The renown Pensacola educator Nathan Burrell Cook Sr. was born on July 20, 1835 in Lowndes County, Alabama, the son of John Pope Cook and Charlotte Kirk Massey. His father supported his family as a planter with real estate valued at $5,000 while Nathan studied to be a pharmacist. He married a young orphan woman by the name of Miss Sallie Johnson in 1857 and they had three children prior to the war. When the Civil War broke out, Nathan enlisted in the 6th Alabama Infantry Regiment and fought in every major engagement with Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. However, because of his pharmaceutical training he was transferred to the Medical Corps and reassigned to the hospital in Charleston, SC. As the war was drawing to a close, Dr. Robert Libby Sr. ordered hospital steward Nathan B. Cook to report to General P. T. G. Beauregard's medical director. On the morning of February 5, 1865, he was informed that Charleston was to be evacuated and all hospitals closed except for the one on King Street. After all patients were transferred to this hospital, the Army would be leaving with Cook and his fellow stewards (aka Medics or Corpsmen today) remaining with them to become POW's. He could draw all the medical and commissary supplies he wanted for their care before their departure. That evening during a break, Nathan went up to the hospital's roof and looked out over the city's skyline and saw the most spectacular sight he had ever seen before or since. Thousands of cotton bales on the wharves were set ablaze and the inferno was a sight to behold as the whole area became a sea of fire. By dawn, the Confederate Army was gone leaving a few doctors, stewards and faithful female nurses to care for the 125 sick and severely wounded soldiers. By 10:00 AM, the Union forces marched in and took over Charleston, but paid little attention to the hospital. Within six weeks, all but twenty of the patients had either died or had recovered to the point they were paroled and released. On March 17, 1865, Nathan was sitting on the front steps of the hospital when he was handed a note that read, "The hospital will be closed on Monday and all of the attendants will be put in jail." He quickly sought out his comrade J. A. Rampy and suggested they try to escape. They decided to get two boards, drill two holes in each end and tie empty canteens in each one for flotation. After dark, they approached the Ashley River however, they made so much noise that they attracted the attention of a Union picket on the far side of the river. Several enemy soldiers put out in a skiff and pulled up alongside the struggling men in the middle of the river. One of them yelled out to them, “Johnnies, come out of the wet!” They pulled them into the boat and set out for the shore. Pulling up on shore they all walked over to a big fire with the other pickets and all had a good laugh at the soaking wet escapees. (Continued in Part II)
Nathan Burrell Cook Sr. (1835-1917)
Buried St. Johns Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida