Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb
Encyclopedia
Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb (April 10, 1823 – December 13, 1862) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 lawyer, author, politician, and Confederate
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

 officer, killed in the Battle of Fredericksburg
Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside...

 during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

.

Early life

Cobb was born in Jefferson County
Jefferson County, Georgia
Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created on February 20, 1796. As of 2000, the population was 17,266. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 16,454...

, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

, to John A. Cobb and Sarah Rootes Cobb. He was the younger brother of Howell Cobb
Howell Cobb
Howell Cobb was an American political figure. A Southern Democrat, Cobb was a five-term member of the United States House of Representatives and Speaker of the House from 1849 to 1851...

. He married Marion Lumpkin, who was the daughter of the Supreme Court of Georgia Chief Justice Joseph Henry Lumpkin
Joseph Henry Lumpkin
Joseph Henry Lumpkin was the first chief justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S. state of Georgia.-Education:...

. Three of their children lived past childhood: Callender (Callie), who married Augustus Longstreet Hull; Sarah A. (Sally), who married Henry Jackson, the son of Henry Rootes Jackson
Henry R. Jackson
Henry Rootes Jackson was a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.-Biography:...

; and Marion (Birdie), who married Michael Hoke Smith. The Lucy Cobb Institute
Lucy Cobb Institute
The Lucy Cobb Institute was a girls' school on Milledge Avenue in Athens, Georgia. It was founded by Thomas R.R. Cobb, and named in honor of his daughter, who had died of scarlet fever at age 14, shortly before construction was completed and doors opened; it was incorporated in 1859...

, which he founded, was named for a daughter who died shortly before the school opened.

Cobb graduated in 1841 from Franklin College
Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences is the founding college of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States. The college was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin.-History:...

 (of the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...

), where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society
Phi Kappa Literary Society
The Phi Kappa Literary Society is a college literary society, located at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.The Society was founded in 1820 by Joseph Henry Lumpkin, later to become the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia and eponym for the , and by William Crabbe, Edwin...

, and was admitted to the bar in 1842. From 1849 to 1857, he was a reporter of the Supreme Court of Georgia. He was an ardent secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...

ist, and was a delegate to the Secession Convention. He is best known for his treatise on the law of slavery titled An Inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery in the United States of America (1858) and as one of the founders of the University of Georgia School of Law
University of Georgia School of Law
The University of Georgia School of Law is a graduate school of the University of Georgia. Founded in 1859 and located in Athens, Georgia, USA, Georgia Law was formerly known as the Lumpkin School of Law. The Law School is the second oldest of the University's schools and colleges. The University...

.

Civil War

During the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 Cobb served in the Confederate Congress
Congress of the Confederate States
The Congress of the Confederate States was the legislative body of the Confederate States of America, existing during the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865...

, where for a time he was chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. He was also on the committee that was responsible for the drafting of the Confederate constitution.

He organized Cobb's Legion
Cobb's Legion
Cobb's Legion was an American Civil War unit that was raised on the Confederate side from the State of Georgia by Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb during the summer of 1861. A "legion" consisted of a single integrated command, with individual components from the infantry, cavalry, and artillery...

 in the late summer of 1861 and was commissioned a colonel in the Confederate army
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

 on August 28, 1861. The Legion was assigned to the Army of Northern Virginia
Army of Northern Virginia
The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War, as well as the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most often arrayed against the Union Army of the Potomac...

. It took heavy losses during the Maryland Campaign
Maryland Campaign
The Maryland Campaign, or the Antietam Campaign is widely considered one of the major turning points of the American Civil War. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North was repulsed by Maj. Gen. George B...

. He was promoted to brigadier general on November 1, 1862, but this promotion was not confirmed by the Confederate Congress
Congress of the Confederate States
The Congress of the Confederate States was the legislative body of the Confederate States of America, existing during the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865...

. At the Battle of Fredericksburg
Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside...

, he was mortally wounded in the thigh by a Union
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 artillery shell that burst inside the Stephens house near the Sunken Road on Marye's Heights. He bled to death from damage to the femoral artery
Femoral artery
The femoral artery is a general term comprising a few large arteries in the thigh. They begin at the inguinal ligament and end just above the knee at adductor canal or Hunter's canal traversing the extent of the femur bone....

 on December 13, 1862. Some later accounts by veterans claim that the wounding was by rifle fire and that a Confederate soldier may have been responsible. He is buried at Oconee Hill Cemetery
Oconee Hill Cemetery
Oconee Hill Cemetery is an American cemetery in Athens, Georgia. The cemetery opened in 1856 and is located just off the University of Georgia's campus....

 in Athens, Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...

.

The T.R.R. Cobb House

The T. R. R. Cobb House
T. R. R. Cobb House
The T. R. R. Cobb House built in 1842 is an historic octagon house originally located at 194 Prince Avenue in Athens, Georgia. On June 30, 1975, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places....

, where Thomas Cobb and his wife Marion lived in Athens, Ga, is now a house museum. It was moved from Stone Mountain, Georgia, where it had resided for a number of years. Stone Mountain Park had hoped to restore the house, but the project fell through. The house is now an operational museum which had been partially restored to the way it looked when Thomas Cobb and Marion Cobb lived there. The house is owned by the Watson-Brown Foundation.

Published works


External links

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