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Amasa Cobb

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Amasa Cobb
NameAmasa Cobb
Birth dateNovember 24, 1823
Birth placeWindham, Windham County, Vermont
Death dateJuly 6, 1905
Death placeColumbus, Polk County, Nebraska
OccupationLawyer, Politician, Union Army officer, Judge
PartyRepublican Party

Amasa Cobb was an American lawyer and Republican politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Wisconsin and later as a judge on the Nebraska Supreme Court. He was a Union officer during the American Civil War who commanded regiments and brigades in campaigns such as the Vicksburg Campaign and the Atlanta Campaign. Cobb's career connected him with numerous figures and institutions across New England, the Midwest, and the postwar Great Plains.

Early life and education

Cobb was born in Windham in Vermont and raised in a family that relocated to New Hampshire and then the Old Northwest. He attended local academies before studying law under established practitioners in Vermont and apprenticing with attorneys associated with courts in Merrimack County and Grafton County. Seeking opportunities in the expanding Midwestern United States, he moved to Wisconsin Territory and settled in Wauzeka and later Lancaster, where he completed legal study and gained admission to the bar in the late 1840s.

After admission to the bar, Cobb practiced in Lancaster and became active in Republican politics during the 1850s. He served in local offices and ran for state legislative positions in the Assembly and participated in nominating conventions that involved figures from Jefferson County and Grant County. Cobb was elected to the House of Representatives from Wisconsin's 3rd district, joining colleagues who worked with leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Salmon P. Chase, Edwin M. Stanton, and members of the Thirty-seventh Congress and Thirty-eighth Congress.

Civil War service

With the outbreak of the American Civil War, Cobb resigned his seat to accept a commission in the Union Army. He organized and commanded the 5th Wisconsin Infantry and later the 21st Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, serving in operations in the Western Theater. Cobb fought under generals including Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, John A. Logan, and James B. McPherson, and saw action in engagements related to the Siege of Vicksburg, the Corinth area operations, and the Atlanta Campaign. Promoted to brigade command, he participated in maneuvers alongside formations such as the XV Corps and worked with officers from the Army of the Tennessee. His wartime service brought him into contact with staff officers and regimental commanders from units like the Iron Brigade, the Army of the Potomac, and Western commands coordinating logistics with the Railroad networks that supported campaigns.

Postwar political career and governorship

After mustering out, Cobb returned to politics and law in Wisconsin before relocating to the Nebraska Territory amid Reconstruction-era migration and settlement. He was elected again to the House as a Republican from Nebraska's at-large district, serving in the Fortieth Congress and later sessions that addressed issues tied to the Homestead Act, Pacific Railroad Acts, and veterans' pensions debated by members who included Benjamin F. Wade, Thaddeus Stevens, James G. Blaine, and Roscoe Conkling. Cobb supported measures affecting western development, railroad land grants involving companies such as the Union Pacific Railroad, and policies connected to Native American affairs administered from Washington.

Judicial career and later life

In the 1880s Cobb was appointed or elected to the judiciary in Nebraska, serving on the Nebraska Supreme Court where he adjudicated cases touching on disputes involving railroad charters, land grants, homestead claims, and corporate law as the region developed. His tenure on the bench placed him in the legal milieu with jurists who referenced precedents from the United States Supreme Court and decisions shaped by statutes like the Kansas-Nebraska Act and postwar legislation. Cobb retired from the bench and remained active in civic circles in Columbus, participating in veterans organizations that commemorated campaigns such as Shiloh, Chattanooga, and the March to the Sea.

Personal life and legacy

Cobb married and raised a family in the Midwest, with kinship ties extending to communities in Vermont, Wisconsin, and Nebraska. He was affiliated with fraternal societies and Grand Army of the Republic posts which honored Union veterans like Joshua Chamberlain and Oliver O. Howard. Histories of Wisconsin and Nebraska note his dual service as a wartime commander and postwar jurist alongside contemporaries such as Carl Schurz, Joseph R. Hawley, and John A. Logan. Cobb died in Columbus in 1905 and is remembered in state archives, regimental histories, and local memorials that reference Civil War officers, Congressional records, and judicial opinions compiling the legal evolution of the Gilded Age and western settlement.

Category:1823 births Category:1905 deaths Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Nebraska Category:People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War Category:Nebraska Supreme Court justices