Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb

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This article is about the American Civil War General. For United States Representative and Senator from Georgia, see Thomas W. Cobb.

Thomas R. R. Cobb

Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb (April 10, 1823 – December 13, 1862) was an American lawyer, author, politician, and Confederate general, killed in the Battle of Fredericksburg during the American Civil War.

1 Early life
2 Civil War
3 Published works
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Early life

Cobb was born in Jefferson County, Georgia, to John A. Cobb and Sarah Rootes Cobb. He was the younger brother of Howell Cobb. He married Marion Lumpkin, who was the daughter of the Supreme Court of Georgia Chief Justice Joseph Henry Lumpkin. 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; and Marion (Birdie), who married Michael Hoke Smith.

Cobb graduated in 1841 from the University of Georgia, 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 secessionist, and was a delegate to the Secession Convention.

[edit] Civil War

During the Civil War Cobb served in the Confederate Congress, 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 in the late summer of 1861 and was commissioned a colonel in the Confederate army on August 28, 1861. The Legion was assigned to the Army of Northern Virginia. It took heavy losses during the Maryland Campaign. He was promoted to brigadier general on November 1, 1862. At Fredericksburg, Virginia, he was wounded in the thigh and bled to death on December 13, 1862. There is a controversy on whether the wound was caused by Confederate or Union fire. He is buried at Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens, Georgia.