Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868

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Howell Cobb (September 7, 1815-October 9, 1868) was an American lawyer and diplomat. He served as congressman (1843-51; 1855-57), Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (1849-51), governor of Georgia (1851-53), and secretary of the treasury (1857-60). Following Georgia's secession from the Union in 1861, he served as president of the Provisional Confederate Congress (1861-62) and a major general of the Confederate army.

Cobb was born in Jefferson County on September 7, 1815, the eldest child of Sarah and John Cobb. His younger brother, Thomas R. R. Cobb, became a prominent jurist and Confederate general. Around 1819 the family moved to Athens, where Cobb attended the University of Georgia, graduating in 1834. He became an attorney in 1836. His marriage in 1835 to Mary Ann Lamar produced twelve children, six of whom survived to adulthood.

Although the practice of law provided Cobb with a profession, politics was his avocation. Like his father, he embraced the doctrines of the Jacksonian Democrats, which he defended first in university debating societies and then on the stump. In 1837 the state legislature elected him solicitor general for the Western Judicial Circuit of Georgia. In 1842 Georgia Democrats nominated him to Congress representing the Sixth District, an election he won easily.

Cobb's affability and quick mastery of House rules hastened his advancement within the Democratic caucus. Already, sectional disputes touching on slavery and its future tainted congressional debates. From both inclination and political necessity, the young congressman labored to protect southern interests in these struggles. He believed that the best security for slavery and the South lay within a federal union of equal partners based upon adherence to the Constitution. Unlike "fire-eating" southerners, however, he believed that this goal could be achieved only through a pro-Union policy of compromise in times of sectional controversy. Consequently, Cobb engaged extreme southern states' rights men with the same vigor that he directed toward northern abolitionists. As a result of these battles, he later found his path to higher office blocked by opponents within the Georgia Democratic Party.

During the late 1840s the dispute over slavery reached crisis proportions as Congress attempted to resolve the future of slavery in western territories acquired as a result of the Mexican War (1846-48). Elected Speaker of the Thirty-first Congress, Cobb labored both behind the scenes and in his rulings from the chair to assist in securing passage of the Compromise of 1850. The following year he was elected governor at the head of a pro-compromise coalition of Union Democrats and Whigs. The success of this Constitutional Union Party helped solidify the South's acceptance of the Compromise of 1850, but it earned Cobb the permanent enmity of many southern-rights Democrats and damaged his standing with the national Democratic Party. He found himself politically isolated after the Constitutional Union organization collapsed in 1852 when its Whig wing, led by Alexander Stephens and Robert Toombs, declined to join the national Democracy.

At the conclusion of his gubernatorial term in 1853, Cobb returned to private life but worked diligently to restore his standing within the Democratic Party. He reacted gracefully in 1853 when southern-rights Democrats in the state legislature blocked his election to the Senate, and in 1855 he regained his congressional seat. In the presidential election of 1856 Cobb campaigned vigorously on behalf of Democratic nominee James Buchanan, who then rewarded his efforts by naming him treasury secretary.

During Cobb's tenure at the Treasury Department, the financial panic of 1857 beset the nation. Yet the ongoing crisis over slavery in the territories remained a more serious threat to the nation's future than any temporary economic dislocation. Throughout his political life Cobb had argued that only the national Democratic Party could effect the compromises essential to the maintenance of the Union. By 1860 the sectional pressures over slavery had grown so intense that the Democratic Party split into northern and southern organizations. This split, combined with the rise of the Republican Party in the North, served to place control of the federal government in the hands of an antislavery party. Confronted with the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, Cobb abandoned his faith in the Union and forcefully urged Georgia's secession.

Following secession, Cobb served as president of the Provisional Confederate Congress. He received some consideration for the Confederate presidency, but lingering animosities among southern-rights men effectively denied him the post. At the conclusion of his term he entered the Confederate army. He began his service as colonel of the Sixteenth Georgia Infantry and eventually rose to the rank of major general. He saw service in Virginia during the Peninsula campaign and the Seven Days Battles. In October 1862 he was transferred to the district of middle Florida, and then in September 1863 he took command of Georgia state troops. He surrendered his troops to Union forces in Macon on April 20, 1865.

Cobb declined to make any public remarks on Reconstruction policy pending receipt of a presidential pardon. That pardon came three years after the war's end. He promptly delivered a series of speeches in the summer of 1868, bitterly denouncing Radical Republican plans for Reconstruction. He died of a heart attack while vacationing in New York on October 9, 1868.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Parker, Ely Samuel. Ely Samuel Parker Papers. 1794-1946. American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Antebellum and Civil War Collection, 1832-1935, undated. Atlanta History Center, Kenan Research Center / Cherokee Garden Library
referencedIn Beauregard, G. T. (Gustave Toutant), 1818-1893. P. G. T. Beauregard telegram, 1865, 2 January.
referencedIn Parsons, Edwin. Edwin Parsons collection, 1759-1862 Georgia Historical Society
referencedIn Foster, Ira R. (Ira Roe), 1811-1885. Ira R. Foster papers, 1844-1873. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn Ulrich Bonnell Phillips papers, 1712-1933, 1800-1861 Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
referencedIn Cobb, Nicholas, fl.1844-1861. Miscellaneous papers of the Hutter family [manuscript], 1685-1859. University of Virginia. Library
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Howell Cobb permit, 1860 Georgia Historical Society
creatorOf Rice, Zachariah A. Zachariah A. Rice Correspondence and Military Commission, 1861-1862. Atlanta History Center, Kenan Research Center / Cherokee Garden Library
creatorOf Alabama. Governor (1857-1861 : A.B. Moore). Administrative files, 1857-1861. Alabama Department of Archives and History
referencedIn Flournoy, John Jacobus, d. 1879. Letters to Howell Cobb, 1836-1868. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Thomas Wray collection, 1860-1893.
referencedIn Hay, Southard, 1875-1951,. Southard Hay autograph collection, 1750-1885 (inclusive). Yale University Library
referencedIn Southard Hay autograph collection, 1750-1885 Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
referencedIn Bacon, Augustus Octavius, 1839-1914. Augustus Octavius Bacon diaries, 1853, 1861, 1868. Mercer University
referencedIn Barrow, Middleton Pope, 1839-1903. Letters, 1877, 1887. Duke University Libraries, Duke University Library; Perkins Library
referencedIn Coulter, E. Merton (Ellis Merton), 1890-1981,. E. Merton Coulter manuscript collection II, [ca. 1754-1920]. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn Georgia. Governor (1851-1853 : Cobb). James A. Waters land grant and plat, 1851. Georgia Historical Society
referencedIn Records of the U.S. Senate, 1789 - 2015. Anson McCook Collection of Presidential Signatures, 1789 - 1975 National Archives Library, National Archives Records Administration
creatorOf Pickens, F. W. (Francis Wilkinson), 1805-1869. Francis Wilkinson Pickens Papers, 1837-1920 1860-1865. Michigan State University Libraries, Main Library
referencedIn Rice, Zachariah A. Papers, 1861-1862. Atlanta History Center, Kenan Research Center / Cherokee Garden Library
referencedIn Phillips, Ulrich Bonnell, 1877-1934. Ulrich Bonnell Phillips papers, 1712-1961 (inclusive), 1800-1861 (bulk). Yale University Library
referencedIn Brown, Joseph E. (Joseph Emerson), 1821-1894. Joseph E. Brown papers, [ca. 1861-1890]. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Baxter, Sarah Spalding Cobb, 1882-1973. Sarah Cobb Baxter, 1858-1967.
referencedIn Wylie, Lollie Belle. Lollie Belle Wylie family papers, 1723-1986 (bulk 1880-1922).
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Howell Cobb letter, 1850. Louisiana State University, LSU Libraries
referencedIn Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889. Jefferson Davis collection, 1846-1905. Emory University. Special Collections and Archives
referencedIn Cobb, Nicholas, fl. 1844-1861. Miscellaneous papers of the Hutter family, 1685-1859. University of Virginia. Library
referencedIn Photograph albums, 1870s-1880s.
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Letter signed : "Treasury Department", to J.S. Black, 1858 May 18. Pierpont Morgan Library.
referencedIn Flagg, S. Griswold. S. Griswold Flagg collection, 1825-1938 (inclusive). Yale University Library
referencedIn Anonymous. Patriotic covers collection, 1861-1862. The Filson Historical Society
creatorOf United States Mint. Records of San Francisco branch of the United States Mint, 1856-1899. Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens
referencedIn Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States Commandery of the State of Massachusetts Civil War collection, 1724-1933 (inclusive); 1861-1912 (bulk). Houghton Library
referencedIn Brown, Joseph E. (Joseph Emerson), 1821-1894. Joseph E. Brown papers, 1823-1895. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Athens Chapter. National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, Athens Chapter. Athens homes, circa 1942.
referencedIn Alexander Hamilton Stephens Papers, 1784-1886, (bulk 1850-1883) Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
referencedIn Smith, William H., fl. 1864-1866. Papers of William H. Smith, 1864-1866. University of Virginia. Library
referencedIn Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889. Letter to Mary Ann Lamar Cobb, 1888 Oct. 2. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn Pollard, Charles T. (Charles Teed), 1842-1873. Confederate officers photograph album, undated. Alabama Department of Archives and History
referencedIn Feimster, Abner. Papers, 1799-1873. Duke University Libraries, Duke University Library; Perkins Library
referencedIn Brent, George William. Papers, 1862-1881. Duke University Libraries, Duke University Library; Perkins Library
referencedIn S. Griswold Flagg collection, 1825-1938 Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
referencedIn Cobb, Thomas Read Rootes, 1823-1862. Thomas Read Rootes Cobb letters, 1855-1862 [manuscript]. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Signature, cut from hotel register : [n.p.], [n.d.]. Pierpont Morgan Library.
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Signature cut from hotel register, [1815-1868]?. Pierpont Morgan Library.
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Letter signed : "Treasury Department", to J.S. Black, 1858 July 20. Pierpont Morgan Library.
referencedIn Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1807-1870. Robert E. Lee collection, 1838-1872 (bulk 1861-1864). Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Cobb / Erwin / Lamar family collection, 1796-1929. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Letter, 1856. Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project
referencedIn Frederick M. Dearborn collection of military and political Americana, Part II: The Civil War and the Confederacy, 1832-1915. Houghton Library
referencedIn Records of the U.S. Customs Service, 1745 - 1997. Letters Received, 1804 - 1868 National Archives at Fort Worth
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Howell Cobb letters Georgia Historical Society
referencedIn Frederick M. Dearborn collection of military and political Americana, Part I: The Revolution and the Administration, 1669-1958. Houghton Library
referencedIn Jones, George Washington, 1806-1884. George Washington Jones papers, 1835-1884 (bulk 1840s and 1870s). University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
referencedIn Chesnut, James, 1815-1885. James Chesnut letter book, 1864-1865. Emory University. Special Collections and Archives
referencedIn Autograph File, C Houghton Library
referencedIn United States. Military Telegraph Corps. Fort Monroe Telegrams, 1862 February. The Mariners' Museum Library
creatorOf Rybolt, R. M. (Bob). From start to finish collection, before 1987.
creatorOf Cobb family. Cobb family papers, 1837-1913. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn Lumpkin, Joseph Henry, 1799-1867. Joseph Henry Lumpkin family papers, 1780-1903 (bulk 1820-1856). Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Letter : [Washington, D.C.], to P. D. Vroom, Trenton, N.J., 1857 Dec. 1. Texas Christian University
referencedIn Records of the National Park Service, 1785 - 2006. National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records, 2013 - 2017 National Archives Library, National Archives Records Administration
creatorOf Stephens, Alexander Hamilton, 1812-1883. Alexander H. Stephens and Howell Cobb letters, 1848-1880.
creatorOf Cobb family. Cobb family papers, 1859-1919. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Thatcher Magoun & Son. Papers, 1832-1885. Boston Athenaeum
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Howell Cobb papers, 1861-1868. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn Cobb-Lamar-Rucker collection, circa 1860s-1982.
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Letter signed : "Treasury Department", to J.S. Black, 1857 Mar. 26. Pierpont Morgan Library.
referencedIn Black, Jeremiah S. (Jeremiah Sullivan), 1810-1883. Letter : Washington, D.C., to Howell Cobb, [Washington, D.C.], 1859 Mar. 16. Texas Christian University
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Howell Cobb family papers, 1824-1888. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Howell Cobb papers, 1848-1857. Library of Congress
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Howell Cobb papers, 1857-1860. Emory University. Special Collections and Archives
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Howell Cobb family papers, 1793-1932 (bulk 1839-1868). Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Letter signed : "Treasury Department", to J.S. Black, Attorney General 1857 Sept. 18. Pierpont Morgan Library.
creatorOf Jones, George Wallace, 1804-1896. Letters, 1844-1896. University of Iowa Libraries
referencedIn Johnston, Joseph E. (Joseph Eggleston), 1807-1891. Joseph E. Johnston telegram, 1865, 27 March.
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Papers, 1843-1868. Duke University Libraries, Duke University Library; Perkins Library
referencedIn Walker, Robert J. (Robert John), 1801-1869. Papers of Robert J. Walker, 1815-1936. Library of Congress
referencedIn John Torrey Papers, 1788-1871 (bulk 1806-1871) New York Botanical Garden, The LuEsther T. Mertz Library
referencedIn Stone, Cyrena Bailey, 1830-1868. Cyrena Bailey Stone diary, 1864. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Letter : [Washington, D.C.], to P.D. Vroom, Trenton, N.J., 1857 Dec. 1. University of Chicago Library
contributorOf Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1984. Amnesty Papers, 1865 - 1867 National Archives Library, National Archives Records Administration
referencedIn Browne, William Montague, 1823-1883. William Montague Browne papers, 1864-1880. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn G. T. Beauregard Papers 1844-1883 (bulk 1861-1865) Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
creatorOf Cobb, Howell, 1815-1868. Letters, 1854-1857. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
referencedIn Grady, William S. William S. Grady receipted bill, 7 February 1861.
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Alabama. Governor (1857-1861 : A.B. Moore). corporateBody
associatedWith American Medical Association corporateBody
associatedWith Anonymous. person
correspondedWith Bache, Alexander Dallas person
associatedWith Bacon, Augustus Octavius, 1839-1914. person
associatedWith Baird, Spencer F. person
associatedWith Barrow, Middleton Pope, 1839-1903. person
associatedWith Baxter, Sarah Spalding Cobb, 1882-1973. person
correspondedWith Beauregard, G. T. (Gustave Toutant), 1818-1893. person
associatedWith Black, Jeremiah S. (Jeremiah Sullivan), 1810-1883 person
associatedWith Brent, George William. person
associatedWith Browne, William Montague, 1823-1883. person
associatedWith Brown, Joseph E. person
associatedWith Brown, Joseph E. (Joseph Emerson), 1821-1894. person
associatedWith Buchanan, James person
associatedWith Chesnut, James, 1815-1885. person
associatedWith Cobb family. family
associatedWith Cobb family. family
associatedWith Cobb family. family
memberOf Cobb family. person
associatedWith Cobb family. family
parentOf Cobb, Howell, 1842-1909. person
spouseOf Cobb, Mary Ann Lamar. person
associatedWith Cobb, Mary Ann Lamar. person
associatedWith Cobb, Mary Ann Lamar, 1818-1889. person
parent-in-law of Cobb, Mary McKinley, 1844-1927. person
sibling of Cobb, Thomas Read Rootes, 1832-1862. person
associatedWith Collector Of Customs, New York corporateBody
associatedWith Confederate States of America. corporateBody
associatedWith Confederate States of America. Army. corporateBody
associatedWith Confederate States of America. Army. Cobb's Legion. Cavalry Battalion. corporateBody
associatedWith Conrad, Charles Magill, 1804-1878. person
associatedWith Coolidge, Richard H. person
associatedWith Coulter, E. Merton (Ellis Merton), 1890-1981, person
associatedWith Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889. person
associatedWith Dearborn, Frederick M. (Frederick Myers), b. 1876 person
associatedWith Democratic Party (Ga.) corporateBody
associatedWith Erwin, Alexander S., 1843-1907. person
parentOf Erwin, Mary Ann Lamar Cobb, 1850-1930. person
associatedWith Faunce, John. person
associatedWith Feimster, Abner. person
associatedWith Flagg, S. Griswold. person
associatedWith Flagg, S. Griswold. person
associatedWith Flash, Harry Lynden. person
associatedWith Flournoy, John Jacobus, d. 1879. person
associatedWith Foster, Ira R. (Ira Roe), 1811-1885. person
associatedWith Georgia. Governor (1851-1853 : Cobb) corporateBody
associatedWith Grady, William S. person
associatedWith Hare, Robert person
associatedWith Harriet Lane (Ship) corporateBody
associatedWith Hay, Southard, 1875-1951, person
correspondedWith Henry, Joseph, 1797-1878 person
associatedWith Hibbard, Harry, 1816-1872, person
correspondedWith Hillyer, Junius person
associatedWith Hull, W. H. person
associatedWith Johnson, Herschel V. (Herschel Vespasian), 1812-1880. person
correspondedWith Johnston, Joseph E. (Joseph Eggleston), 1807-1891. person
associatedWith Jones, George Wallace, 1804-1896. person
associatedWith Jones, George Washington, 1806-1884. person
associatedWith Lamar, J. B. (John Basil), 1812-1862. person
associatedWith Lamar, Zachariah, 1767-1834. person
associatedWith Lumpkin, Joseph Henry, 1799-1867. person
correspondedWith Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. Commandery of the State of Massachusetts, collector. corporateBody
associatedWith Parker, Ely Samuel, 1828-1895 person
associatedWith Parsons, Edwin person
associatedWith Phillips, Ulrich Bonnell, 1877-1934. person
associatedWith Pickens, F. W. (Francis Wilkinson), 1805-1869. person
associatedWith Pollard, Charles T. (Charles Teed), 1842-1873. person
correspondedWith Rhees, William J. person
associatedWith Rice, Zachariah A. person
associatedWith Rybolt, R. M. (Bob) person
associatedWith Schell, Augustus, 1812-1884. person
associatedWith Smith, William H., fl. 1864-1866. person
correspondedWith Stephens, Alexander Hamilton, 1812-1883. person
associatedWith Stone, Cyrena Bailey, 1830-1868. person
associatedWith Thatcher Magoun & Son. corporateBody
associatedWith Toombs, Robert. person
associatedWith United States. Congress. House corporateBody
associatedWith United States. Dept. of the Treasury. Office of the Secretary. corporateBody
associatedWith United States. Military Telegraph Corps. corporateBody
associatedWith United States Mint. corporateBody
associatedWith United States. Navy. corporateBody
associatedWith U.S. Customs Service. corporateBody
associatedWith Vroom, Peter Dumont, 1791-1873. person
associatedWith Waddell, John O. person
associatedWith Walker, Joseph Marshall, 1786-1856. person
associatedWith Walker, Robert J. (Robert John), 1801-1869. person
associatedWith Ward, John Elliott, 1814-1902. person
associatedWith Whig Party (Ga.) corporateBody
correspondedWith Wylie, Lollie Belle. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Athens GA US
New York City NY US
Subject
Army
Atlanta Campaign, 1864
Ships
Black market
Bull Run, 1st Battle of, Va., 1861
Political campaigns
Coasts
Congress
Cotton trade
Draft
Dudley Observatory
Farm management
General
Governor
Governors
Lawyers
Medicine
Meteorology
Mint
Natural history
Newspapers
Patent Office
Presidents
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)
Shipbuilding
Smithsonian Board Of Regents
Smithsonian Endowment
Smithsonian Exchange
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Library
Smithsonian Publications
Standardization
Sugar
Surveys And Explorations, General
Treasury Department
Wilkes Expedition
Occupation
Army officers, Confederate
Cabinet officers
Cabinet officers
Governors
Lawyers
Legislators
Legislators
Politicians
Representatives, U.S. Congress
Speakers of the House, U.S. Congress
Activity

Person

Birth 1815-09-07

Death 1868-10-09

Male

Americans

English

Information

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