Philip St . George Cocke Philip St . George Cocke ( April 17 , 1809 – December 26 , 1861 ) was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the first year of the American Civil War . He is best known for organizing the defense of Virginia along the Potomac River soon after the state ' s secession from the Union . He commanded troops in the Battle of Blackburn ' s Ford and the First Battle of Bull Run ( First Manassas ) in July 1861 before becoming despondent and committing suicide . Early life and career . Philip St . George Cocke was born at Bremo Bluff in Fluvanna County , Virginia . His father , John Hartwell Cocke , had been an officer in the United States Army during the War of 1812 . Cocke graduated from the University of Virginia in 1828 and then from the United States Military Academy in 1832 with the rank of brevet second lieutenant . He was soon assigned as second lieutenant to an artillery unit in Charleston , South Carolina . He served there during 1832 and 1833 , becoming adjutant of the 2nd U . S . Artillery on July 13 , 1833 . On April 1 , 1834 , Cocke resigned from the military and became a cotton planter in Powhatan County , Virginia and in Mississippi . He married Sallie Elizabeth Courtney Bowdoin on June 4 , 1834 . Cocke became an accomplished agriculturist , publishing frequent articles in journals , as well as a book on plantation management entitled " Plantation and Farm Instruction " in 1852 . From 1853 to 1856 , Cocke was president of the Virginia State Agricultural Society . In 1859 , concerned by John Brown ' s Raid on Harpers Ferry , he organized a militia infantry company known as the Powhatan Troop to help defend Powhatan County in case of a similar action or a slave revolt in the future . Civil War service . Organization of Virginia ' s defenses . On April 21 , 1861 , Cocke was appointed as a brigadier general in the service of the Commonwealth of Virginia by Governor John Letcher . He was assigned command of all state forces along the Potomac River . Three days later , from his headquarters at Alexandria , Virginia , he reported to newly commissioned Maj . Gen . Robert E . Lee ( assigned on April 22 to the command of all Virginia forces ) that he had only 300 men to defend against what he thought was 10 , 000 Union troops across the river in Washington , D . C . Cocke made his headquarters at Culpeper , Virginia , on April 27 , in order to better oversee the entire line of the Potomac as well as the mustering of volunteer troops in a large part of the state . Alexandria was evacuated by Lt . Col . A . S . Taylor on May 5 , despite Cocke ' s orders " not to abandon it without fighting , even against overwhelming numbers . " Under Lee ' s orders , Cocke organized a new defensive line at Manassas . Cocke may have been the first to formulate the Confederate defensive strategy of concentrating forces at Manassas and at Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley , and using the Manassas Gap Railroad to allow them to be mutually supporting . This strategy would be a decisive factor in the Confederate victory in the First Battle of Bull Run . When Virginia ' s state forces were consolidated with the Provisional Army of the Confederate States , Cocke was given the rank of colonel in the new CSA forces . Because of this effective demotion , Cocke was superseded in command at Manassas on May 21 by Brig . Gen . Milledge L . Bonham . First Bull Run Campaign . Cocke was eventually assigned to the army of P . G . T . Beauregard in command of the 5th Brigade , consisting of the 8th , 18th , 19th , 28th , and 49th Virginia Infantry regiments . His brigade was initially assigned to Centreville , Virginia , but in the face of advancing Union forces , withdrew behind Bull Run on July 17 . He was officially thanked by Beauregard for his ability shown in strategic movements at the Battle of Blackburn ' s Ford . On July 20 Cocke was stationed at Ball ' s Ford on Bull Run . In the subsequent First Battle of Bull Run on July 21 , 1861 , Cocke was assigned to advance against Centreville , a plan abandoned when the Federals began their flanking movement against the Confederate left . While Col . Nathan George Evans , reinforced by Brig . Gen . Barnard Bee and Col . Francis S . Bartow , opposed the enemy , Cocke ' s forces defended against attack in the vicinity of the Stone Bridge , with his headquarters at the Lewis house . At 2 p . m . , about an hour before the arrival of Elzey , he led his brigade into action on the left with " alacrity and effect . " He was promoted to brigadier general in the Confederate Army on October 21 and given command of the 3rd Brigade , 3rd Division of the Confederate Army of the Potomac . Death . First Bull Run was Cocke ' s last battle . After eight months ' service , during which he was promoted to brigadier general in the provisional Confederate army , he returned home , " shattered in body and mind . " Exhausted from the strain , and despondent over perceived slights from General Beauregard stemming from the Battle of Manassas , Cocke shot himself in the head on December 26 , 1861 , at his mansion , " Belmead " , in Powhatan County , Virginia . He was initially buried on the plantation grounds , but he was re - interred in 1904 at Hollywood Cemetery , Richmond , Virginia . Family . Philip St . George Cocke was the son of John Hartwell Cocke ( b . September 19 , 1780 in Surry County , Virginia ) and Anne Blaws Barraud ( b . December 25 , 1784 , in Norfolk , Virginia . ) He married Sallie Elizabeth Courtney Bowdoin ( b . May 9 , 1815 ) at Christ Church in Norfolk , Virginia , on June 4 , 1834 . The couple had 11 children :