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The Tragic History of the U.S. Child Warriors

Khalid Elhassan June 9, 2020 34 min

21. An Encore at Gettysburg

John Cook’s final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery. Antietam’s Cornfield

John Cook was not done with displays of exceptional valor. A year after his exploits at Antietam, he once again performed heroic deeds, this time at the Battle of Gettysburg. Serving as a messenger, he frequently ran to and fro, across a half-mile stretch of open ground that was swept by enemy fire in order to deliver his messages.

He also helped destroy an artillery caisson in order to prevent its capture by advancing Rebels. After the war, Cook settled in Washington, DC, and joined the federal civil service as an employee of the Government Printing Office. He died in 1915, a week shy of his 68th birthday, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.