James Harper Cobb, 1842-1939

By Freda Daniel
April 25, 2001

James Harper Cobb had the distinction of being the last confederate veteran in a five county area. He lived a long, full life and died [May 15, 1939] at the age of 97 years, 3 months, and 14 days. Mississippi was the state of birth, January 30, 1842. His parents, Samuel Savage and Sarah Simmons Cobb welcomed him as a second son. Eleven other children were to complete their family. About 1847, they relocated to Texas.

Six months after the beginning of the War Between the States, at the age of 19, James enlisted in the Army of the Confederacy. The records show J. H. Cobb, Private, Company I, 8th Texas Cavalry, enlisted September 11, 1861, at Houston, Texas. The company was known as Terry's Texas Rangers. At the time of his service, he was a resident of Gonzales, Texas.

During his term of duty, James served bravely, was promoted to Lieutenant, and wounded in October, 1862. His grandson, George W. Cobb, remembers seeing his wound. A yankee soldier had thrust a bayonet into his ribs. With satisfaction, James said he killed the yankee that wounded him.

In 1865, James was discharged in Gonzales, Texas. It was there that he married Ellen P. Lowe in 1870. At the time of his death, May 15, 1939, they had five living children: Harper, Heywood, and Walton Cobb, Elizabeth Meredith, and Cayloma Roberts.

James lived, farmed, and raised his family in Gonzales. After the death of his wife, Ellen, he married Alice Ann Mason Bartlett, October 5, 1905. She was born in Texas, July 24, 1865, and died in Sherman, Texas, July 11, 1955. Alice rests beside James in Cedarvale Cemetery in Bay City, Texas.

An application for a Confederate pension was submitted by J. H. Cobb in Saturn, Texas, September 1, 1909. He and Alice moved to Bay City in 1914.

The old soldier took great pride in his Confederate service and welcomed any occasion to don his uniform. He often attended United Daughters of the Confederacy meetings and would entertain the ladies with tales of the war.

On the day of James Harper Cobb's funeral, some of the classes at school were dismissed to allow the student to view his body, dressed for the last time in his beloved uniform. The coffin was draped with a Confederate flag. Friends and relatives, paying homage to a hero of the south, wound their way through the town in a funeral procession to his final resting place in Cedarvale Cemetery.