At the beginning of 1861, with the secession of Louisiana, the Cook brothers started manufacturing their rifles in New Orleans. The bombing of the town from the Union Navy started on April 18, 1861 prompted the Cook brothers to move manufacturing to Athens, Georgia. The guns production in New Orleans, for the short time that it was possible, was limited to about thousand rifles for the infantry and carbines for the artillery, while other seven thousands, including also some carbines for the cavalry, were manufactured in Athens. All the guns made by Cook & Brother were inspired to the well known English models and of course they are among the most interesting and searched for of the produced guns equipping the Confederate troops during the American Civil War.
