French and Indian War
Cook's name in the Mohawk language, Akiatonharónkwen, translates as "he unhangs himself from the group." In English, he is most often referred to as Louis Cook or Colonel Louis. Louis was born to an Abenaki woman and an African father, both of whom were taken captive in a French raid in 1745. A French officer planned to keep him as a slave, but the Iroquois intervened and gave him back to his mother. Out of gratitude, she followed the Iroquois back to their village of Caughnawaga in New York, and Cook was adopted into the Iroquois.
Louis Cook lived in the village of Kahnawake. He fought with the Mohawk nation on the side of the French in the French and Indian War. A friend, Eleazer Williams, later wrote that Cook was at the battle against the Braddock expedition in 1755 (the Braddock party included the young George Washington), and served under General Montcalm at the Battle of Fort Oswego in 1756. The same year, he was wounded in a skirmish with Rogers' Rangers near Fort Ticonderoga. His first command came in the 1758 Battle of Carillon, where he was commended by General Montcalm. He was also present at the Battle of Sainte-Foy in 1760, serving under the Chevalier de Levis.
Following the war, Cook returned to Caughnawaga and married Marie-Charlotte. He never fully accepted the British victory, and moved to St. Regis, Canada prior to the American Revolution.
Read more about this topic: Colonel Louis
Famous quotes containing the words indian war, french, indian and/or war:
“This, it will be remembered, was the scene of Mrs. Rowlandson’s capture, and of other events in the Indian wars, but from this July afternoon, and under that mild exterior, those times seemed as remote as the irruption of the Goths. They were the dark age of New England.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“You don’t want a general houseworker, do you? Or a traveling companion, quiet, refined, speaks fluent French entirely in the present tense? Or an assistant billiard-maker? Or a private librarian? Or a lady car-washer? Because if you do, I should appreciate your giving me a trial at the job. Any minute now, I am going to become one of the Great Unemployed. I am about to leave literature flat on its face. I don’t want to review books any more. It cuts in too much on my reading.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)
“Music is so much a part of their daily lives that if an Indian visits another reservation one of the first questions asked on his return is: “What new songs did you learn?””
—Federal Writers’ Project Of The Wor, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“To this war of every man against every man, this also is consequent; that nothing can be Unjust. The notions of Right and Wrong, Justice and Injustice have there no place. Where there is no common Power, there is no Law; where no Law, no Injustice. Force, and Fraud, are in war the two Cardinal virtues.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)