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Re: Cook's Battalion
In Response To: Cook's Battalion ()

Some info and speculation.

The battalion is mentioned in a list of deaths of prisoners taken during Price’s Raid in the Washington Telegraph for 15 March 1865. A Private Nathan N. Baker of Company A, Cook’s Battalion is listed. Baker’s single CSR record confirms his rank, unit and death but provides no other information. The unit is not mentioned in the order of battle for Price’s Raid given in Banasik, Part 5. A reference in the OR also mentions Cook’s battalion and queries whether it had been entirely dismounted in March 1865 (Vol.48, Part 1, p.1446).

Cook has yet to be definitely identified but the best candidate would appear to be Capt. Martin V. Cook of Company I, Hawthorn’s Arkansas Infantry. A Confederate pension application for a Thomas N. Adkins gives his unit as M. V. Cook’s Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Ancestry - Arkansas U.S., Confederate Pensions, 1901-1929). Cook’s CSR records show him elected as a Major on 26 August 1864. He is mentioned as being attached to Wright’s Regiment (12th Arkansas Cavalry) of Slemons’ Brigade.

An alternative theory involves a Capt. A. V. Cook who is mentioned along with a Lieut. A. C. Sharp in the OR (Vol.41, Part 2, p.1043) commanding a company of scouts in August 1864. An A. V. Cook is not listed in CSR. CSR also does not list a Lieut. Sharp in M. V. Cook’s company. However, CSR Miscellaneous has a record for a Capt. A. C. Sharp as an officer in Slemons’ Brigade in September 1864. The records state that he was elected Captain on 27 August 1864 and was believed to belong to a company in Polk’s (Hawthorn’s) Regiment and that he was also attached to Wright’s Regiment. This is uncannily similar to M. V. Cook’s CSR record. A. V. Cook’s initials may therefore be a transposition error. It is possible that, when M. V. Cook was promoted to Major in August 1864, Lieut. Sharp was promoted to fill his captaincy a day later.

Information regarding the battalion’s actual composition and service has yet to be found.

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