Thomas R. R. Cobb

Thomas R. R. Cobb. The Battle of Fredericksburg. , The monument across the road marks the spot where General Thomas R. R. Cobb suffered a mortal wound. A brilliant Constitutional lawyer prior to the war, he left his practice to take up arms for the South. At Fredericksburg Cobb fought his first battle as a brigadier general in command of a Georgia brigade. He was determined to do well. When told before the battle that he must fall back if the troops on his left gave way, Cobb growled, "Well! If they wait for me to fall back, they will wait a long time.", Cobb fell when a Union artillery shell crashed through the Stephens house, behind you, and exploded, sending shrapnel into his thigh. He would die a few hours later. Although Cobb was a Georgian, his mother had grown up in Fredericksburg. Her childhood home, "Federal Hill," stood on the outskirts of town within sight of Cobb's position (trees and postwar houses obscure the view today). Later accounts claimed that the shot that killed Cobb was fired from the vicinity of his mother's house.