Cobb's Legion

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Cobb's Legion
Georgia State flag prior to 1879
ActiveSummer 1861 – April 26, 1865
Country Confederate States of America
Allegiance Georgia
Branch Confederate States Army
TypeMultiple Component Legion
Nickname(s)Georgia Legion
9th Georgia Cavalry
Carlton's Troup Artillery
EngagementsAmerican Civil War
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Colonel Thomas R. R. Cobb

Cobb's Legion (also known as the Georgia Legion) was an American Civil War Confederate States Army unit that was raised from the state of Georgia by Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb during the summer of 1861.[1] A legion in the Civil War usually meant a combined-arms unit, consisting of two or three branches of the military: infantry, cavalry, and artillery. When it was originally raised, the Georgia Legion comprised 600 infantrymen in the infantry battalions, 300 cavalry troopers in the cavalry battalions, and 100 artillerists in a single battery.[1] The legion concept was not practical for Civil War armies and, soon after Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia on June 1, 1862, the individual elements were assigned to other units.[1][2][3]

Infantry component[edit]

After the infantry battalion was brought up to regimental strength the unit was assigned to Howell Cobb's brigade in Lafayette McLaws's Division of James Longstreet's Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. Howell Cobb was absent after the Battle of Malvern Hill in July 1862 until August 1862 and again in October 1862 before moving to another command.[4] T.R.R. Cobb, commander of the infantry component of the former legion, commanded Cobb's brigade in his brother's absence and took full command in November 1862.[3] Cobb was succeeded in brigade command by Colonel William T. Wofford after Cobb was killed at the Battle of Fredericksburg.[3] The regiment surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The cavalry became a regiment in Brigadier General Wade Hampton's brigade of Major General J. E. B. Stuart's division and kept the name of Cobb's Legion or the Georgia Legion.[1]

Organization[edit]

  • Staff
    • Colonel Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb. Cobb formed the legion in the late summer of 1861, and served as its colonel. Cobb served as a colonel until he was promoted to brigadier general on November 1, 1862.[3] However, the promotion was not confirmed by the Confederate States Congress before Cobb's death.[5] Cobb was killed at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862.[3] Colonel William T. Wofford, then in command of the 18th Georgia Infantry Regiment which had been incorporated into Cobb's brigade, succeeded to command of the brigade after T.R.R. Cobb's death. Wofford was promoted to brigadier general on January 17, 1863 and served in Major General Lafayette McLaws's division, commanded after McLaws was relieved of command following the Siege of Knoxville in 1864 by Major General Joseph B. Kershaw.[6] After the legion's components were separated, the highest rank in the infantry battalion was lieutenant colonel.
    • Lieutenant Colonel Jefferson Mirabeau Lamar (He was named Lieutenant Colonel on January 18, 1862. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Crampton's Gap, Maryland, on September 14, 1862, and he died the next day.)
    • Lieutenant Colonel Luther Glenn (He was named lieutenant colonel on September 15, 1862. He retired on January 11, 1865.)

Companies[edit]

Battles[edit]

The infantry battalion fought in the following battles:

Cavalry component[edit]

The cavalry battalion was expanded first to eight companies, then later to eleven companies before finally being decreased to ten companies. It was redesignated as the 9th Georgia Cavalry, but continued to be called Cobb's Legion or the Georgia Legion.[7] It surrendered at Greensboro, North Carolina, on April 26, 1865.

Organization[edit]

  • Staff
    • Colonel Pierce M. B. Young (He was named colonel on November 1, 1862. He was promoted to brigadier general in the fall of 1863.)[8]
    • Colonel Gilbert Jefferson Wright (He was named colonel on October 23, 1863, and led the Legion until its surrender on April 26, 1865.)
    • Lieutenant Colonel William Gaston Delony (He was named major on May 23, 1862. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on November 2, 1862.) On September 13, 1862, he assumed command of the cavalry battalion after Lieutenant Colonel Young was wounded. He remained second in command of the Legion until mortally wounded and captured at the Battle of Jack's Shop, Virginia, on September 22, 1863, dying on October 2, 1863, in the Stanton Hospital in Washington City as a POW.

Companies[edit]

Battles[edit]

The cavalry component fought in the following battles:[7]

Troup Artillery[edit]

The artillery battery was known as the Troup Artillery (named for former governor George M. Troup). It was from Athens, Georgia. It was commanded by Captain Henry Hull Carlton after the Legion was reorganized, the Troup Artillery was assigned to the Artillery Battalion of Longstreet's Corps. The Troup Artillery disbanded April 9, 1865.[9]

Battles[edit]

The battles it took part in were:[9]

Famous members[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Longacre, 1986, p. 147.
  2. ^ a b c d Krick, 1993, p. 263.
  3. ^ a b c d e Heidler, 2000, p. 462.
  4. ^ Heidler, 2000, pp. 460-461.
  5. ^ Eicher, 2001, p. 592.
  6. ^ Warner, 1959, p. 344.
  7. ^ a b Sifakis, 2006, pp. 165-167
  8. ^ Warner, 1959, p. 348.
  9. ^ a b Sifakis, 2006, pp. 144-146.

References[edit]

  • Heidler, David S., and Jeanne T. Heidler, Cobb, Thomas Reade Rootes In Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 978-0-393-04758-5. p. 462.
  • Krick, Robert K. Cobb Thomas R. R. In Current, Richard N., ed., The Confederacy. New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan, 1993. ISBN 978-0-02-864920-7. Macmillan Compendium. Sections from the four-volume Macmillan Encyclopedia of the Confederacy. pp. 261-264.
  • Longacre, Edward C. Cobb's Legion. In Historical Times Illustrated History of the Civil War, edited by Patricia L. Faust. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. ISBN 978-0-06-273116-6. p. 147.
  • Sifakis, Stewart. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: South Carolina and Georgia. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, Inc., 2006. ISBN 978-1-58549-692-1.
  • Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.

Literature[edit]

  • Dooley, Vincent Joseph and Samuel Norman Thomas Jr., eds. The Legion's Fighting Bulldog: The Civil War correspondence of William Gaston Delony, Lieutenant Colonel of Cobb's Georgia Legion Cavalry, and Rosa Delony, 1853-1863. Mercer University Press.
  • Turner, Nat S. 2002. A Southern Soldier's Letters Home: The Civil War Letters of Samuel Burney, Cobb's Georgia Legion, Army of Northern Virginia. Macon GA: Mercer University Press.

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

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