Douglas H. Cooper
This article is about the Civil War general. For the novelist, please see Douglas Anthony Cooper.Douglas Hancock Cooper (
November 1,
1815 -
April 29,
1879) was an Indian Agent in what is now
Oklahoma, and later a
Confederate general during the
American Civil War.
Cooper was born
November 1,
1815, most likely in
Amite County, Mississippi. His father David was a physician and
Baptist minister. Cooper attended the
University of Virginia from
1832 until
1834, where his classmates included future Civil War generals
Carnot Posey,
Lafayette McLaws, and
John B. Magruder. Cooper returned home to take up farming in
Wilkinson County, Mississippi. He married Mary Collins of
Natchez and had 7 children. Entering politics, he was elected in
1844 to serve in the Mississippi State Legislature. Cooper raised a regiment during the
Mexican-American War, the 1st Mississippi Rifles, and served as its
captain. He was cited for bravery and gallantry at the
Battle of Monterrey.
In
1853, through the influence of
Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, who had served with Cooper at the Mexican War
Battle of Buena Vista, President
Franklin Pierce appointed Cooper as the Federal agent to the
Choctaw tribe. Cooper helped peaceably
remove them to
Indian Territory. Three years later, he also became the agent to the
Chickasaw tribe, who respected and trusted Cooper and soon officially adopted him as a full member.
In
1861 with the outbreak of the Civil War, Cooper sided with the
Confederacy. In May,
Secretary of War Leroy Pope Walker sent Cooper a letter authorizing him to "take measures to secure the protection of these tribes in their present country from the agrarian rapacity of the North" He raised a regiment known as the 1st Choctaw and Chickasaw Mounted Rifles and was commissioned as its
colonel. Given brigade command, Cooper pursued the
Creek Indian leader
Opothleyahola in November and December when the latter led his loyal
Union followers toward
free state Kansas. Cooper's brigade fought at the battles of
Round Mountain and
Chusto-Talasah, winning a decisive victory at
Chustenahlah.
In
1862, Cooper led Confederate troops at the battles of
Elkhorn Tavern,
Newtonia and
Honey Springs. He was promoted to
brigadier general on
May 2,
1863, and given the district command of Indian Territory on
September 29. Rumors circulated that the Indians were dissatisfied with Cooper. To refute this, letters of support from Indian leaders were sent to
Richmond, Virginia, to President
Jefferson Davis. Cooper commanded the "Indian Brigade" in Maj. Gen.
Sterling Price's second invasion of
Missouri in
1864.
After the war, Cooper continued to live in the Indian Territory and was an ardent supporter of Choctaw and Chickasaw land claims against the Federal government. He died
April 29,
1879, at Fort Washita (in what is now
Bryan County, Oklahoma) and was buried in the fort cemetery in an unmarked grave.
* Warner, Ezra J.,
Generals in Gray, Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0807108235
* U.S. War Department,
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 70 volumes in 4 series. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1880-1901.
*
Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp #819*
Cooper biography by Addison Hart
