William Crooks (June 20, 1832 – December 17, 1907)[1] was a Colonel during the American Civil War, member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, U.S. Military Academy graduate, and a veteran railroader.

[4] From 1853 to 1855 he was assistant engineer for the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana, and shortly after he occupied a similar position with the New York State Canal[4] from 1855 to 1857.

[4] On August 19, 1862, Minnesota Governor Alexander Ramsey went to William Crooks's office at the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company to inform him of the massacre at the Lower Sioux Agency, and urged him to go to Fort Snelling at once to take command of the citizens who had volunteered to relieve and defend the settlers who had been attacked by Dakota warriors.

[6] Formed in Hokah, MN,[10] the 6th Regiment was organized throughout the summer and fall of 1862 in response to President Abraham Lincoln's calls for a total of 600,000 additional troops.

On August 19, 1865, William Crooks and his regiment returned home at last to Fort Snelling after a successful battle with the South.

[6] For years of suffering from a kidney disease, William Crooks' condition became consistently worse until late 1907, when he contracted a severe cold.

Many telegrams from prominent railroad officials throughout the country expressed sympathy for Crooks' family when he died at the age of 75 in Portland, Oregon.

Colonel Crooks' engines used by the Northern Pacific Railway Company are still preserved in the car shops of the Hill system at St. Paul as a relic of the early railroad history of the country.