Harrison Henry Cocke was a U.S. Navy officer of Prince George County, Va. The collection includes papers of Cocke and his family. The bulk of the collection consists of family correspondence and other papers of Cocke's first wife, Elizabeth Ruffin Cocke (d. 1849), and their children in Prince George County, Va., including many letters from their daughter, Tariffa Cocke Witherspoon, in Mobile and Greensboro, Ala. Other items include Elizabeth Ruffin's diary in Prince George County, circa 1826, and her diary, 1827, of a trip to New York City, Saratoga, N.Y., Philadelphia and Bedford Springs, Pa., Washington, D.C., and other places in the North, accompanied by her half-brother, Edmund Ruffin (1794-1865). Cocke's papers include correspondence, orders, and other records of his service in the U.S. Navy, including a manuscript book of regulations, orders, and letters kept by Cocke at the Pensacola, Fla., navy yard, 1832-1838, and on the U.S.S. , which he commanded, circa 1844-1849. Papers of relatives of Cocke's second wife, Emily Banister Cocke, are also found in the collection, including a diary of Robert B. Banister at sea, 1841-1842, mostly concerning religious thoughts; and recollections of childhood during the Civil War at Petersburg, Va., by Anne Banister. St. Louis
