From the May 14, 2014, Washington Post "Alexandria lecture highlights the highest-ranking Confederate general" by Linda Wheeler.
Samuel Cooper is not a name known to most Civil War buffs, but he was actually the Confederacy's highest-ranking officer, even having seniority on Robert E. Lee.
There was a lecture given May 15th by Marion Dawson, his great-great granddaughter.
Cooper resided in Alexandria. When the war began, he resigned as Adjutant General of the U.S. Army and volunteered his services to the newly-formed Confederacy. He was named adjutant and inspector general and reported immediately to his old friend, Jefferson Davis.
Initially appointed with the rank of brigadier general, he was quickly promoted to full general, the first to hold that position in the Confederate Army, thereby outranking even Lee.
After Richmond fell, he took the records of the Confederacy and fled until captured in North Carolina, where he turned the records over. These are the ones currently in the National Archives.
--Old Secesh
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