Early Life and Career
Cooper was born November 1, 1815, most likely in Amite County, Mississippi. His father, David Cooper, was a physician and Baptist minister. Cooper attended the University of Virginia from 1832 until 1834; his classmates included future Civil War generals Carnot Posey, Lafayette McLaws, and John B. Magruder. Cooper returned home to take up farming in Wilkinson County, Mississippiin the Cold Springs community, which was a tiny village between Woodville and Natchez. He married Mary Collins of Natchez and had 7 children. Entering politics, he was elected in 1844 to serve in the Mississippi State Legislature.
Cooper raised a regiment during the Mexican-American War, the 1st Mississippi Rifles, and served as a captain. He was cited for bravery and gallantry at the Battle of Monterrey.
In 1853, through the influence of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, who had served with Cooper at the Mexican-American War Battle of Buena Vista, President Franklin Pierce appointed Cooper as the Federal agent to the Choctaw tribe. Cooper helped peaceably remove them to Indian Territory. Three years later, he also became the agent to the Chickasaw tribe, who respected and trusted Cooper and soon officially adopted him as a full member.
Read more about this topic: Douglas H. Cooper
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or career:
“Some men have a necessity to be mean, as if they were exercising a faculty which they had to partially neglect since early childhood.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Since every effort in our educational life seems to be directed toward making of the child a being foreign to itself, it must of necessity produce individuals foreign to one another, and in everlasting antagonism with each other.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“The 19-year-old Diana ... decided to make her career that of wife. Today that can be a very, very iffy line of work.... And what sometimes happens to the women who pursue it is the best argument imaginable for teaching girls that they should always be able to take care of themselves.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)