The Coopers, Ch. 4

As if the loss of three family members was not enough for the Coopers to deal with, the conflict in Kansas erupted into Civil War just three months after Martha’s passing and it would not leave the Coopers unscathed.  The oldest of the Cooper boys, Theophilus, was 27 when war broke out and had already flown the nest to Arizona and New Mexico looking for gold.  It is unclear what 23 year old Peter Cooper Jr. was doing at the time, but no record has been found of him serving in the army although he did reside in Council Bluffs for the duration.  Of the Cooper boys, it was Isaac who was 21 at the time, and Richard Watson who was 17, who would get caught up in the conflict.

In March of 1859, Peter Cooper performed the marriage ceremony to unite his only other daughter,17 year old Lydia Mae, in marriage to Charles Hugh Hunter.  Over the next five years, the two gave Peter Cooper 4 more grandchildren.  Charles served in the Civil War with Company “K” of the Iowa Infantry and was severely wounded.  He died of his war injuries just two years after the end of the conflict on July 21^st, 1867.

Isaac Cooper was 21 when the Civil War erupted.  He enlisted with Co. F, 15th Iowa Infantry on November 18^th, 1861 as a Corporal and was promoted to Sergeant on August 25^th, 1862.  During the battle for Atlanta Georgia, on August 10, 1864, Isaac was wounded in the right shoulder, just 18 days after his brother Richard was taken prisoner in the same battle.  He recovered, and was promoted on December 17^th, 1864, to the rank of 1^st Sergeant.  Near the wars end, on January 5^th, 1865 he was promoted to the rank of 1^st Lieutenant and was mustered out of service at Louisville Kentucky on July 24^th, 1865.

Brother Richard Watson also saw service with Co. F, 15^th Iowa Volunteers, known as Crocker’s Brigade.  He was severely wounded in the ankle on April 6^th, 1862 at Shiloh but recovered well enough to continue his service.  He subsequently marched with General Sherman to the sea but was captured in the Battle for Atlanta on July 22, 1864 and served a short time in Andersonville Prison before he was released in an exchange.

The country was changing fast.  In 1869 the Transcontinental Railroad was completed at Promontory Point, Utah and suddenly, a trip from coast to coast that heretofore had taken 3 months, could be made in 7 days!  Railroads were being built all over the West, and this provided many jobs for the war weary populace.  These were “boom” years for the U.S. economy.  The women’s suffrage movement was underway with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton making headlines regularly.  In 1870, John D. Rockefeller gave birth to Standard Oil, ushering in the Industrial age of the nation.

Life was changing in America, evidenced by the fact that, during this era many sports games appeared on the scene.  The first football game was played between Rutgers and Princeton, and organized baseball appeared in the guise of the “Chicago Baseball Club” and the Cleveland “Forest Citys.”  It seems, for the first time in history, Americans finally had time for pursuits of leisure.  In 1873, barbed wire (pronounced Bob-War, in Oklahoma) finally solved the fencing problem that had plagued the plains states since the first settlements and Levi Strauss began manufacturing his famous jeans, selling for $1.13 a pair.

Even with all this progress, Indians were still an issue.  The “Sand Creek massacre in Colorado and the Sioux war of 1865 are examples, as is “Custer’s Last Stand” in 1876, and  “Wounded Knee” in 1890.  After “Wounded Knee,” things settled down considerably, but isolated incidents continued into the 1920’s.

After the war, things would never be the same for the Coopers.  There was some joy in the family when Lydia remarried to Alfred Emmott and gave Peter Cooper 4 more grandchildren to bounce on his knee, but the joy was short lived.  Soon after the birth of their fourth child, Ruey, in 1884, Alfred and Lydia relocated to Washington State.

 Lydia Cooper with 2nd husband Alfred Emmott, son George, and Daughter Ruey, about 1898

Peter’s son William went west to join his brother Theophilus “Theo” who had been in the Arizona gold country since 1859.  William never married and never returned home.  He owned a quartz gold mine 80 miles from railroad and spent some time in Tombstone when Wyatt Earp was there.  Will told his nephew, William H. Scott, who spent some time with him along the border, "I'll stay here until the railroad comes, or leave my bones here."  In his older years it finally came, and for a time he enjoyed the comforts he had worked so hard and long for.  This pioneer died in Tombstone, Arizona in 1939 and lies buried with his brother at Willcox, Arizona.

It is said that brother Theophilus, who had been in Arizona for many years, “was of the tall and agile type.  That he helped run down Geronimo, the noted Apache chieftain, and was unhorsed and badly wounded in those battles, two shots penetrating his lungs.”  The 1867 Arizona Territorial Census lists Theophilus Cooper living in Fort Goodwin, only a year after, the fort had been overrun by Geronimo and 2,000 braves and the entire garrison of 124 men slaughtered.  It is possible that Theo joined the re-manning of the fort to assist in avenging this outrage.

                                              Geronimo 1886

  Three years later, we find Theo back in civilian life prospecting in New Mexico.  The 1870 U.S. census of “Grant, New Mexico Territory” lists Theo as a “miner” living with 3 other characters.  Research shows that prospecting was a respectable career field in the late 1800’s.  Theo never “struck it rich” or found the mother lode, and that is probably why he returned to the military for employment in his later years.  The 1898 records of Fort Bowie, just 25 miles from Willcox, AZ, show Theophilus cooper attached to troop “C” of the 4^th Cavalry, as a civilian employee.  By then, Theo was 64 years old and is listed as a “lime burner and mason.”

Theo’s sister’s grandson, Cecil Hunter, tells this story of Theophilus: “…Theo was an Indian Scout for the Army for many years in the Southwest.  He was one of Frank Fair's favorite subjects and he told one story about his being ambushed by Indians while reconnoitering.  The others in his party were killed and scalped.  Theo Cooper was scalped too, but since he had a couple of arrows s ticking out of him, they took him for dead.  He lay there bleeding in the hot sun and the cold night until they found him the next day.  At the age of 9 or 10 I was enthralled by this story, but when I mentioned him to Gram [Lydia Cooper] one time she wrinkled up her nose and remembered him as dirty, bewhiskered, and tobacco-chewing, and said she'd been afraid of him.  My hero suddenly became an ordinary man.”

Theophilus Cooper filed for a pension from his military activities and the wounds he suffered from that endeavor.  He was granted a pension on July 2^nd, 1891.  It is not known when Theo passed away, but he probably did not last long into the 20^th century.  Family oral history tells us that Theo is buried with his brother in the cemetery at Willcox, Arizona.  I visited the cemetery, found a large monument for the Coopers