Philip St. George Cocke (1850s - VMI Archives)
The New-York Times of May 9, 1861 continues its war of words by brashly putting down General Cocke and his brash words:
A Cocke in Search of a Fight. …
Brig. Gen. COCKE (we never saw Gen. COCKE. We never heard of him. We didn’t know there was such a man in existence. What his birth-piece or lineage may be, we cannot tell. Whether he is of plebeian origin or an F.F.V., we have not the slightest idea. That he is a Brigadier-General, and at the present speaking hails from Virginia, seems to be a fixed fact. At all events we shall enter into no controversy on the subject, assuming the truth to be as stated. That he commands the “Military troops and defences on the Potomac border of Virginia,” we shall take for granted according to his own showing.)
Brig.-Gen COCKE. (What particular breed of birds this COCKE may be of, we are totally unable to state. Whether he belongs to the English pheasant, the Irish grey, or the Mexican chicken, or neither, we have no knowledge whatever. Indeed, we are by no means certain that he belongs to the genus game-cock at all. From his crow we are led to entertain doubts on this subject. It is too harsh and coarse; it lacks the clear, metallic, ringing sound of your true game fowl. It is more like the roar of the Shanghai or the growl of the Chittagong. Then, too, it has the deep guttural of the Burham pooter mingled with the hoarse cackle of the Dorking. Still, he may be game for all that. We do not say he is not. All we venture to assert is, that notwithstanding the magnificence of his strut, he does not crow altogether like your quietly courageous and moderately brave game fowl.)
Cocke's Command: Arlington (née
Alexandria) County 1878
Brig.-Gen. COCKE, (what queer names they do put in commission down South, as if they were intended to frighten us “shoemakers and greasy operatives” here at the North, by the terror of the names they give their great men. Here is a general whose very cognomen is suggestive of pluck, bravery, endurance, a fight-till-you-die perseverance that delights in nothing so much as broken heads, broken necks and backs, of cutting and slashing, wounding, maiming and killing, in all sorts of ways exceedingly shocking to the nerves of timid people.)
Brig.-Gen. COCKE, (here we go off in parenthesis again, but we can’t help it. When Brigadler-Generals, especially if their name is COCKE, issue pronunciamientos and proclamations to “brave Virginians,” who are called upon to protect their native soil, to go in to the death in “preventing the desecration of the tomb of WASHINGTON by hordes of Northern foes,” something, we submit, has get to be done. The world must be notified of the prodigious fact, that Brig.-Gen. COCKE is out with his spurs sharpened, his comb shaved and his feathers trimmed for a fight, and unless due caution be observed, somebody will be hurt.)
Brig.-Gen. COCKE, (this parenthesis will be the death of us, we know it will; but we should like to be informed whether he holds his rank under Virginia, or the C.S.A., for when you come to hang a general for treason, it is a pleasant thing to know who signed hiscommission.)
Cocke, another defender of Washington's grave (LOC - LC-USZ62-48264)
Brig.-Gen. COCKE has issued a proclamation. He is to “take position in front of Washington,” how near or how far off does not appear. But it is to be directly in front, right before that front which looks over into Virginia, with a clear course behind him and plenty of room, so that if discretion shall be more judicious than valor, Gen. COCKE can run for it. But there is comfort as well as terror in the General’s proclamation. He says, “The Capital has never been threatened by us. It is not now threatened. It is beyond and outside of the limits of the free and sovereign State of Virginia.” Thank God for that. Unless somebody steals the Capital and carries it down within the limits of the “free and sovereign States,” it will be for the present safe. So long as it remains on the north side of the Potomac, Brig.-Gen. COCKE (Caesar! what a plebeian name for a Virginia general!) will only crow in front of it.
But, says the General, “The North has not openly, and according to the usage of civilized nations, declared war on us. We shall make no war on them.” Comforting again. So long as we don’t declare war against Virginia we shall be safe. Her legions won’t invade, nor her armies tramp over us. We can eat our bread in peace. Hear Brig.-Gen. COCKE again: “But should the soil of Virginia or the grave of WASHINGTON be polluted by the tread of a single man in arms from north of the Potomac, it will cause open war!” Hear that and tremble, ye “shoemakers and greasy operatives” of the North. Hear that, ye John Browns, who, with your seventeen white men and five negroes, sent an ague chill of terror thrilling through all the nerves of Virginia. Hear it, ye nineteen millions of free and loyal men of the North, and let your hearts quake and your knees smite together with fear. One footprint of a Northern man “on the soil of Virginia,” and Brig.-Gen. COCKE, who has taken “position in front of Washington,” will be down upon you like a torrent from the mountain, — like an avalanche from the Alps, — like an eagle in his stoop. …
There is another editorial in the sames issue of The Times that criticizes the whole idea of Virginia seceding and joining the likes of South Carolina: “the verriest bantam of the secession brood, to flap its puny wings and crow so defiantly, is one of the jokes of the age.” The editorial bashes the words of Cocke, Letcher, Pickens, and Jeff. Davis. This is the proclamation of General Cocke that all the fuss is about:
“The Capital has never been threatened by us. It is not now threatened. It is beyond and outside the limits of the free and sovereign State of Virginia. The North has not openly, and according to the usage of civilized nations, declared war on us. We make no war on them — but should the soil of Virginia, or the grave of WASHINGTON, be polluted by the tread of a single man in arms from north of the Potomac, it will cause open war.”
The Times makes the point that there will definitely be war because the federal troops are definitely going to take Arlington Heights because the place commands the federal capital. And this is in no way coercive because Virginia ceded Arlington when Washington, D.C. was created. It was only given back to Virginia in 1846-1847.
In addition to organizing Virginia’s defenses along the Potomac Philip St. George Cocke led troops at Blackburn’s Ford and First Bull Run. He committed suicide in December 1861.
