Page 49 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

Figure16. CSABrigadierGeneralSterlingPrice. Photo courtesy of the Museum of New Mexico, #10351.
39 in
One of the Mormons who had'medical
curealls.
experience, William L. McIntyre, was assigned to assist Sanderson but was permitted little oppor-
40
tumty to practice.
The Mormons had not yet arrived at Santa Fe when
GeneralKearnyorganizedaportionofhisforcesfor their march to California. Other larger segments of the Army of the West would remain to pacify New Mexico and prepare for a thrust directly south into the heart of the Mexican Empire. Kearny departed on September 25 with about 300 mule-mounted Dragoons, a small staff, including Topographical Engineer Lieutenant William Hemsley Emory, and
literally wrote the book on cavalry tactics.
a small wagon train.
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While encamped on the Rio
Grande near La Joya, Kearny learned of Colonel
Allen’s untimely death and on October 2 instructed
Captain Cooke, of the First Mounted Dragoons, to
return to Santa Fe and wait there for the Battalion
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Mormons’ desire to have one of their own men in
to arrive.
Kearny was not sympathetic to the
Chapter 2
35
charge. He wanted a strict disciplinarian and a regular army officer in charge of his strategic reserve.
Perhaps to compensate Cooke for the dis- appointment of missing out on the potential action, Kearny promoted him to Lieutenant Colonel of the volunteers, jumping over the rank of Major. With his dreams of glory in California completely in ruins, Cooke returned to Santa Fe to wait for the Mormon
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little south of Socorro, on October 5, Kearny met Christopher “Kit” Carson on his way east with messages from John Charles Fremont and others in California. Carson carried the erroneous information that the Mexicans there had capitulated, so Kearny stripped his commanddowntoabout110menand geared for rapid travel to the coast, leaving the entire task of opening a wagon road to
44 Cooke and the Mormons.
Cooke was a highly efficient career officer of the Mounted Dragoons. He was a 37- year-old strict disciplinarian, a rangy 6 feet 4 inches, and had a temper and vocabulary
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Battalion, and Kearny moved on.
A
Cooke’s family had settled in Virginia by the time he was born on June 13, 1809. The census of 1810 indicated the Cooke household consisted of the parents, 3 sons, 5 daughters, and 19 slaves, a more than average number for a physician. Cooke’s record at West Point was unspectacular, but hehadbecomeagoodsoldier. Hewasnotastranger to the New Mexico territory, for he had fought the Comanches and Kiowas on the Santa Fe Trail in 1829underMajorBennetRiley. DuringtheIndian wars in Illinois against the Sac and Fox tribes, he had led an assault on a Mississippi island to help finish
46
off the Black Hawk War in the summer of 1832. The cavalry had not existed in the United States Army prior to 1833, and Cooke not only participated in the events leading to its inception, but also he later
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In 1840, Cooke was placed under Kearny’s command for the first time and during the next 4 years was shielded by his commander from serious legal action at least three times for overzealous behavior. By 1843, Cooke had been back on the Santa Fe Trail, protect- ing Mexican and American caravans against Indians and “Texas Invincibles” led by the likes of “Colonel”
to match his red beard