biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1829–90)
|
| biography:
| US soldier, born near Dayton, Ohio, USA. A tough, fearless soldier and an efficient commander, he trained at West Point (1852) and obtained several important commands during the Civil War. He led a Union brigade at Antietam, MD (1862) and a corps under Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley (1864), where he fought at Winchester, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek. Best-remembered as a fighter against the Indians, he pacified Apaches under Cochise (1871–3) and, during the Sioux War (1876), was defeated by Crazy Horse at Rosebud Creek. Crook's forces remained in the field for nearly a year during the Sioux campaign, an epic of hardship and endurance, and later fought Geronimo's Apaches in Arizona (1882–3). For all his fierceness in battle, he was ‘more prone to pardon than to punish’, according to one authority. Unlike many fellow officers, he respected his Indian adversaries and believed they should be granted the full privileges of citizenship. |
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