The Fighting McCooks

In this compelling narrative, former Congressman Charles Whalen and his wife, Barbara, meticulously follow the Fighting McCooks across forty-six battlefields vividly describing their heroic and patriotic feats. In addition to providing a fascinating account of the McCook men and the women whom they loved, the Whalens capture the political, military, and social climate of the time. This is not only a story about war. This is a story about life in early America. Thanks to twenty years of research and writing, the story of this legendary family and one of America’s most self-sacrificing families of all time is finally seeing the light of day. From the first shot fired in the Civil War to the last, the Fighting McCooks were an ever-present force on the battlefield, in Washington, and beyond. Their lives were intimately intertwined with the most powerful men of the time, including President Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, and General Ulysses S. Grant. But the McCooks were just as comfortable on the front line of battle fighting shoulder to shoulder with their compatriots. Heroic and bold, they fought on forty-six battlefields. No major battle took place in the western theater of war that did not include at least one of the seventeen Fighting McCooks. When war broke out, the McCooks were as diverse as any large family and nearly all were college educated. They were doctors, lawyers, businessmen, politicians, and judges. Two were West Point and Naval Academy graduates. Yet they all had a common thread, they were determined to save the Union. In their quest, three became major generals, three brigadier generals, one naval lieutenant, four surgeons, two colonels, one major, one lieutenant, one private, and one chaplain. Four gave their lives.