing Jackson had already made peace with them . White destroyed several Hillabee villages and killed dozens of tribesmen . The enraged Hillabees quickly renewed hostilities . Jackson believed Cocke was attempting to impede the operation . Cocke , however , suggested Jackson ' s peace with the Hillabee was a hoax , and that his victory over the Hillabee was too much for Jackson ' s " noble soul to bear . " By the time Cocke arrived at Fort Strother in December 1813 , many of Jackson ' s men , believing their enlistments had ended , had gone home . Realizing the enlistments of Cocke ' s men were almost up , Jackson sent them back to East Tennessee , and ordered Cocke to recruit more troops to help him put an end to the Creek resistance . By early 1814 , Jackson had become irritated that Cocke had not arrived with reinforcements . When Cocke ' s newly - recruited army finally moved south in March 1814 , it stalled at Lookout Mountain , near modern Chattanooga , as the new recruits quarreled with officers over the length of their enlistment . Several officers reported to Jackson that Cocke was spreading rumors about Jackson among the men , telling them they had been drafted illegally , or that Jackson would ignore their terms of enlistment and order them to stay as long as he pleased . Incensed , Jackson had Cocke arrested . He was court - martial ed in December 1814 , but was acquitted . Congress and later life . Following the death of John Sevier in 1815 , Cocke ran for his vacant seat in the U . S . House of Representatives , but was narrowly defeated by William Grainger Blount , 1 , 583 votes to 1 , 355 . He ran against Blount in 1817 , but was again narrowly defeated , 3 , 627 votes to 3 , 429 . In 1819 , Blount decided not to run for reelection , and Cocke was finally able to win the seat , edging James Porter , 3 , 792 votes to 3 , 434 . He ran opposed for reelection in 1821 and 1823 . In 1825 , rising anti - Jackson politician Thomas D . Arnold challenged him for reelection , but Cocke won by a vote of 4 , 770 to 3 , 343 . A Democratic - Republican , Cocke served in the Sixteenth , Seventeenth , Eighteenth , and Nineteenth congresses . During the Eighteenth and Nineteenth congresses ( 1823 – 1827 ) , Cocke was chairman of the House Committee on Indian Affairs . As a congressman , Cocke generally opposed federal involvement in internal improvement projects . While he voted in favor of a bill that would have provided appropriations for the repair of the Cumberland Road in 1822 , he vigorously opposed legislation that would have empowered the president to designate certain improvement projects as having " national worth , " and thus eligible for federal funding . In 1823 , he voted against federal appropriations for numerous improvement projects , including improvements to the Mississippi and Ohio rivers , an extension of the Cumberland Road , and a purchase of stock in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company . Cocke did not seek reelection in 1827 , and returned to Tennessee , where he engaged in agricultural pursuits . In 1837 , he was again elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives , and served as Speaker for the 1837 – 1839 session . In 1843 , he was again elected to the Tennessee Senate , serving a single term . In 1844 , he introduced legislation establishing the Tennessee School for the Deaf in Knoxville . Cocke died in Rutledge , Tennessee , on February 16 , 1854 at age 81 years , 71 days . He is interred at Rutledge ' s Methodist Church Cemetery . Family . Cocke ' s father , William , played a prominent role in the establishment of Tennessee in the late 18th century , and served alongside William Blount as one of the state ' s inaugural U . S . Senators . Cocke ' s nephew , William Michael Cocke , served in Congress in the late 1840s . Cocke married his first cousin , Sarah Stratton Cocke . Their daughter , Eliza , married Knoxville industrialist Marcus De Lafayette Bearden ( 1793 – 1854 ) in 1821 . Another daughter , Sarah , was married to Judge William B . Reese , who later became a justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court , and served as president of East Tennessee University ( the forerunner of the University of Tennessee ) in the 1850s . Notable descendants of Cocke include Admiral Alan Goodrich Kirk , who commanded the Normandy landings in 1944 , art collector Francis Henry Taylor , and Senator Luke Lea .