The Legacy of John Henry Cook

He believed that people needed to be working all the time.

He must have been a devoted man to his faith for family legends reflect that one of his favorite sayings was, “Be Christ.”

He was said to be a small man with small feet. One family story relates an incident in which John H. put his granddaughter Patsy’s shoes on and insisted they were his shoes. But though he was small in stature he possessed a heart as big as all outdoors.

Most of the stories that revolve around John H. involve food. He appeared to have an obsession with food, because he was always hungry fighting during the war.

It was stated by family legends handed down over the generations that he ‘hoed’ his sweet potato patch every day. Five months before John Henry’s eightieth birthday, he took a barrel of molasses to Frankfort, Kentucky.

He sold the molasses and bought two hams that weighed 40 to 50 pounds each and one middling. Though he was weak, feeble, and had a hard time walking alone he took he took the meat to The Old Confederate Home at Pee Wee Valley.

The date was April 7, 1919. Such was the character of the man.

He said he had broken up housekeeping in Knox County.

He planned to stay at the Old Confederate Home but was told that he would lose his Civil War pension. He said he just came for a visit to bring the meat for the old soldiers to eat.

They stopped his pension for a couple of weeks, but they reinstated it. He spent the next eight years living with each one of his children. He always took molasses to each child’s house. John H. would not eat corn at all.

He said it was for animals. Corn was the only food his regiment had to eat before they surrendered at Appomattox.

John H. Cook was born on October 12, 1839, in Stokes County, North Carolina. His parents were William Cook and Elizabeth (known as Betsy) Southern.

Being of the Scots-Irish lineage, John grew up speaking with a thick Irish Brogue. He retained that thickness throughout his life. Nothing is known of his childhood days but one can imagine the routine of the time.

He must have hoed in the family garden, taken care of the livestock, and drew water from the well for his mother. He was listed on the 1850 Stokes County census as living in the William Cook household, being eleven years of age and also in 1860 as a twenty-one-year-old male residing with his father. He married Winnie Johnson Harrison on October 9, 1859, in Stokes County, North Carolina.

Winnie was born in North Carolina in 1840.

She died after 1913. Notes from the marriage stated the dates of birth and they that they were married in the county of Stokes, North Carolina. The bondsman was Robert D. Harris and J. Rierson, Jr. witnessed the union.

The Justice of the Peace was L.H. Southern and the marriage was duly recorded as 01058, bond #000137935

At the onset of the War Between the States, John Henry chose to side with his conscience and enlisted into the Confederate Army on May 29, 1861.

He enlisted at Danbury, Virginia.

He was assigned to Company F of the 21st Regiment, North Carolina Infantry (formerly the 11th Regiment North Carolina infantry).

The commanders were Captain Roof Pepper and Colonel William W. Kirkland. Private John H. Cook would go throughout the war and fight bravely for the cause that he chose and make many sacrifices along the way to Appomattox. Private Cook participated in the following battles.

Battle of the First Manassas

Seven Days Battles to Bristoe

Plymouth

Drewry’s Bluff

Cold Harbor

Shenandoah Valley

Chancellorsville

Gettysburg

Appomattox

The intensity of the fighting by his unit is staggering. For example, at First Winchester the unit sustained eighty casualties.

At Cross Keys, Virginia, thirteen more were added to the list. Seven Days Battle totaled a loss of 45.

Groveton would produce 51 more casualties. Antietam Creek would see 18 of the brave 21st North Carolinians fall, to rise no more.

The great victory at Fredericksburg where General Lee stated that, “It is good that war is so horrible lest we grow too fond of it” would cost the unit twenty-four men.

The glorious victory, which left a “hole in the heart of all the South that time could never heal,” saw seventy-eight poor boys lying upon the fields. Twenty-eight percent of the four hundred and thirty-six (122+) fell at Gettysburg. Fifty-two at Plymouth and the count continued.

John did not escape the brush with death untouched. On at least three occasions the angel of death spread her wings and hovered over the young private.

During those terrible times of carnage, Private Cook was wounded in the hand near Richmond, Virginia. It was in the summer of 1862. He was wounded in the hand at or near Fredericksburg, Virginia, on December 13, 1862. On May 4, 1863, he sustained yet another wound.

He was shot in the left leg at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Medical records state that John H. suffered the loss of his ring finger on the left hand, partial loss of the middle finger on the right hand, and he had stiffening of the other fingers.

Thus, both hands had missing appendages.

He had a scar from a bullet wound on his left calf.

He would walk with a limp for the rest of his life. He bravely fought on for the cause that he loved yet he never talked of that terrible conflict.

One of the fiercest battles he participated in was the battle of Cold Harbor on June 2, 1864. General Lee was fighting a desperate duel to the death with General Grant.

General Grant’s policy was that of constant pushing at a terrible cost and he became careless in his zeal to capture the Army of Northern Virginia.

Though the Confederate army arrived barefoot and starving, their spirits and morale were high.

After all, did they not have the god-like warrior leading them?

The weather was hot and rainy. The battle lasted for three long days.

The wounded lay on the battlefield everywhere, moaning and groaning. When a truce was arranged only two wounded Federals were still alive. 17,000 Federals died

Grant lost approximately 10,000 men in 20 minutes. The Confederates lost 3,400 men. Both sides regretted fighting this battle. It was hard to revive the morale of the men.

Private Cook must have been at Petersburg for a period of time during the siege. He must have been with the brave men as they were pushed that last week to the brink of extermination.

On April 8, 1865, the unit arrived at Appomattox Court House and the long- awaited train with rations was nowhere to be found (rations had been captured by Sherman in route to the ravenous army).

They were famished and had been eating parched corn for days (John H. refused to eat corn for the remainder of his life) and reportedly dog.

They held the Federal Army at the crossroads. The unit took a defensive position and was attacked by the Federal infantry and cavalry. Upon the realization that all was lost, General Lee made arrangements for a truce so terms of surrender could be discussed.

Private Cook surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, and was paroled April 12, 1865.

He most assuredly was there when Lee made his epic final journey amongst his beloved boys.

The moment is captured in the book by the author entitled The Legend and Legacy of Lee. “While resting at an apple orchard and gathering his composure, word of Lee’s surrender spread like a wildfire.

“Upon returning to his pilgrimage, he was met by eleven thousand faithful soldiers lining the road on both sides: The Seas of Grey. “