On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, Brooke found himself in the thick of the action when Confederatelieutenant generalJames Longstreet launched his assault against the Union lines south of Gettysburg. Rushed into action as reinforcements by Maj. Gen.Winfield Hancock, Colonel Brooke launched a limited counterattack against oncoming Confederate forces with his brigade in the Wheatfield. Although he was knocked out of action with a severe wound, his men temporarily stopped the Confederates and stabilized the Union line long enough to prevent a breakthrough.
After recovery, Brooke subsequently also fought in the Overland Campaign, including the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House and other battles. He was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on May 12, 1864. General Brooke was critically wounded, again, at Cold Harbor in June. Brooke led a division in western Virginia late in the war. He was promoted to brevet major general in the volunteer army on August 1, 1864, for his service at Totopotomoy and Cold Harbor, and to brevet brigadier general in the regular army on March 2, 1867, for Spotsylvania Court House.[1]
In 1897, he was promoted to major general in the Regular Army and assigned to command the I Corps during the Spanish–American War. In Puerto Rico, he landed in Arroyo with General Hains, and reached Guayama by the time the armistice was signed. When General Miles left the island in October 1898 to return to the United States, Brooke became military governor and head of the army of occupation in the U.S. military government. On the December 6, Brooke was replaced by General Guy Vernor Henry, and by December 13, was named to the same position in Cuba.
General Brooke retired from the Army on July 21, 1902, in Philadelphia, where he lived until his death at age 88 in 1926. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Family
In 1863, Brooke married Louisa H. Roberts of Warwick, Pennsylvania.[2] She died in 1867, and in 1877 he married Mary L. Stearns, the daughter of Governor Onslow Stearns.[3] With his first wife, Brooke was the father of two sons, William and Louis.[3]
Legacy
The troop transport USS General J. R. Brooke (AP-132), launched February 1943, was named in his honor. The former U.S. Army military post in San Juan, P.R., which encompassed El Morro Castle was named Fort Brooke in his honor.