George Crook was born on September 8th 1828 on a farm near Dayton, Ohio to parents Thomas and Elizabeth Crook. He was recommended by Congressman Robert Schenck for induction in the United States Military Academy. He was a mediocre student but graduated in 1852 and was assigned to the 4th U.S. infantry where he served in the Pacific Northwest helping to repel the uprisings of several Native American tribes.
Pitt River Expedition
George Crook commanded the Pitt River Expedition in 1850 during the Indian Wars in California. The conflict became escalated due to the California Gold Rush. The Pit River is one of the tributaries of the Sacramento River and was of extreme military importance during the conflict with Native American tribes in the region.
It was during these years of service that Crook became intimately familiar with the behaviors and customs of the Native Americans and learned respect for their prowess. He was severely wounded during the campaign by an Indian arrow but recovered from his wounds.
U.S. Civil War
In 1861 he was promoted and reassigned as Colonel of the 36th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Then the Civil War erupted and he accepted a commission and was promoted to Brigadier General in 1862. Crook saw action in many famous battles such as, Antietam, The Battle of Chickamauga, and Appomattox just to name a few.
In 1864-1865 he took part in the destruction of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroads and was involved in the battles of Opequon, Fishers Hill, and Cedar Creek. He was captured by Confederates in 1865 in Maryland and held as a prisoner of war in Richmond, Virginia, but was later released in a prisoner exchange.
Crook finished his Civil War Career as the commander of a cavalry division in the Army of the Potomac and served during the famous Appomattox Campaign. When the war ended he took the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and moved back out west with the 23rd Infantry on frontier duty once again against the Paiute tribes.
Indian Wars
After his forces subdued the Paiute tribes of the Pacific Northwest he was reassigned and given a much tougher assignment. He was sent to Arizona to do battle with the rebels Cochise and Geronimo. Crook fought the Lakota Apaches at the Battle of Rosebud in 1876 and Cochise and the majority of the tribal chiefs were relocated to reservation and a brief peace ensued.
Crazy Horse surrendered to crook in 1877 but Geronimo refused to give up the fight an remained free with his band of Chiricahua raiding and killing at will. Geronimo had the greatest of respect for George Crook and nicknamed him “Grey Fox.”
Geronimo remained elusive but was finally forced to surrender to General Nelson Miles in 1886 and was relocated multiple times to prison camps throughout the country and was never allowed to return home again.
George Crook finished his military career as Commander of the Division of the Missouri with the rank of Major General. He spoke out frequently against the unfair treatment of Geronimo and other Native Americans he spent so many years fighting against. He felt the Indians were a noble people and considered them an honored enemy. “Red Cloud” a war leader of the Lakota once said, of Crook “He never lied to us, his words gave us hope.”
George Crook died suddenly in Chicago on March 21st 1890 at the age of sixty-one and was later buried with honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
See also: Geronimo
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