Oct. 5, 1835

James Cobb was born in Thomaston, Georgia, on Oct. 5, 1835. He received his law degree from Emory University in Atlanta in 1856.

During the Civil War, Cobb served in the Confederate Army, where he rose to the rank of first lieutenant. While fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg, he was taken prisoner and imprisoned until the war ended. After the war, Cobb moved to Tuskegee and practiced law in Macon, Russell, Lee, Chambers and Tallapoosa counties.

Cobb was a judge from 1874 to 1886. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986, where he represented Alabama’s 5^th Congressional District. Cobb held that seat for 10 years.

While in Congress, Cobb served on many House committees, including those overseeing education, Native American affairs, railways and canals, the District of Columbia, elections, and banking and currency.

In 1901, Cobb, who was practicing law again in Tuskegee, served as Macon County’s delegate to the Alabama Constitutional Convention. He moved to East Las Vegas, New Mexico, for health reasons and died there on June 2, 1903.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

James Edward Cobb (1835-1903) represented Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District from 1887 to 1896 and was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1901. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.