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I am the great great grand nephew of General Crook. He was the Colonel and the commander of the 36th Ohio. His book, "General George Crook, His Autobiography". does not talk too much about individual soldiers, but gives very interesting details on the expolits of the 36th, including the famous battle of Antietam. The General was and is still one of the most respected men in American history. At the end of the Civil War he was sixth in command of the Union Army behind President Lincoln, Secretary Stanton, General Grant, General Sherman, and General Sheridan. Out west in the campaigns against the Native Americans, he successfully fought off the same group of Cheyenne and Sioux that killed Colonel Custer and his detachment. Later he captured both Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, effectively ending the Dakota Territory uprising. After this he became famous for sucessfully finding Geronimo and his band of Apache raiders and returning them to their reservation in the Arizona Territory. He always treated the Native Americans humanely and was respected by them for his warrior skills. He spent virtually all of his adult life in the field, in combat. They called him "Grey Wolf" and "Many Stars", for by now he was a Major General, and in the U.S. Army only General Sheridan outranked him. I heard the hero of the Gulf War, General Schwarzkopf, on TV call General Crook "The first of the modern generals", because of his belief in treating defeated peoples in a humane fashion. He died of natural caues at the fairly young age of 61 in 1890, or he might have become President. One person who served under him in the 36th Ohio did, his name was Rutherford B. Hayes.
It is too bad that we don't seem to have anyone of this calibre in the ranks of our military today. He might come in handy in tracking down the maniac Bin Laden and his lunatic followers.
Joseph Allen, Jr.
1-11-06
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