Welcome to the Home Page of the
Brigadier General T. R. R. Cobb
Camp #97
Sons of Confederate Veterans
Athens, Georgia
Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb
April 10, 1823-December 13, 1862
For more on General Cobb, click HERE!
Camp #97 of the Sons of
Confederate Veterans was organized and chartered in the spring of 1985 by a
small group of local men from the Athens,
Georgia area
interested in their Confederate heritage. The camp is named for the highest
ranking Athenian killed during the war, Brigadier General T. R. R Cobb. Camp
meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month, except July and
December, at 7:30 pm at the Watkinsville
Community Center on VFW Drive. For more
information contact the camp
Adjutant, Robert N. Hale:
sonsofdixie@bellsouth.net. For
more Cobb Camp history and information, click HERE.
Officers for 2008-2009
click HERE!
Meetings and Activities:
January 15, 2009: Camp meeting, 7:30 PM: Dr.
Emory Thomas, retired Regents Professor of History at the University of Georgia
and author of several books on the Civil War will be the speaker. Dr. Thomas
will revisit the subject of a book he wrote in 1971 titled “The Confederacy as
a Revolutionary Experience.” Confederate Southerners often compared themselves
to the American Revolutionaries of 1776 and believed that Americans had not
one, but two revolutionary experiences. Confederates’ belief in states rights was challenged by their need for a strong central government
to prepare for a war of invasion from Union forces. The conflicts that arose
between the Davis Administration and states rights advocates will
be discussed, as well as topics including secession and the economic
revolution in the South.
February 5, 2009: Camp meeting, 7:30 PM:
Program: Dr. Randy Reid, Chairman of the Humanities Department at Athens Academy
will be the speaker at the meeting of the Brig. Gen. T.R.R. Cobb Camp No. 97
Sons of Confederate Veterans at 7:30 pm February 5 at the Watkinsville Community
Center. His topic will be “A Cobb Family Mystery.” The public is invited
to join with us in learning about the mystery. The Cobb family played an
important role in the history of Athens, the
state of Georgia,
and the Confederacy. Dr. Reid wrote his dissertation on Major Gen. Howell Cobb,
who served several terms in Congress, was elected
Governor of Georgia, and was Secretary of the Treasury under President James
Buchanan. Although originally opposed to secession, faced with Lincoln’s election, he
resigned his position with the Buchanan Administration and was elected chairman of the delegates that formed the Confederate
government. Accepting an appointment to the Confederate Army, he rose to the
rank of Major General. His younger brother T.R.R. Cobb was primarily
responsible for the codification of Georgia law; and, with his
father-in-law, he founded the University of Georgia School of
Law, and he created the Lucy Cobb Institute. After the South seceded, he formed
Cobb’s Legion, became a brigadier general, and was killed
at the Battle of Fredericksburg at age 39. The impressive homes of the two
brothers still stand in Athens.
The Watson-Brown Foundation brought the T.R.R. Cobb house
back to Athens,
restored it near its original site and operates it as a house museum.
March 5, 2009:
Camp meeting, 7:30 PM: Harris Churchwell of Hawkinsville will be the speaker at the
meeting of the Brig. Gen. T.R.R. Cobb Camp No. 97 Sons of Confederate Veterans
at 7:30 pm March 5 at the Watkinsville
Community Center. He will
speak on his book “Captains at Rest: Biographical Sketches and Gravesites of
Officers Who Served with the Twelfth Georgia Regiment,” which has received
several awards. The 12th Georgia Regiment, made up of men from
middle and southern Georgia,
was organized in July 1861 in Richmond, Va.
It was engaged in most of the major battles in Virginia. Mr. Churchwell
is active in the Sons of Confederate Veterans and several historic preservation
groups.
April 2, 2009:
Camp meeting, 7:30 PM: Program: Dr.
Marshall Waters will be the speaker at the meeting of the Brig. Gen. T.R.R. Cobb
Camp No. 97 Sons of Confederate Veterans at 7:30 pm April 2 at the Watkinsville Community Center. His topic will be the
“Midnight Raid at Chennault, Ga.”
in which, on May 25 1865, local citizens and returning Confederate soldiers
stole approximately $250,000 of gold and silver (1865 value) that had traveled
with the Confederate Treasury from Virginia to
Washington, Ga. The “lost Confederate
gold” has long intrigued treasure hunters and mystery lovers and is the subject
of many legends. He will discuss what happened, how much of the gold and
silver was recovered, and what happened to the rest of it. Dr. Waters worked as
a physical scientist with the National Weather Service. Now retired, he is a member of the Georgia Historical Society
Speakers’ Bureau and the Civil War Roundtables in Washington and Augusta, Ga.
April 26, 2009: Confederate Memorial Day: It is requested
that compatriots meet at the entrance to Oconee Hill
Cemetery at 7:30 am. Flags are to be
placed on the 400 confederate remains in Oconee Hill
Cemetery. Maps will be provided for volunteers to locate and mark the
gravesites with the flags. Ay 4:00 pm a ceremony marking the occasion will take
place at the gravesite of T. R. R. Cobb. That gravesite is located within the
cemetery near the rive bridge.
May 2, 2009: Tentative
plans for a special field trip
involving the Cobb House and Barber Creek. Additional information will be emailed and shared at camp functions before the date.
May 7, 2009: Local
historian and camp member Bill Moffat will speak. His subject will be “Joseph
Addison Turner and his Confederate newspaper “The Countryman.” The paper,
published on Turner’s plantation in Putnam
County from 1862 to 1866,
was widely circulated in the Confederate states during the Civil War. It was
here that Joel Chandler Harris found his inspiration for the “Uncle Remus” stories and began his literary career while working
as Turner’s apprentice. Camp member Gary Doster will
bring a copy of the rare paper to show.
June 4, 2009: Don Parr of
Watkinsville will speak at the meeting of the Brig. Gen. T.R.R. Cobb Camp No.
97 Sons of Confederate Veterans at 7:30 pm at the Watkinsville Community
Center. He will speak on the Battle of Barber
Creek and the effort to preserve the breastworks and develop the site as a
public park. It was at this site, located at today’s boundary of Clarke and
Oconee Counties on old Highway 441, that Athens Home Guard units saved Athens
from an assault by Union cavalry in the summer of 1864. As Major General
William T. Sherman was closing in on Atlanta, he
ordered General George Stoneman to destroy railroads
and factories east and southeast of Atlanta.
At Watkinsville on August 2, Stoneman, expecting no
resistance, ordered Lt. Col. Silas Adams with 500 cavalrymen to attack Athens and destroy all
railroads leading in and out of the town, all government buildings, the
foundry, and the Cook and Brother Armory. Unexpectedly encountering artillery
and the entrenched Home Guard, Adams decided
the area was too well fortified and turned back west toward his supply lines.
The encounter at Barbour Creek directly led to the subsequent breakup of Stoneman’s raiders. Don Parr has been the spearhead of an
effort to protect the Barber Creek site for the past 19 years. He was largely
responsible for having the bypass relocated away from the site, and this
ultimately led to Athens-Clarke
County acquiring title to
15 acres of the site.
Sons of Confederate Veterans Links:
Sons of Confederate Veterans General
Headquarters go to: http://www.scv.org/
Army of Tennessee go to: http://www.scvaot.org/
Georgia Division go
to: http://www.georgiascv.com/
Military Order of Stars and Bars; Robert
Toombs Chapter # 176: http://roberttoombs.angelfire.com/
Comments concerning this web page should
be
directed to the Camp Webmaster
at billyg@uga.edu
