[Archive Containing Original Photographs, Letters, and Documents Pertaining to the Military and Post-Military Careers of Major General Alexander McDowell McCook and His Son-in-Law Brigadier General Chauncey Brooke Baker]

[Various locations in Cuba, 1902. Very good.. Seventeen loose folio scrapbook leaves, each with mounted correspondence or other documents; one vernacular photograph album; two scrapbooks; and a small number of loose documents and newspaper clippings, as detailed below. An informative archive comprised of material from two generations of the McCook family of Ohio, specifically two different military officers -- Major General Alexander McDowell McCook, and his son-in-law Brigadier General Chauncey Brooke Baker (1860-1936). Baker was married to McCook's eldest daughter, Lucianna "Lucy" McCook Baker, who seems to have compiled the various components of the present archive, which mostly documents the career of her husband, Chauncey Baker. The collection includes seventeen loose folio scrapbook leaves (each with mounted correspondence or other documents), one photograph album, two scrapbooks, and a small number of loose documents and newspaper clippings.

Union Army General Alexander McDowell McCook, one of the "Fighting McCooks," continued his army career after the war in the regular Army. He commanded Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, from 1886-1890, the Department of Arizona from 1890-1893, and the Department of Colorado from 1893-1895. He was joined in each location by his daughter and son-in-law. Chauncey Brooke Baker married Lucy McCook while at Leavenworth, and later served as McCook's aide-de-camp and acting engineering officer at Los Angeles and Denver, Headquarters Department of Arizona and Colorado. Later promotions and the start of the Spanish-American War led Baker to Cuba in a quartermaster role. It seems his wife accompanied him there, and began acquiring the images now housed in the photograph album offered here. Lucy Baker died in 1923, placing the scrapbooks completion date before that time. The material is detailed as follows:

1) Seventeen loose scrapbook leaves containing twenty-five pieces of correspondence, typed documents, and printed documents primarily associated with the later business dealings of Alexander M. McCook while he was stationed in Utah, Colorado, Kansas. This material dates mostly between 1882 and 1898. Letters are from a variety of correspondents, and reflect McCook's post-war military career at frontier installations, his involvement in the railroads, investments, and other personal matters. One of the more informative documents details the history of McCook's military service from his entry to West Point in 1847 through his appointment to the Department of Arizona in 1894. The collection also includes a handful of loose documents and letters, as well as an envelope of newspaper clippings documenting McCook's later affairs. One notable item is a four-page offprint of a memorial of McCook written by Col. Horace N. Fisher, and first published in the Boston Transcript on Sunday, June 13, 1903. General McCook had just passed away the previous day at Lucy's house in Dayton, Ohio.

2) Vernacular Photograph Album Documenting Cuba Under Spanish Occupation and the United States Military Government's Occupation. [Various locations in Cuba: ca. 1898-1902]. [24] leaves, illustrated with 303 silver gelatin photographs, from 3.25 x 2.25 to 7.5 x 9 inches. Quarto. Contemporary three-quarter calf and black cloth boards. Spine perished, most leaves separated from spine but held to each other by cloth gutter in a few groupings. Leaves worn, silvering to some images. Inscribed on front free endpaper "Lucy McCook. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Nov 21st 1888." Lucy likely dated the album in 1888 then never used it, as all of the images in the album emanate from Cuba. The photographs depict a mixture of rural and urban scenes, featuring native Cubans as well as Americans, Cuban and American military personnel, landmarks, military installations, ships, recreation, building interiors, with some images depicting the remnants of war. Notable are three large format photographs at the end of the album: a photograph of armed soldiers and a religious figure exiting a fortress-like structure, with handwritten caption below "On the way to the Garote Castillo del Principe - during the Spanish occupation;" a photograph showing a large group of men assembled at tables and chairs in a gallery-style room with a handwritten caption reading, "Opening of the Cuban Constitutional Convention - Havana - Nov. 5th 1900 General Leonard Wood Military Governor, reading address, in full uniform Temporary President on his left;" and a photograph of Havana's large cathedral with a crowd gathered, captioned "Governor General Weyler entering Cathedral Havana Spanish Occupation." Captions were likely added by Lucy McCook, whose husband was serving at the time as quartermaster, chief quartermaster, and depot quartermaster in the U.S. Army's Division and Department of Cuba. This album is the most historically-important and useful item in the present archive.

3) Scrapbook of Newspaper Clippings and an Original Drawing of an American Military Officer in Indian Territory]. [N.p.: early 1900s]. [11] leaves, illustrated with newspaper clippings and one drawing. Quarto. Contemporary brown cloth elaborately tooled in black, title in gilt on front cover and spine. Moderate wear, rubbing, and dust-soiling. Inscribed on front free endpaper "Lucy McCook Baker / Los Angeles - California / April 1892." An interesting collection of mostly newspaper clippings associated with Native American rituals related to the Moqui Indians, the Army, and articles on General McCook or Lieutenant Chauncey Baker. The album also includes an original pen drawing titled in manuscript, "Tent of The Macauley, in Camp at Guthrie, I.T., 20th June, 1889." The drawing features a military figure standing in a road, holding a small shovel in the air, in front of a sign pointing one way to Oklahoma and the other way to Ft. Leavenworth. The drawing is signed at bottom, "Glück."

4) Scrapbook of Ephemeral Items Relating to the Military Careers of Alexander McDowell McCook and Chauncey Baker, Plus Later Items Related to Another Member of the McCook Family]. [N.p.: early 1900s]. [9] leaves, illustrated with telegrams, pamphlets, invitations, and other ephemeral items. Quarto. Contemporary aqua cloth with gilt titles on front cover, string tied. The items primarily concern McCook's and Baker's military service, including an "In Memoriam" for Alexander McDowell McCook, as well as some items relating to the later military career of Alexander McCook Craigshead.

A diverse collection of materials relating to the careers of two notable military men serving in the American West and in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, with a wonderful vernacular photograph album documenting the latter, and the whole likely retained and organized by the daughter and wife, respectively, of the men involved.