THE CIVIL WAR: THE TRUE STORY BOOK 1

Francis Marion Cockrell

Francis Marion Cockrell (October 1, 1834 – December 13, 1915) was a Confederate military commander and American politician from the state of Missouri. He served as a United States Senator from Missouri for five terms. He was a prominent member of the famed South–Cockrell–Hargis family of Southern politicians. Cockrell was born in Warrensburg, Missouri, the son of Nancy (Ellis) and Joseph Cockrell, the sheriff of Johnson County. His older brother was Jeremiah Vardaman Cockrell, who was a congressman from Texas in the 1890s. Francis Cockrell attended local schools and Chapel Hill College in Lafayette County, Missouri, graduating in July 1853; He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1855, practicing law in Warrensburg until the outbreak of the Civil War.

Cockrell was married three times. His first wife, Arthusa D. Stapp, with whom he had three sons, died in 1859. His second wife, Anna E. Mann of Kentucky, died of consumption in 1871. In July 1873, he married Anna Ewing, the eldest daughter of Judge Ephraim Brevard Ewing from Missouri.

At the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861, Cockrell joined the Missouri State Guard as a Captain.[1] After being mustered into the Confederate States Army in the 2nd Missouri Regiment in early 1862 (which was formed as the 1st, but renumbered as Bowen had already formed a regiment); being promoted to colonel. Cockrell commanded a brigade in the Vicksburg Campaign. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Champion Hill, launching a counterattack that temporarily ousted troops of XVII Corps off the hill. He also took part in the Battle of Big Black River Bridge. His brigade was able to escape just before federal troops seized the bridge. He was wounded in the hand by an exploding shell during the Siege of Vicksburg.  Cockrell was promoted to brigadier general on July 18, 1863. He went on to fight in many of the battles of the Atlanta Campaign, and participated in Hood's Tennessee Campaign later that year (where he was wounded). In 1865 Cockrell commanded a division in defence of Fort Blakely, Alabama. On April 9, 1865, shortly before the war ended, Cockrell was captured there but was paroled on May 14. Cockrell's Missouri Brigade was considered one of the finest on either side, and Cockrell himself is widely recognized as one of the best combat brigadiers of the entire war ( sadly he is underrated). He returned to his law practice in Missouri. In 1874, Cockrell, who became a member of the United States Democratic Party, was elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri by the state legislature. His first and only elected office, he served in the Senate from 1875 to 1905, when he retired. He held several committee chairmanships, including the chairmanships of the Claims Committee, Engrossed Bills Committee and Appropriations Committee during his senate career. He received 42 votes for President of the United States at the 1904 Democratic National Convention, but was defeated by Alton B. Parker. He was appointed to the Interstate Commerce Commission by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905, serving in that capacity until 1910. In 1911, he was appointed commissioner to negotiate the boundaries between the state of Texas and the New Mexico Territory, which was about to become a state. In 1913, Woodrow Wilson appointed him as the civilian member on the Board of Ordnance and Fortifications for the War Department, where he served until his death in Washington, D.C.

Fun fact: Cockrell was named for the American Revolution's legendary "Swamp Fox. 

Cockrell left his law practice in western Missouri in 1861 to enlist in the Missouri State Guard. He first saw service in the campaigns of 1861-62 that effectively secured Missouri for the Union, and his performance at places like Carthage, Wilson's Creek and Pea Ridge was reflected in a rise in rank and responsibility. He and his brigade forged a distinguished record during operations around Iuka and Corinth in the fall of 1862 and then participated in the Vicksburg Campaign, where he was wounded. Cockrell was promoted to brigadier general shortly after Vicksburg and participated in the campaign for Atlanta as part of Leonidas Polk's and Alexander P. Stewart's corps, as well as the futile effort to take Allatoona. Cockrell was struck three times during the November 1864 fight at Franklin, where his brigade led the assault by Samuel G. French's Division against Union defenses near the Carter Cotton Gin. More than half the Missouri Brigade fell in that battle. Cockrell recovered in time to lead a division in the unsuccessful defense of Fort Blakely in Alabama in April 1865, where he was captured for the third time. Following the war, he became one of Missouri's leading politicians, serving for 30 years in the U.S. Senate and for five years on the Interstate Commerce Commission.