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Col. Philip St. George Cooke
June 13, 1809 – March 20, 1895
Impartial friend, humanitarian, soldier, dedicated to the west unequivocally loyal to the Union, Col. Cooke commanded the Mormon Battalion on the greater part of its historic march which contributed to bringing Western America under the Stars & Stripes.
Cooke helped establish Camp Floyd in 1858 and was from August 1860 to July 1861 the commanding officer of the Military Department of Utah, earning the respect and gratitude of the Mormon people. When many persons defected to the south including Sec. of War John B. Floyd and General Albert Sidney Johnston, he changed the name of the post to Fort Crittenden February 6, 1861.
Cooke received orders via Pony Express in May 1861, to abandon the fort and return the remnants of Johnston’s Army to Fort Leavenworth. Assigned to the defense of the Nation’s Capitol, he was given the rank of Brigadier General.
This historic marker was placed by the Sons of Utah Pioneers (see their other markers here) in Fairfield, Utah.
