Colonial Williamsburg program invites guests to join in the debate about the Revolutionary War dailypress.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailypress.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Early Years and Civil War
Edmund Randolph Cocke was born at Oakland, one of two Cumberland County plantations owned by his parents, William Armistead Cocke and Elizabeth Randolph Preston Cocke, on March 25, 1841. In 1856 he matriculated at Washington College (later Washington and Lee University). Intellectually gifted but shy and sometimes indolent, Cocke ranked near the bottom of his class during the first of his two years at that institution. Nevertheless, in 1858 the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) accepted him as a transfer student with sophomore standing.
During the secession crisis Cocke abandoned his studies, returned to Virginia, and on April 23, 1861, enlisted in the Black Eagle Rifles, a Cumberland County militia unit that mustered into Confederate service as Company E of the 18th Virginia Infantry Regiment. Elected second lieutenant in June 1861, he became first lieutenant in mid-1862 and captain in January 1863. The Black Eagle Rifles performed with d