John Esten Cooke
John Esten Cooke was an American novelist and the younger brother of noted poet Philip Pendleton Cooke. Born in 1830, he spent his early years in Winchester, Virginia, before moving to Richmond at the age of nine. Cooke began studying law in his father's office but soon turned to writing, publishing poetry and prose in various periodicals by 1848. He achieved significant success with his novel *The Virginia Comedians* and went on to publish a total of thirty-one works during his lifetime.
A staunch supporter of secession, Cooke served in the Confederate army throughout the Civil War, advancing to the rank of captain. His experiences during the war deeply influenced his writing, including works like *The Life of Stonewall Jackson* and the novels *Surry of Eagle's-Nest* and *Mohun*, which are among the earliest depictions of the Civil War in fiction. After the war, he settled in Clarke County, Virginia, where he balanced writing with farming. His later works include *The Heir of Gaymount* and *My Lady Pokahontas*, reflecting themes of Southern agriculture and early colonial history. Cooke passed away in 1886 from typhoid fever and was regarded as a prominent Romantic novelist of Virginia.
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John Esten Cooke
- Born: November 3, 1830
- Birthplace: Winchester, Virginia
- Died: September 27, 1886
- Place of death: Boyce, Virginia
American novelist
Biography
The American novelist John Esten Cooke was the younger brother of Philip Pendleton Cooke, the noted poet and story writer of the antebellum South. John Esten Cooke spent his early boyhood on a farm near Winchester, Virginia, but his family moved to Richmond when he was nine years old. In 1846, although he had wanted to attend the University of Virginia, he began to read law in his father’s office. By 1848, he had published some poetry and prose, including pieces in Harper’s Monthly and The Southern Literary Messenger; he also edited The Southern Literary Messenger for short periods in 1851 and 1854. His first real success came with the publication of The Virginia Comedians, the first of the thirty-one books to be published before his death.
During the 1850’s, Cooke was an ardent proponent of secession, and he served in the Confederate army throughout the Civil War, rising from the rank of private to that of captain. During the war years, he found time to write The Life of Stonewall Jackson, the pioneer study of the Confederate tactician and general.
Following Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Cooke returned to civilian life in Virginia and turned again to fiction. He wove his war experience into Surry of Eagle’s-Nest and Mohun, which belong to the earliest novels about the Civil War. In 1867, he married Mary Francis Page and settled at The Briers, in Clarke County, Virginia, where he divided his time between writing and farming. During this later period in his career, his work was varied. The Heir of Gaymount carries the theme that the best answer to the South’s postwar problems is agriculture. My Lady Pokahontas is a novel about the early days of Virginia as a British colony. Virginia is a history of colonial times. During the 1870’s, Cooke also wrote A Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee and a volume of essays on the Civil War and related military topics, Hammer and Rapier. At the time of his untimely death in 1886 of typhoid fever, Cooke was recognized as the Romantic novelist of Virginia.
Bibliography
Beaty, John O. John Esten Cooke, Virginian. 1922. Reprint. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1965.
Bratton, Mary Jo. “John Esten Cooke and His ‘Confederate Lies.’” Southern Literary Journal 13 (Spring, 1981).
Bredahl, Carl. “Responding to the ‘Airplant’ Tradition: John Cooke’s My Lady Pokahontas.” Southern Literary Journal 21 (Fall, 1988).
Brumm, Ursula. “Definitions of Southern Identity in the Civil War Novels of John Esten Cooke.” In Rewriting the South: History and Fiction, edited by Hönnighausen Lothar and Valeria Gennaro Lerda. Tübingen, Germany: Francke, 1993.
Collins, Carvel. “John Esten Cooke and Local Color.” Southern Literary Messenger, n.s. 6 (1944).
Gladsky, Thomas. “John Esten Cooke’s My Lady Pokahontas: The Popular Novel on History.” Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South 23 (Fall, 1984).
Wegelin, Oscar. A Bibliography of the Separate Writings of John Esten Cooke. Metuchen, N.J.: C. F. Heartman, 1925.