Ohio native Cyrus W. Cook (1829-1870) married Sarah Foote in Colchester, Connecticut in 1851. The Cooks had three children and lived on a farm in Colchester at the start of the Civil War. Cook enlisted as a Sergeant in Company H, 21st Connecticut Infantry on August 12, 1862. The following year, Cook was transferred to Company C and promoted to 1st Lieutenant.
In the spring of 1864, Cook requested permission to resign from his post in a letter to General Benjamin “Beast” Butler citing the well being of his family. The correspondence was detailed in the Crawford County Forum of Bucyrus, Ohio on May 13: “The fact that his farm was going to ruin for want of help, his wife was worn out with care and threatened with serious illness, and his children were almost destitute…The “Beast,” in his rely, insulted all parties, refused to accept the resignation, intimated that Cook lied, and treated the matter of an ill wife and destitute children with flippancy and disrespect…” Cook remained in the military and was promoted once again to Captain of Company I in November, 1864. He mustered out on June 16, 1865.
Cook returned to his family farm in Colchester in the postwar period. Sadly, he died of tuberculosis in February 1870, a disease that likely claimed his daughter later in November, his wife the following year, and his son in 1875. The family is buried in Linwood Cemetery in Colchester.
