Croin-well,  the  Buccaneer.  One  of  the  earli-
est of  the  famous  buccaneers  was  Captain  Crom-
well, who  had  been  a  common  sailor  iu  New
England.  In  1646  he  was  iu  command  of  three
fast-sailing  brigantines,  filled  with  armed  men,
and  was  driven  into  the  harbor  of  New  Plym-
outh by  a  storm.  Cromwell,  under  the  author-
ity of  a  sort  of  second-hand  commission  from
High -admiral  (Earl  of)  Warwick,'  had  capt-
ured in  the  West  Indies  several  richly  laden  Span-
ish vessels.  These  freebooters  spent  money  free-
ly at  Plymouth.  Cromwell  and  his  men  soon  af-
terwards went  to  Boston,  where  he  lodged  with
a  poor  man  who  had  helped  hira  when  he  was
poor,  and  gave  him  generous  compensation.  Win-
throp,  who  had  lately  been  re-elected  governor,
received  from  this  fieebooter  an  elegant  sedan
chair  captured  iu  one  of  his  prizes,  designed  as
a  gift  by  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico  to  his  sister.
Crook,  George,  was  born  near  Dayton,  Ohio,
Sept.  8,  1828,  and  graduated  at  West  Point  in
1852.  In  May,  1861,  he  was  pronmted  to  captain.
He  did  good  service  in  western  Virginia,  and  iu
September  was  made  brigadier-general  and  took
command  of  the  Kanawha  District.  In  com-
mand <if  a  division  of  cavalry  in  the  Army  of  the
Cumberland,  he  was  at  Chickamauga  (which  see)
and  drove  Wheeler  across  the  Tenuessee.  (See
Whfeler's  Baid.)  Breveted  major-general  (July,
1864),  he  was  put  in  command  of  the  Army  of
West  Virginia,  and  took  part  in  Sheridan's  oper-


ations in  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  He  was  made
major-genei-al  of  volunteers  iu  October,  and  late
in  February,  1865,  was  captured  by  guerillas,
but  exchanged  the  next  month.  Besides  other
brevets  he  wasbrevete<l  brigadier-general  of  the
regular  army  March  13, 1865.
