Howell Cobb

Photo of Howell Cobb

Howell Cobb (1815 - 1868) was a Representative from Georgia; born in “Cherry Hill,” Jefferson County, Georgia, September 7, 1815.

• Moved with his father to Athens, Ga., in childhood
• Was graduated from Franklin College (then a part of the University of Georgia), at Athens in 1834
• Studied law
• Was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Athens, Ga., in 1836
• solicitor general of the western judicial circuit of Georgia 1837-1841
• Elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1851)
• Chairman, Committee on Mileage (Twenty-eighth Congress)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives (Thirty-first Congress)
• Governor of Georgia 1851-1853
• Elected to the Thirty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1857)
• Secretary of the Treasury in the Cabinet of President Buchanan and served from March 6, 1857, to December 10, 1860, when he resigned
• Chairman of the convention of delegates from the seceded States which assembled in Montgomery, Ala., on February 24, 1861, to form a Confederate Government
• Appointed a brigadier general in the Confederate Army February 13, 1862, and promoted to major general September 9, 1863
• Surrendered at Macon, Ga., April 20, 1864
• Died in New York City October 9, 1868

• Interment in Oconee Cemetery, Athens, Clarke County, Ga.

References

• http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp