Capt. Robert Linah Cobb

Narrative:

     Capt. Robert Linah Cobb was born at 5 Mar 1840 at Cumberland Iron Works, Stewart Co., Tennessee.^10,11,12
     He was probably the male under age 5 listed in the household of his father, Dr. Joshua Cobb, in the 1840 Federal Census of Stewart Co., Tennessee.²²
     His mother died on 11 Sep 1841, when Robert was 1 year old.^23,24
     He appeared on the 1850 Federal Census of Stewart Co., Tennessee, in the household of his father and stepmother, Marina Turner Bryan.^25,26
     He moved to Clarksville with his father and stepmother in 1851.^27,28,29

His Education --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---

     Robert attended local schools, then Stewart College, on the site now occupied by Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, in 1854-6. That school, after several name changes and reorganizations, moved to Memphis in 1925 and is now known as Rhodes College.^30,31,32
     After completion of his schooling, he became a rodman on the Memphis, Clarksville and Louisville Railroad. He soon became assistant engineer on that road. In 1859 and 1860 he was City Engineer of Clarksville.³⁰

Serving at Fort Donelson --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---

     With the outbreak of the Civil War, Robert joined the Confederate Army. He mustered in 12 Aug 1861 at Clarksville, Tennessee, as a private in Captain T. W. Beaumont's Company.³³ In the fall of 1861 this company, among others, assembled at Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River about thirty miles below Clarksville.^34,35 On 10 Nov 1861 he was detached from the company by order of Liet. Col. R. W. McGavock, commander of Fort Donelson, and placed in charge of ordnance and stores at the post. When Gen. Tilghman assumed command 23 Dec 1861 Robert was appointed by him as Ordnance Officer to his command.^36,37
     Robert's status during this period was irregular, at least. On Christmas Day, 1861, the companies at Fort Donelson organized into a regiment, the 50th Tennessee Infantry. Capt. Beaumont's company became Company A in the new regiment. By this time Robert had been detached to the Ordnance Department, but he continued to be carried on the muster rolls of the 50th Tennessee, marked as "absent, assigned to duty in Ordnance Dept.," initially showing his rank as private and later as 2nd lieutenant. Two different officers, in their reports of the battle Fort Donelson, commended him, addressing him as "Lieutenant Cobb, of the Ordnance Department" in one case and "Lieut. Robert Cobb, of Tennessee, ordnance officer" in the other. During his time at Fort Donelson he signed receipts and requisitions as "Act. Ordnance Officer." But he never actually received a commission as an officer.^38,39,40,41
     Fort Donelson was reached by Union forces under Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on 12 Feb 1862. Over the following three days the Union forces surrounded the fort and pressed their attack, aided by gunboats coming up the river. In the early morning hours of 16 Feb, Confederate Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd, seeing the situation as hopeless, turned over command to Brig. Gen. Gideon Johnson Pillow, who turned command over to Brig. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, leaving him to surrender the fort while they escaped. With no white flag available, Robert, as ordnance officer, produced a white bedsheet which was run up at daylight. Many men escaped, including Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest and 700 of his cavalrymen, and nearly half of the 50th Tennessee, including Robert.^42,43,44,45

Assigned to His Cousin's Battery --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---

     After his escape from Fort Donelson Robert made his way to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and reported for duty to Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston there. On 22 Feb 1862 he was assigned as Junior 1^st Lieut. in R. Cobb's Battalion (Maj. Robert H. Cobb, commander of that unit, was his double cousin, son of father's brother and his mother's sister). He remained in the battalion until after the Battle of Shiloh, which occurred 6 Apr 1862.^46,47
     There is no record of his duties while serving in Cobb's Battery. However his short time there probably contributed to confusion between him and his cousin during the war and afterwards, continuing among Civil War buffs today.^48,49,50

Transferred to the Ordnance Department --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---

     He was assigned by Gen. Beauregard to report to the Chief of Ordinance of the Western Department, and reported there 13 Apr 1862, at Corinth, Mississippi.⁵¹ On 28 Apr 1862 he was requested to go to Mobile, Alabama, to collect ordnance stores there and bring them to Corinth.⁵²
     By 28 Jun 1862 he was Ordinance Officer of Artillery at the Verona, Mississippi, Depot.⁵³ By 15 Dec 1862 he was Ordinance Officer at Tullahoma, Tennessee. Records are unclear as to when he was assigned there.⁵⁴ By 25 Aug 1862 he was Ordnance Officer in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in charge of a train of ordnance that accompanied Gen. Wilther's division.⁵⁵

Trying to Collect His Pay --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---

     By mid-1862 his irregular status had become a serious issue for him: he could not collect any pay. When he finally got around to presenting his papers to his paymaster he was told that without a commission he could not be paid. He began collecting statements from his former commanding officers that documented his service as an ordnance officer. He wrote to his old family friend, Willis Benson Machen, 25 Aug 1862 requesting his help in obtaining a commission so he could collect his pay. He said he had been in the service 12 months, paying his own expenses and had not asked for pay until he arrived in Chattanooga. He said he had spent $200 raising Capt. Beaumont's Company, and was now out of funds. Col. Machen's response has not been found.⁵⁶
     Robert wrote to headquarters 1 Oct 1862 from Bryansville, Kentucky, about his pay as an Ordinance Officer. The response, dated 7 Nov 1862, stated it appears he had no appointment in the Army, and it was too late to confer an appointment except after examination, which has been ordered. On 30 Nov 1862 he requested, from Murfreesboro, to be examined for a position as 1^st Lieut. of Ordinance and Artillery. No record of him taking that examination has been found.⁵⁷
     His commanding officer wrote to headquarters in Richmond on 10 Dec 1862 seeking authority to pay him from 25 Dec 1861. Headquarters responded six days later authorizing payment at the rate for a Lieutenant for the time he was actually on ordnance duty. A voucher was issued to pay him $1,095 for the period 25 Dec 1861 to 1 Jan 1863.⁵⁸

Becoming a Pontoonier --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---

     On 1 Jan 1863 he was ordered to report for duty to Capt. E. B. Sayers, Chief Engineer in Lt. Gen. Polk's Corps, Army of Tennessee. He still had no commission, but was an acting 1st lieutenant. He was being paid at the rate of $100 per month.⁵⁹ On 13 Apr 1863 he again wrote to Col. Machen, from Shelbyville, Tennessee. He was responding to a letter from him dated 14 Mar, and again asked for help in receiving a commission. It is not clear whether Machen was responsible, but several officers did write letters recommending Robert as 1st lieutenant in a company of sappers and miners then being formed in Lt. Gen. Polk's corps (sappers and miners are engineers who construct trenches and tunnels to aid in breaching defensive structures).⁶⁰
     Robert was appointed 17 Jun 1863 as commanding officer of company C in the 3rd Engineer Troops. While the company was known as Lieut. R. L. Cobb's Company, he remained an acting 1st lieutenant. No record has been found of his ever being commissioned as a lieutenant.⁶¹ The newly formed 3rd Regiment of Engineer Troop including two companies of pontooniers, furnished with a train of boats and bridge material. Lt. Cobb was assigned to one of these. These units had sufficient boats to bridge small streams, but in order to put Gen. Hood across the Tennessee river at Florence, 30 Oct to 2 Nov 1863, they had to supplement the pontoons with a trestle bridge.⁶²
     He apparently grew impatient of receiving a commission as lieutenant and decided to pursue a captaincy. On 11 Dec 1863, from Dalton, Georgia, he wrote to G. A. Henry, Confederate States Senator from Clarksville, Tennessee, seeking his support in obtaining a captaincy of his company. Senator Henry was well placed to help, having been a law school classmate of President Jefferson Davis, and a member of the finance and military committees in the Senate. The Senator did write a letter of recommendation 17 Dec 1893.^63,64
     Robert was appointed 30 Apr 1864 as Captain in Company G, 3rd Regiment of Engineers.⁶⁵ He was nominated as a Captain to the Confederate Congress on 24 May 1864 by President Jefferson Davis, to take that rank from 30 Apr 1864. The nomination was confirmed 6 Jun.^66,67 He was the youngest captain in that corps.^68,69
     After Gen. Hood's disastrous defeat at Nashville on 16 Dec 1864, the pontoon unit put him over the Duck River but had to abandon the cords and decking of the bridge. When Gen. Hood announced he would try to re-cross the Tennessee at Bainbridge Capt. Cobb was dispatched with a company, mounted on mules, to Decatur to bring down if possible several pontoon boats that had been captured there. The river was too deep to permit building a trestle bridge quickly, and there were about half enough boats to span the stream. With the sound of artillery in the distance as the rear guard was being pressed by the victorious foe, Cobb's unit appeared with the boats, having successfully navigated the hazardous shoals in high water, permitting Hood's army to cross.^70,71,72
     On 31 Dec 1864 a pontoon train under his command was captured near Nauvoo, Alabama, by Federal forces under Brig. Gen. W. D. Whipple's command. The train "extended for five miles, and consisted of 78 pontoon boats and about 200 wagons, with all the necessary accouterments, material, engineering instruments, etc." Gen. Whipple reported he would have been glad to bring the train back to Union lines, since it "was an exceedingly well appointed one." But the condition of the mules, the mountainous terrain, and the presence nearby of enemy cavalry of three times the strength of his forces prevented that. So he burned it. A few prisoners were captured but no mention was made of any officers.⁷³
     Gen. Hood resigned his command in Jan 1865, and the remains of his army were commanded briefly by Gen. Taylor, then by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, being transferred to the Carolinas. Robert was listed on the rolls of those Gen. Johnston surrendered a 26 Apr 1865 and paroled at Catawba Bridge, South Carolina, on 5 May 1865.⁷⁴

His Return to Engineering --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---

     After the war, Robert returned to the practice of engineering. For a time, he engaged in a joint practice with his future brother-in-law, John Baker Tapscott, under the firm name of Cobb & Tapscott. In Oct 1865 they advertised their services as Civil and Topographical Engineers, Architects and Surveyors, in Clarksville. They said they would "attend promptly to any business in their profession in this or the adjoining states. Special attention paid to surveying and mapping farms."⁷⁵
     Robert soon resumed his career with the railroads, returning to the Memphis, Clarksville, and Louisville Railroad as Division Engineer. In 1867 he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Winchester and Alabama Railroad, which also later became part of the Louisville and Nashville system. Two years later he became Assistant Engineer of the Memphis and Ohio Railroad, then a Division Engineer with the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad, where he remained until 1873, serving part of that time as Acting Chief Engineer.^76,77
     On 18 Feb 1873 Robert, together with Charles W. Tift, both shown as from Memphis, Tennessee, filed an application for a patent on an improved fastening for joints between lengths of rail. The invention used a wedge bar instead of nuts to secure the bolts that hold the joint together. Their patent was issued 24 Mar 1874, number 149, 002.⁷⁸
     In 1873 he conducted mining operations at Kellogg, Arkansas, and later in Mexico. He returned to railroad work in 1876 as a member of the engineering staff of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railway.^76,79

Starting a Family --- Text Stolen from ReigelRidge.com !! ---

     Robert married Virginia A. Tuck, daughter of Dr. Davis Green Tuck and Elizabeth M. Toot, on 3 Jan 1877, at the residence of her sister Sarah, on Poplar Blvd., Shelby Co., Tennessee, with Rev. S. B. Surratt officiating.^13,14,15,16
     Robert and Jennie settled in Little Rock, Arkansas, after their marriage.⁸⁰ They appeared on the 1880 Federal Census of Little Rock, Pulaski Co., Arkansas, at the Capital Hotel, enumerated 8 Jun 1880. Their daughter Irene was listed as living with them.⁴
     He was the Chief Engineer of the Texas and St. Louis Railway, later the St. Louis, Arkansas, and Texas, in 1881 and 1882. He then spent four years manufacturing machinery at Little Rock, Arkansas.⁷⁶ Julian, six miles west of Hopkinsville, was established in 1888.
     His wife, with their daughter and presumably their young son, moved to San Antonio, Texas, in the fall of 1885 in hopes that the climate there would improve her health.^81,82,83
     On the evening of 24 Apr 1886 Robert received a telegram that his daughter Irene was dangerously ill. He took the first train to go to her and arrived just an hour before she died.⁸⁴
     His wife died on 17 May 1886 in Clarksville, Montgomery Co., Tennessee, at the home of his sister, where she had been staying since the burial of their daughter two weeks before.^85,86
     In 1886 he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Indiana, Alabama and Texas Railroad. When that line was absorbed by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1887 he became the Chief Engineer of construction for the line.^76,87,88
     In 1890 he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Clarksville Mineral Railroad.⁷⁶ In 1892 he became Chief Engineer the Ohio and Southern Railroad, taking charge of the engineering department, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.^76,89,90 While he was there he boarded at the Arcade Hotel. He suffered "an attack of grip" (apparently grippe, a term for several flu-like diseases) in the winter of 1894 from which he never recovered, and returned to Clarksville in May 1895.^91,92
     He was a member of the Knights of Pythias of Little Rock, the Royal Arcanum, one of the oldest fraternal benefit societies in the United States, and Forbes Bivouac, an association of Confederate veterans.⁹³ He elected as a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers on 2 Jan 1890.⁷⁶
     Robert died on 2 Jun 1895 in Clarksville, Montgomery Co., Tennessee, at age 55, at the residence of his sister Irene, after having contacted what was then reported to be diphtheria, in Cleveland in March.^17,18,19
     His funeral services were at the Trinity Church (Episcopal), conducted by Rev. R. E. L. Craig. There was a "profusion of floral offerings of the most appropriate and costly designs." The cemetery procession and services were conducted by Forbes Bivouac.⁹⁴ He was buried on 4 Jun 1895 in Greenwood Cemetery, Clarksville, Tennessee, in the Cobb family lot.^20,21