archieclement
Colonel
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2011
- Location
- mo
Alvin Cobb was a pre war secessionist in Montgomery County Missouri, farming in the Loutre valley. He was called One Armed Alvin because he had one arm, the other being lost in a pre war hunting accident. He had a hook attached to the bad arm. Alvin began the war as a Captain of a company of MSG Cavalry under Dorswy's command, fighting in the conventional battles at Mount Zion, Moore's Mill, and probably the first battle of Danville in 1861. Cobb's unit also served with Poindexter and Porters campaigns in northern Missouri, fighting a number of bloody battles.
He reportedly rode into battle holding his reins with his hook, and a revolver in his hand. He carried three pistols and a short rifle. Alvin was a mountaineer, forty five years old, six feet tall, well formed, and weighed about 180 lbs. His hair hung down to his shoulders, and his face covered with a beard reaching to the waist, his eyes were grey and piercing. He presented an awesome sight to his foes on the battlefield.
Cobb's first action as a guerrilla was probably the ambush and capture of Major Sharp and LT Yager in Martinsburg Missouri in in July of 1861 and the execution of the two prisoners. The Union forces in Calloway and Montgomery Counties went all out to get him. Patrols were sent to all parts of both counties and result was confiscation of property from anyone suspected of southern ties.
After the execution of Sharp and Yager, according to the report of Colonel Fulkerson, his command followed a blood trail from Audrain county to Cobb's farm in Cobbtown in the southern part of Calloway county. This seems unlikely since Cobbs unit wasn't engaged by Sharp and Yager and there are no reports of Union troops engaging Confederate Cavalry during this period. More likely information was given by Union sympathizers. Colonel Fulkerson contacted Mrs Cobb at the Cobb farm and under questioning Mrs Cobb confirmed that Alvin and returned home and admitted killing Sharp and Yager and had even showed her Union documents taken from Sharps body, probably his authorization to raise a Union regiment. In appreciation for Mrs Cobb confirmation of his suspicions, Colonel Fulkerson ordered the Cobb house and outbuildings burned, the grain, foodstuffs and livestock confiscated, along with wagons to haul the plunder.
By the time Alvin had gone to the brush, he was quite a name for himself as a bushwhacker, executing unionist citizens, ambushing union patrols, and harassing rail lines. In 1861 and 62 Cobb cut a bloody swath through central Missouri, especially the counties of Boone, Calloway and Howard. General Sterling Price ordered a harassment campaign against the rail lines of Missouri,. As part of this Cobb and a cavalry force under Capt Bill Myers attacked Wellsville Missouri, after setting fire to the depot and several rail cars, the raiders broke into the store of Mr Kempinski where they tapped a barrel of whisky and proceeded to clean out the store. They confiscated all of Kempinski's wagons to haul the loot.
When it began to get too hot for him in Missouri, Alvin went to the Indian Territory in 1864 and aligned himself and his small band with Stand Waties Cherokee Confederates. His wife joined him there briefly, but apparently she found the territory not to her liking and rode back to Montgomery County on an Indian pony. Upon reaching home she filed for divorce.
The Federal Army under the direction of Sec of war Stanton, kept looking for Alvin. Throughout 1866 they were trying to find him in Arkansas, Indian Territory, and New Orleons. They came close in the Choctaw Nation but he managed to slip away. They never caught him
He was in California living with three nephews in 1870 and was single. In the 1870's he went back to the Indian Territory. Alvin married Frances (carico) McCart, widow of Albert McCart in 1878 in the Indian Territor. She had a number of McCart children all born in Texas and Alvin raised them. They went to Laramie Wyoming before 1880, then to Oregon in 1882. They went Shasta County California in 1900 he was 82 and she 58. She died in 1914 and was listed as a widow in 1910 census, so Alvin probally died in California between 1900 and 1910.
He reportedly rode into battle holding his reins with his hook, and a revolver in his hand. He carried three pistols and a short rifle. Alvin was a mountaineer, forty five years old, six feet tall, well formed, and weighed about 180 lbs. His hair hung down to his shoulders, and his face covered with a beard reaching to the waist, his eyes were grey and piercing. He presented an awesome sight to his foes on the battlefield.
Cobb's first action as a guerrilla was probably the ambush and capture of Major Sharp and LT Yager in Martinsburg Missouri in in July of 1861 and the execution of the two prisoners. The Union forces in Calloway and Montgomery Counties went all out to get him. Patrols were sent to all parts of both counties and result was confiscation of property from anyone suspected of southern ties.
After the execution of Sharp and Yager, according to the report of Colonel Fulkerson, his command followed a blood trail from Audrain county to Cobb's farm in Cobbtown in the southern part of Calloway county. This seems unlikely since Cobbs unit wasn't engaged by Sharp and Yager and there are no reports of Union troops engaging Confederate Cavalry during this period. More likely information was given by Union sympathizers. Colonel Fulkerson contacted Mrs Cobb at the Cobb farm and under questioning Mrs Cobb confirmed that Alvin and returned home and admitted killing Sharp and Yager and had even showed her Union documents taken from Sharps body, probably his authorization to raise a Union regiment. In appreciation for Mrs Cobb confirmation of his suspicions, Colonel Fulkerson ordered the Cobb house and outbuildings burned, the grain, foodstuffs and livestock confiscated, along with wagons to haul the plunder.
By the time Alvin had gone to the brush, he was quite a name for himself as a bushwhacker, executing unionist citizens, ambushing union patrols, and harassing rail lines. In 1861 and 62 Cobb cut a bloody swath through central Missouri, especially the counties of Boone, Calloway and Howard. General Sterling Price ordered a harassment campaign against the rail lines of Missouri,. As part of this Cobb and a cavalry force under Capt Bill Myers attacked Wellsville Missouri, after setting fire to the depot and several rail cars, the raiders broke into the store of Mr Kempinski where they tapped a barrel of whisky and proceeded to clean out the store. They confiscated all of Kempinski's wagons to haul the loot.
When it began to get too hot for him in Missouri, Alvin went to the Indian Territory in 1864 and aligned himself and his small band with Stand Waties Cherokee Confederates. His wife joined him there briefly, but apparently she found the territory not to her liking and rode back to Montgomery County on an Indian pony. Upon reaching home she filed for divorce.
The Federal Army under the direction of Sec of war Stanton, kept looking for Alvin. Throughout 1866 they were trying to find him in Arkansas, Indian Territory, and New Orleons. They came close in the Choctaw Nation but he managed to slip away. They never caught him
He was in California living with three nephews in 1870 and was single. In the 1870's he went back to the Indian Territory. Alvin married Frances (carico) McCart, widow of Albert McCart in 1878 in the Indian Territor. She had a number of McCart children all born in Texas and Alvin raised them. They went to Laramie Wyoming before 1880, then to Oregon in 1882. They went Shasta County California in 1900 he was 82 and she 58. She died in 1914 and was listed as a widow in 1910 census, so Alvin probally died in California between 1900 and 1910.
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