Shot While On His Back

Union General Robert Latimer McCook was killed August 6th 1862 killed near Huntsville, Alabama.


Robert Latimer McCook was born in New Lisbon, Ohio December 28th 1827. He read for the bar in Steubenville, Ohio in the office of Edwin M Stanton and his father Daniel McCook, and then moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where he opened a practice.

McCook organized the 9th Ohio Infantry at the start of the Civil War. This was a regiment made up mostly of German immigrants, and he was commissioned their Colonel May 6th 1861. During Union General George B McClellan’s campaign in western Virginia, McCook commanded a brigade, and saw action at Rich Mountain and Carnifex Ferry. After this he was transferred to the Army of the Ohio, where his brigade saw action in January 1862 at the Battle of Mill Springs. McCook was wounded there during a bayonet charge, and received a promotion to Brigadier General. He returned to his command before fully recovered, and found traveling on horseback was impossible. He was shot during a skirmish near Huntsville, Alabama with the Confederate 4th Alabama Cavalry led by Captain Frank B Gurley. Shot in the stomach, possibly while lying defenseless in an ambulance, the wound was mortal, and he died August 6th 1862. He is buried in the Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio.