Francis Cockrell

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Francis Cockrell
William Warner
Personal details
Born
Francis Marion Cockrell

(1834-10-01)October 1, 1834
1st Missouri Infantry Regiment
Commands2nd Missouri Infantry Regiment
First Missouri Brigade
French's Division
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War
Cockrell in military uniform, January 1864
Relief portrait by Allen George Newman at Vicksburg National Military Park

Francis Marion Cockrell (October 1, 1834 – December 13, 1915) was a

United States senator from Missouri for five terms. He was a prominent member of the famed South–Cockrell–Hargis family of Southern
politicians.

Early life and family

Cockrell was born in

Jeremiah Vardaman Cockrell, who was a congressman from Texas in the 1890s. Francis Cockrell attended local schools and Chapel Hill College in Lafayette County, Missouri, graduating in July 1853; He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1855, practicing law in Warrensburg until the outbreak of the Civil War.[1]

Cockrell was married three times. His first wife, Arthusa Dorcas Stapp (1830–1859), with whom he had three sons. His second wife, Anna E. Mann (1840–1871) of Kentucky, died of consumption. In July 1873, he married Anna Ewing (1846–1894), the eldest daughter of Judge Ephraim Brevard Ewing from Missouri.[2]

Civil War

At the beginning of the

XVII Corps off the hill. He also took part in the Battle of Big Black River Bridge. His brigade was able to escape just before federal troops seized the bridge.[3][4] He was wounded in the hand by an exploding shell during the Siege of Vicksburg
.

Cockrell was promoted to

Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864. In 1865, Cockrell commanded a division in defence of Fort Blakeley, Alabama. On April 9, 1865, shortly before the war ended, Cockrell was captured there but was paroled on May 14.[1][4] Cockrell's First Missouri Brigade was considered one of the finest on either side, and Cockrell himself is widely recognized as one of the best combat brigadiers of the entire war.[citation needed
] After the war ended, he returned to his law practice in Missouri.

Postbellum career

In 1874, Cockrell, who became a member of the

United States Democratic Party, was elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri by the state legislature. His first and only elected office,[5] he served in the Senate from 1875 to 1905,[1] when he retired. He held several committee chairmanships, including the chairmanships of the Claims Committee, Engrossed Bills Committee and Appropriations Committee during his senate career. He received 42 votes for President of the United States at the 1904 Democratic National Convention, but was defeated by Alton B. Parker
.

He was appointed to the Interstate Commerce Commission by President Theodore Roosevelt[1] in 1905, serving in that capacity until 1910. In 1911, he was appointed commissioner to negotiate the boundaries between the state of Texas and the New Mexico Territory,[1] which was about to become a state. In 1913, Woodrow Wilson appointed him as the civilian member on the Board of Ordnance and Fortifications for the War Department, where he served until his death in Washington, D.C.[1]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Former Senator Cockrell is Dead". Evening Star. Washington DC. December 13, 1915. p. 2. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  2. ^ "Mrs. Cockrell's Life Ends". Mexico Weekly Ledger. Mexico, Missouri. January 11, 1894. p. 2. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  3. ^ "Civil War Correspondence of Col. Francis M. Cockrell". James and Rebecca Drake. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c Eicher, p. 179.
  5. ^ "Cockrell is Dead". The Topeka State Journal. Topeka, Kansas. December 13, 1915. Retrieved January 14, 2016.

References

External links
U.S. Senate
Preceded by
James Shields, George G. Vest, William J. Stone
 		Succeeded by
William Warner
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