Francis Cockrell

Francis Cockrell
United States Senator from Missouri
In office March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1905
Preceded by	Carl Schurz
Succeeded by	William Warner
Personal details
Born	Francis Marion Cockrell October 1, 1834 Warrensburg, Missouri
Died	December 13, 1915 (aged 81) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Democratic

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.

Early life and family

Cockrell was born in Warrensburg, Missouri. 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.^[1]

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.^[2]

Civil War

At the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861, Cockrell joined the Missouri State Guard as a captain.^[1] After transferring to the Confederate army and being promoted to colonel, he was an important leader in the Vicksburg Campaign and was wounded in the hand by an exploding shell during the Siege of Vicksburg. Cockrell 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.^[3]

Cockrell was promoted to brigadier general on July 18, 1863.^[4] 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). On April 9, 1865, shortly before the end of the war, Cockrell was captured at Fort Blakely, Alabama, but was paroled on May 14.^[1] His 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. He returned to his law practice in Missouri.

Postbellum career

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,^[5] he served in the Senate from 1875 to 1905,^[1] 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^[1] 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,^[1] 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.^[1]

See also

• List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)

Notes

1. "Former Senator Cockrell is Dead". Evening Star (Washington DC). December 13, 1915. p. 2. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
2. "Mrs. Cockrell's Life Ends". Mexico Weekly Ledger (Mexico, Missouri). January 11, 1894. p. 2. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
3. "Civil War Correspondence of Col. Francis M. Cockrell". James and Rebecca Drake. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
4. Eicher, p. 179.
5. "Cockrell is Dead". The Topeka State Journal (Topeka, Kansas). December 13, 1915. Retrieved 14 January 2016.

References

• Bailey, Anne, "Francis Marion Cockrell", The Confederate General, Vol. 2, Davis, William C., and Julie Hoffman (eds.), National Historical Society, 1991, ISBN 0-918678-64-1.
• Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
• Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4.
• Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.
• Williamson, Hugh P. "Correspondence of Senator Francis Marion Cockrell: December 23, 1885-March 24, 1888." Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society 28 (July 1969): 296-305.

External links

"Francis Cockrell". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2008-02-13.