General George Crook, commander of the Kanawha Division of the Army of West Virginia. George Crook was born near Dayton Ohio, September 8, 1828, and graduated from West Point in 1852. He was appointed Colonel of the 36th Ohio Infantry in September of 1861, conducting operations in western Virginia. After being wounded at the battle of Lewisburg, Crook was promoted to Brigadier General. He took command of the Kanawha District in February 1864, having achieved success on the New River Campaign (in conjunction with Grant's 1864 offensive). His command of the Kanawha [2nd] Division defeated the rebel forces under General Albert Gallatin Jenkins at Cloyd's Mountain, May 9, 1864.
They continued east and disrupted the vital east west rail link of Lee's by burning the New River Bridge, May 10, 1864. After retreating to Meadow Bluff his army joined forces with General David Hunter in the Lynchburg Campaign, where Crook's forces were directly responsible for the safe retreat back to western Virginia. His command fought brilliantly at Lynchburg before a shaken Hunter decided to retreat. Several times during the retreat Crooks forces met and withstood perilous situations as a rear guard.
He succeeded Hunter in command of the Department of West Virginia, and lead the Army of West Virginia in the Valley Campaign. Here his split forces first met General Early's at Snickers Gap (known also as Snickers Ferry, Castleman's Ferry, or the Battle of Cool Springs). Without any support from General Wright, Crooks men were fiercely fighting three divisions of Early's army on the opposite side of the Shenandoah River. In an extremely perilous position the Army of West Virginia stood their ground and withheld dangerous frontal and flank attacks. Pinned down on a farmers lane next to the riverbank, the Army of West Virginia fought several hours before dark set in. Here the 11th West Virginia's Colonel, Daniel Frost was mortally wounded conducting an obtuse to the right of his regiment to offset a rebel flank attack. Loved by his men, Frost died later that night from the severe abdomen wound. It was this battle that the West Virginians gained respect of their union counterparts (who were often leary of the fighting capability of these West Virginians) by answering to "How was the fight?" with ".......it was a right smart fight".
These West Virginians fought with valor at 2nd Kernstown, Opequon Creek (3rd Winchester), Fishers Hill, and Cedar Creek. Because of these actions, Crooks reputation soared. Later in the war, when Crook was a commander of a division of Cavalry, he was holding off the rebel infantry at Appomattox C.H. when the Army of West Virginia, a part of the 24th Corps, appeared to take over the field. As he led his men back from the fighting, he spotted his old command and told his cavalrymen, "there is not much use for my cavalry while this old West Virginia Division is here!"
Crook became even more famous after the war for his tracking and capture of the famed Indian Chief, Geronimo.

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