Erik Visits an American Grave, Part 1,658

This is the grave of Howell Cobb.

Born in Jefferson County, Georgia in 1815, Howell Cobb pretty much had the ideal name for a traitor. Maybe I am still influenced by Chris Farley’s impersonation of Howell Heflin in that legendary Saturday Night Live skit on the Clarence Thomas hearings, but Howell is the perfect first name for southern politician and Cobb fits just fine as a last name too. Anyway, Cobb grew up in Athens, part of the southern elite. He went to the University of Georgia and married the daughter of a prominent plantation owner with connections throughout the region.

As was common for the southern elites with political ambitions, Cobb ran for Congress as soon as could. He first went to Congress in 1843, when he was a mere 27 years old. He would stay in Congress until 1857 and become among the most powerful people in America during these years. He quickly proved adroit at politics and became a voice for the South. Initially, he was fairly moderate on some of the issues of the day. As a young man, he had supported Andrew Jackson’s crushing of the idea of nullification. He was a tariff guy anyway. As he entered Congress, the Texas issue was overwhelming the American political system and he became a good centrist within the Democratic Party on these things. So he was a big supporter of the Polk administration and its unjust terrible war to steal half of Mexico in order to expand slavery. Then he wanted as much as the South could get in the aftermath with the Compromise of 1850. But once that was hashed out, he became a big supporter of respecting the deal and not pushing toward more extreme positions.

By this time, he was Speaker of the House, which he rose to 1849. Interestingly, after Zachary Taylor’s death, he should have been next in line for the presidency if Millard Fillmore dropped dead, but since he was not 35 years old yet that could have gotten weird. What would have made it especially weird is that the president pro tempore of the Senate, who should have been the next one up, was also not filled at the time. The Senate eventually got around to electing William King to that role, but it’s amazing to me how casual our politicians were on succession issues in these years when people died all the time from God knows what.

Cobb only remained Speaker for about 16 months because in 1851, he left Congress to become governor of Georgia. He served one two-year term and then left office. In 1856, he wrote a book called A Spiritual Examination of the Institution of Slavery in the United States: With Its Objects and Purposes. This was one of those ridiculous documents of the antebellum South trying to prove that slavery was not only sanctioned by the Bible but that God wanted modern people to hold slaves. Of course this is hardly more absurd that the kind of tracts right-wing Christians put out today about how God happens to support today’s version of the Republican Party on every single issue.

Cobb then briefly went back to Congress in 1857 but James Buchanan tagged him to be the new Secretary of the Treasury. Buchanan, the doughface’s doughface, had to keep the southern extremists happy and he was more than willing to do so. Cobb’s tenure at Treasury was pretty much uninteresting. A lot of his time here was politicking in the debates between the South and the North, during which he tried to be a “moderate,” which meant the North should give the South everything it demanded around slavery in exchange for staying in the Union. But he did legitimately hate the fire-eaters at the moment in which they were rising, though he would most certainly change his mind on that when the rubber met the road. Now, he should have been spending his time at Treasury dealing with the aftermath of the Panic of 1857, but that was a lot less interesting to him, despite having that job. There’s some fine 19th century American governance for you!

Cobb did not really convert to secession until 1860, but by the time of Lincoln’s election that fall, he was all-in on treason in defense of slavery. He joined the traitor army as a colonel, becoming a brigadier general in early 1862. He was in charge of prisoner exchanges for awhile. He also fought in the Peninsula Campaign, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam. Late in 1862, he was moved to Florida to run defenses there. In 1863, he received a promotion to major general. It was also Cobb’s idea to centralize Confederate prison camps in one very large camp in a remote part of southwest Georgia. Yep, Andersonville was Cobb’s idea. Thanks for your contribution to humanity!

William Tecumseh Sherman had some revenge here. He hated Cobb and when he realized on the March through Georgia that he was near Cobb’s plantation, he decided to take his dinner in Cobb’s slave quarters, freeing those slaves, then burning the plantation to the ground. Cobb was involved in some of the pitiful defenses against Sherman’s march. Cobb also was violently opposed to the late Civil War desperate idea of arming slaves. For Cobb, what was even the point of the last four years if it was going to lead to freed slaves with guns in their hands?

After the war, Cobb went back to Georgia and practiced law. A proud man, he refused to be involved in politics until Andrew Johnson pardoned him, which of course Johnson was happy to do. At that moment, Cobb started to lead the resistance to Reconstruction in Georgia. That was in early 1868. That summer, Cobb decided to come north for a vacation in New York City. While there, he dropped dead of a heart attack. He was 53 years old.

Howell Cobb is buried in Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia.

During the George Floyd protests, Nancy Pelosi had Cobb’s portrait in the hall where all the former Speakers have their portraits taken down because he is not someone that needs to be honored. Good for her.

If you would like this series to visit other Secretaries of the Treasury, who presumably mildly cared about the job, you can donate to cover the required expenses here. James Guthrie is in Louisville, Kentucky and Thomas Corwin is in Lebanon, Ohio. Previous posts in this series are archived here and here.