Charles C. Cook Jr. lies apart from the ordered burial place of 28 of his compatriots, most of them Spanish American War veterans like himself, who rest in hallowed ground near at the front of the cemetery in view of the former Peabody School.
Ninety-four year old David W. Hanscom of Haverhill would be the last to enter the gound, buried with his comrades on April 10, 1967.
Their markers — many of them tablets of white marble etched with their names, dates of birth and death, and the military branch to which they belonged — have sunk into the ground, virtually obscured by grass, fallen leaves and the dirt of decades.
Elmwood Cemetery Superintendent Mark Gilford set out to honor them by refurbishing their markers and installing a flagpole so that the American flag would fly over this group of Haverhill veterans of long ago.
On Tuesday, Nov. 10, representatives of the U.S. Marine Corps attended a dedication ceremony at 2 p.m. Not only was it the day before Veterans Day, but it was the date of the anniversary of the Corps founding.
When the sun rose on Wednesday, Nov. 11, a new flag flew over Haverhill's Spanish-American War veterans, whose flat stone markers were cleared for the ceremony. The cleaning and raising of the markers is a project to be completed in the months to come, Gilford said.
Although Haverhill's Charles Cook Jr. does not lie under that flag, he is not forgotten.
He rests with his family in another, older section of the cemetery.
His gravestone tells the story of his death in the waning days of the Spanish American War; he served in the Philippines.
Taken prisoner in Capas on Nov. 25, 1898, he was held prisoner until he and another soldier were murdered in the town square on the order of the commanding general in Luzon, Col. Aquino, on Jan. 5, 1900, as American troops captured the prison in which he was held.
A flat granite marker with the name Charles is broken in half, the result of the mighty force of a falling limb or perhaps the power of the roots of the great elm tree in whose shadow he sleeps.
His marker is in a line with those of his family, including his parents, a brother who died in infancy and two sisters, only one of whom lived to adulthood.
What little we know of Charles C. Cook is taken from Haverhill's 1899 City Directory; his residence in Bradford was 53 Merrimack St. and his father, Charles Sr., was a shoemaker.
Of the intervening years, little is known. A photograph of Cook remains; his is one of the faces of Company F of Haverhill, though which one is a mystery.
The history related here gives background to how Charles C. Cook Jr. met his sad fate:
On Jan. 15, 1898, President William McKinley authorized the sailing of the battleship "Maine," captained by Dwight Sigsbee (1845-1923), from Key West, Fla., to Havana Harbor as a show of force to Spain.
The American show of force was said to be in response to reports of the brutality of the Spanish against the Cuban people. At the time, Cuba was a territory owned by Spain, as were the Philippine islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
Later, during an official inquiry, Sigsbee would relate that shortly after 9:40 p.m. on the evening of Feb. 15, a tremendous explosion in the forward part of the Maine quickly sent her to the bottom of Havana Harbor; 266 lost their lives.
Sigsbee would forever be haunted by the tragedy. But the Navy Department held Sigsbee in such esteem that in 1905 he was chosen to go to Cherbourg, France (Normandy) to bring back to Annapolis, Md., the remains of America's greatest hero, John Paul Jones.
McKinley signed the declaratin of war against Spain on April 25, 1898. Nearly 100 years later, Admiral Hyman G. Rickover would give the official cause of the loss of the Maine as an explosion due to coal dust.
Publisher William Randolph Hearst fueled the pro-war setiment with his newspaper's headline in bold black type:
"Remember the Maine! To Hell with Spain!"
Frederick Remington would provide the etched photograph to accompany the story. Hearst would wire Remington: "You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war!"
The Spanish American War turned Theodore Roosevelt into a hero. It would be Remington's painting of Roosevelt's July 1 charge up San Juan Hill with his "Rough Rider's" that would cement a friendship between the two. Roosevelt would later claim that Remington's sculpture given to him of the Bronco Buster was his favorite piece.
Roosevelt would return to New York as a hero, ultimately becoming governor. He would be immortalized in the stuffed bear wearing a bandanna and spectacles — the birth of theTteddy bear!
Fortune would also come to Admiral George Dewey (1837-1917), when on May 1, 1898 entering Manila Bay on his flagship, "USS Olympia," he gave the immortal order to his executive officer, Charles V. Gridley, "You may fire when ready, Gridley."
The Spanish colors were struck. The battle of Manila Bay began at 5:40 a.m. on the morning of May 1 at 12:40 p.m. Following the actual 2 1/2 hours of battle, Spain's last 11 ships and five land batteries would be defeated.
Dewey attained the rank of Admiral of the Navy and is to this day the only man to be so designated.
So popular was Dewey that in 1900 considered running for President but he endorsed McKinley, who was later assassinated on Sept. 14, 1901.
Representatives from the U.S. and Spain would meet in Paris in the first week of October to agree to the terms of Spain's surrender. They signed the Treaty of Paris on Dec. 10, 1898, freeing Cuba from Spanish rule but putting the Philippines in the hands of the U.S. for $20 million.
In reality, the "war" in Cuba lasted only three months. It resulted in 345 "battle" deaths of which, the 266 lost on the Maine are included. American losses from disease — typhoid, cholera and malaria chief among them — were 2,565.
American troops sent to fight the Spanish in the Philippines found themselves in the middle of a fight for independence as the Filipinos, long wishing indpendence from Spain, were not about to accept American "ownership."
An insurgent force, known as Katipunan, was formed years earlier by Servillano Aquino.
Emilio Aguinaldo (1869-1964) re-energized the Katipunan to fight the American forces in guerrilla warfare.
On Dec. 26, 1899, American forces would capture Aguinaldo in the northwest area of Luzon.
On Friday, Jan. 5, 1900, Spain formally pledged allegiance to America by recognizing sovereignty of the United States over the Philippines.
