companies that could be as well or better commanded by a Captain." Yet the assignment did benefit Crocker's health, and by late 1864 he asked to return to active field service, a request supported by Ulysses S. Grant who stated "I have never seen but three or four Division commanders his equal and we want his services." Officially relieved at Santa Fe on March 1, 1865, and ordered to report to General George H. Thomas at Nashville, Crocker arrived in St. Louis on April 21, 1865, but was again so ill that he could not proceed to his new assignment with the Army of the Cumberland and he once more asked to be mustered out of service. Granted a ninety-day leave of absence, he was ordered to personally report on matters in the Southwest directly to the War Department as soon as his health allowed. In late summer Crocker reported to the War Department, but his health continued to decline, and he died at Willard's Hotel on August 26, 1865, in Washington, D.C. He is buried in Woodland Cemetery in Des Moines, Iowa. Honors Crocker School, that stood in Des Moines on the North side of School St. between Sixth Ave. and Seventh St. from 1870 until ca. 1962, was named after him, as is the city's present-day Crocker Street. A bronze bust of General Crocker stands on the Vicksburg National Military Park. See also List of American Civil War generals (Union) Notes References External links Crocker biography Crocker's official report for the Battle of Champion Hill Bust of Crocker at Vicksburg Memorial to Crocker's Greyhounds Biographical page Burials at Woodland Cemetery (Des Moines, Iowa) Union Army generals United States Military Academy alumni People of Iowa in the American Civil War People from Franklin, Indiana People from Des Moines, Iowa 1830 births 1865 deaths 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Washington, D.C.