Philip St. George Cocke (April 17, 1809 – December 26, 1861) was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the first year of the American Civil War.

Cocke graduated from the University of Virginia in 1828 and then from the United States Military Academy in 1832 with the rank of brevet second lieutenant.

[10] On April 21, 1861, Cocke was appointed as a brigadier general in the service of the Commonwealth of Virginia by Governor John Letcher.

His brigade was initially assigned to Centreville, but in the face of advancing Union forces, withdrew behind Bull Run on July 17.

In the subsequent First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, Cocke was assigned to advance against Centreville, a plan abandoned when the Federals began their flanking movement against the Confederate left.

Gen. Barnard Bee and Col. Francis S. Bartow, opposed the enemy, Cocke's forces defended against attack in the vicinity of the Stone Bridge, with his headquarters at the Lewis house.

After eight months' service, during which he was promoted to brigadier general in the provisional Confederate army, he returned home, "shattered in body and mind.

"[2] Exhausted from the strain, and despondent over perceived slights from General Beauregard stemming from the Battle of Manassas,[15] Cocke shot himself in the head on December 26, 1861, at his "Belmead" mansion in Powhatan County, Virginia.

[10] He was initially buried on the plantation grounds, but was re-interred in 1904 at Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia, where he rests with several other family members and Confederate officers.

[16] His plantation "Belmead" was put up for sale years after the war ended, but remains today, although further preservation needs have caused controversy.