--part1_0.fc4de68.252f7d6c_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --part1_0.fc4de68.252f7d6c_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-path: [email protected] From: [email protected] Full-name: GreystokeB Message-ID: <[email protected]> Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1999 12:57:05 EDT Subject: Frederick Cook, GAR, etc. To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 4.0 for Windows sub 11 Subj: Re:Third try, Mr. TOWNE Date: 10/8/1999 9:50:10 AM EST From: [email protected] (State Archives) To: [email protected] Dear Mr. Cook, I checked all of the Warrick County GAR post files we have but did not find Frederick Cook listed. Again, these files contain only the petitions for establishing a post in a given place, with the signatures of the "charter" members. Subsequent membership lists are not available. It is quite possible that Cook was active in one of the GAR posts subsequent to its initial formation, but our records do not reveal it. There was a post, number 484, called the Elberfeld post, at the eponymous town. Our muster roll information on Frederick Cook notes that he was 18 years old at the time of his mustering into the regiment. If he was 14 years old in reality, he lied about his age. That was not uncommon. I am sorry that we cannot help you more in this matter. Please feel free to contact us again. Stephen E. Towne Indiana State Archives === REPLY === Dear Mr. Towne: Thank you very much for the trouble you have gone to, in order to give me this information.. For the record: In a short biographical sketch in a book, Warrick and It's Prominent People, edited by Will Fortune and published by The Courier Company , Evansville, Indiana,in 1881, it notes that Frederick Cook was born in Cambridgeshire, England, on May 18, 1847. It further states that he enlisted in Company "C." 63rd Indiana Regiment of Volunteers, when he was 14 years old, carrying a musket in the battles of Bull Run, Rasacca, Franklin, Nashville, Altoona Hills, Fort Anderson, and ten others of minor importance. His discharge states: Know ye, that Frederick Cook, a Corporal of Captain William Henderson's Company "C," 63rd Regiment of Volunteers, who was enrolled on the Fifth day of February, one thousand eigth hundred and sixty two, to serve three years, or during the war, is hereby Discharged from the service of the United States this Third day of May, 1865, at Indianapolis, Indiana, by reason of term of service having expired. (No objection to his being re-enlisted is known to exist*) Said Frederick Cook was born in England, State of -----------, is 16 years of age, 5 feet, 7 1/2 inches high, Light complexion, blue eyes, light hair, and by occupation when enrolled, a farmer. Given at Indianapolis, Ind., this third day of May, 1865. *This sentence will be erased should there be anything in the conduct or physical condition of the soldier rendering him unfit for the Army. Signature is illegible Capt. 18 Infantry Mustering Officer My grandfather, Edward Cook, son of Frederick, always told me that his father wrote "18" on a slip of paper, slipped it in his shoe, and when asked by the recruiter for his age, could honestly say, "I'm over 18." I always took this with a grain of salt until I saw an article by Bruce Catton, former Editor of American Heritage, in which he stated that thousands of young men, whose sense of honor would not permit them to lie but drawn irresistably by their patriotism, resorted to this very ploy that I had heard about as a young boy. So, you see, my great-grandfather was NOT a liar, he merely stretched the truth. Thanks again for your help. Robert B. Cook [email protected];.com --part1_0.fc4de68.252f7d6c_boundary--