At Carlisle Barracks in early 1852, Lt Col Cooke feuds with Capt John Love

A formation of cavalry troops at Carlisle Barracks, April 1861

Photographer:  Charles Lochman.

The original of this image is held in the Cumberland County Historical Society in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Update:  For Love's side, see part of his 1851 complaint here.

In a previous post we showed how the popularity of "Human Destiny" pontificators really annoyed the narrator of Scenes Beyond the Western Border, and Herman Melville--at about the same time, and just when Orville Dewey was wowing New York crowds in January and February 1852 with his popular lecture series on "The Problem of Human Destiny."

To get at this another way, we might ask, what was Philip St George Cooke doing during the writing of this:

 C.  "But even science is at fault—philosophy at a discount. The public mind is occupied with the theorism of demagogues and infidels, who, abandoning themselves to licentious speculations on human destiny, attract multitudes of fanatical followers, whose minds they bewilder, and whose morals they debase." (June 1852; and Scenes and Adventures in the Army)

In early 1852 Cooke was still commander of the post at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, in charge of recruiting for cavalry service and training new recruits. Biographer Otis E. Young could only guess at Cooke's daily activities:

"In the absence of his diaries, only conjecture can supply the details of Major Cooke's life during his stay at Carlisle Barracks."  (The West of Philip St George Cooke p243)

However, with records from the National Archives now conveniently accessible through Fold3, a good deal more can now be said.  In 1852 alone Cooke wrote at least 47 letters to the Adjutant General.  Letters from Cooke to the AGO show one thing Cooke was definitely doing at Carlisle Barracks in January and February 1852, and that is feuding with John Love (1820-1881).  The Indiana Historical Society holds a collection of John Love Papers which I have not yet seen, as does the University of Michigan, but documents in the National Archives tell Cooke's side of the story.

On February 8, 1852 Cooke confided:

his [John Love's] coming here on the 17^th January—without authority—and failing in his duty to report to me, was it appears, the second time he has done the same thing.  His conduct now—whether to have cause of complaint or not—is a defiance of legal orders and authority.

I strive to maintain discipline; but do so with all kindness & courtesy until it is repelled, & misunderstood; but I cannot maintain discipline, and respect—my own respect—for my station, if this officer is sustained in his course.  Consequently, under par. 757 of the regulations, I report that the good of the service demands that Capt. Love be sent to his company.

On Valentine's Day 1852, Cooke forwarded to the AGO with his January accounts, a letter he had written Love at the recruiting station in Harrisburg on February 12, 1852:

Sir,

I have just received back your monthly return for January uncorrected; you say you “can find no error” in it.

I have your December return before me which you sent to me wrong; not making “transferred to principal Depot,” the seven men which came here “December 18th & 31^st.  I returned it for correction and it came back with that error corrected, and reads, “1, total of parties and recruits present & absent.”  …I had to write to you January 7^th to correct still another error, viz: “Insert in your retained copy of your monthly return 1 “joined from General Depot, and it will then be complete.”  This showed plainly that I not only took pains to instruct you to make the return right, but to inform you of your duty to keep a correct office copy.  Now, in the uncorrected January return, you report that “Total of parties & recruits last return,” 8:  that return says, “1”;--  The  January Return gives your num comm'd per party “2,” & disposable recurits "1"; these form, of course, your “total of parties & recruits”; well, 2 & 1 make 3, but you report “6.”  Now could you not find out these errors?

All this confusion arose in the enlisting and sending off but eleven men, & in about six weeks, an account which it seems to me, you could have kept without the assistance of pen and paper.

But, I sent back your January return with the usual sum (in addition and substraction) of proof, plainly marked in pencil:  thus,

8
4
1
13
  3
10

This I thought would indicate to you at least one error; viz. that according to your return you had 10 total of parties & recruits to account for, instead of 6, as you have it.  But it appears the Adjutant General thought the error of your report “apparent on its face,” without the assistance of these significant pencil marks, for it shows, they have been rubbed off.

I trust that now, you will be able to send me a correct return for January.  The errors were so palpable to me, that I did not think it necessary to point them out at first more particularly than I did; if you had asked me, I would with pleasure have given you all this information; & with our close vicinity, a correct return could, long ago, have been received; but, even now you do not ask to have the errors pointed out, but report that you cannot find them.

I cannot possibly grant the leave of absence you have asked, until this duty be satisfactorily performed. 

I am sir,
Respectfully,
Yr. ob't serv't
P St Geo Cooke
Maj. 2nd Drag[oon]s B[revet] Lt Col.
Superintendent

Below, a link to the page from the February 12, 1852 letter at fold3.com  Check it out and see the pains Cooke takes to correct Love's arithmetic:

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