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Thomas
Reade Rootes Cobb was born at Cherry Hill in Jefferson County, Georgia on April 10, 1823.
His parents were John A. Cobb and Sarah Rootes Cobb. They were married at
Fredericksburg, Virginia. Thomas was the younger brother of Howell Cobb.
Cobb graduated from the University of Georgia (1841), studied law and was
admitted to the bar (1842). He served as
assistant secretary to the state senate, and as a Supreme Court reporter from
1849 to 1857. During this period,
he edited twenty legal books. He
codified the laws of the state of Georgia, producing a book that
"...a was unique in America both by reason of
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its method, its
comprehensiveness, and the clearness of its language." (Dictionary of
American Biography) Cobb was an ardent secessionist, often making speeches
and contributing to newspapers in support of the movement.
He also wrote An inquiry into the law of Negro slavery (1858) and A
historical sketch of slavery from the earliest periods (1859)
After
the election of Abraham Lincoln, Cobb spoke to the Georgia General Assembly
advocating secession. Alexander
Stephens said that because of Cobb's force and eloquence, he was the most potent
influence in taking Georgia out of the Union. (A constitutional view of the
late War Between the States. volume II, page 321.)
The legislature declined to act, but passed an act that required the
governor to convene a state convention. Cobb
was selected as a member of the convention and was a very active member,
advocating secession. After the
convention vote for secession, Cobb was selected to rewrite the state
constitution. He and his brother were selected to attend the confederate
assembly at Montgomery. The younger
Cobb was appointed to the committee responsible for writing the Confederate
constitution.
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Although he did not
have any experience in the military, Cobb wanted to serve the Confederacy by being in the
army. He raised
Cobb's Legion and was commissioned a colonel on August 28, 1861. The legion served in North Carolina, on the Virginia
peninsula, and in the James River fortifications. It suffered terribly at
Antietam. Cobb stated that he lost "the flower of my battalion." He
commanded the Legion until he was promoted to Brigadier General on November
1, 1862. Cobb was mortally wounded
in the thigh at the Battle of Fredericksburg, while his brigade was defending
the stonewall at the foot of Mayre's Heights.
He died within sight of the house that his father and mother were married.
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He
left a widow, Marion Lumpkin Cobb, the daughter of the Georgia Supreme Court
Chief Justice Joseph Henry Lumpkin. Three
of Cobb's children lived past childhood:
Callender (Callie), who married
Augustus Longstreet Hull, a prominent Athens educator, Sarah (Sally) A. who
married Henry Jackson, the son of Brigadier. General. Henry Rootes Jackson, CSA,
of Savannah, and Marion (Birdie), who married Michael Hoke Smith, a
prominent Georgia publisher and politician.
Sources
include: Dictionary of American Biography and email from Frank
Fry, who is a great-great-grandson of Thomas R. R. Cobb.
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