William Gordon Cooke

Under Sam Houston's first presidency, Major Cooke briefly served as chief clerk of the Texas Department of War, and was subsequently appointed stock commissioner 1836, acting secretary of war 1836, inspector-general 1837, and quartermaster-general 1838. President Lamar appointed him commissary of subsistence 1839, one of the commissioners to sign treaties with the Comanches 1840, and as such participating in the Council House Fight in San Antonio. Later the same year, Cooke became colonel of the First Regiment of Infantry, being the last commanding officer of the regular Texas army.^[4][7][9] As such, Colonel Cooke was in charge of building the military road from Preston on the Red River to Austin, and constructing Fort Johnson near the present town of Denison.^[10][11]

After the disbandment of the regular Texas army in 1841, Colonel Cooke was offered to run for vice president of the Republic, but he declined and was appointed senior civilian member of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition the same year.^[7][8] The aim of the expedition was to persuade those of the people of New Mexico who lived within the Texas' claims, to accept allegiance to the Republic. Almost lost and starving, the expedition made contact with the Mexican authorities when a vanguard was surrounded and taken prisoners on September 15, 1841. Two days later the main expedition was surrounded by superior forces, and Colonel Cooke surrendered. The members of the expedition were made Mexican prisoners, marched to Mexico City, and kept incarcerated.^[12] The captivity lasted until the summer of 1842, when everyone except José Antonio Navarro was set free. Colonel Cooke stayed in Mexico City recovering in the residence of the American minister Waddy Thompson Jr., before he and the American born members of the expedition were sent home courtesy of the United States Government.^[13]

Back in Texas, Colonel Cooke participated in the defeat of Mexican General Adrián Woll at Arroyo Hondo in 1842, where he was lightly wounded by a grape shot.^[14] President Houston appointed him quartermaster-general, which did not stop him from joining Edwin Ward Moore's expedition to Yucatán aboard the sloop-of-war Austin, and took part in the sea battle of Campeche 1843. After returning home the same year, Colonel Cooke was appointed adjutant-general of Texas militia. The following year, he married a niece of José Antonio Navarro, and was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. Within short, however, President Jones appointed him secretary of war (the last to hold the post).^[4][7][15]

When the United States annexed Texas, Colonel Cooke unsuccessfully ran for the United States Congress, and was then appointed first Adjutant General of the State of Texas by Governor Henderson. However, he died already next year of tuberculosis, leaving behind a widow and a young son.^[4][7][15]

• Anonymous (2001). The Sons of the Republic of Texas. Paducah, Ky. : Turner Pub. Co.
• Brown, Gary (1999). The New Orleans Greys. Republic of Texas Press.
• Brown, Gary (2000). Hesitant Martyr of the Texas Revolution. Republic of Texas Press.
• Frazer, Robert W. (1965). Forts of the West. University of Oklahoma Press.
• Miller, Edward L. (2004). New Orleans and the Texas Revolution. Texas A & M University Press.
• Moore, Stephen L. (2005–2010). Savage Frontier. University of North Texas Press.
• Thompson, Waddy (1847). Recollections of Mexico. New York.
• Warren, Harry (1906). "Col. William G. Cooke." The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Vol. 9, No. 3: 210–219.
• Yoakum, Henderson K. (1855). History of Texas. New York.