[321] Williamson R. W. Cobb of Jackson County, a very popular politician, a member of the 36th Congress, met his first defeat in 1861, when a candidate for the Confederate Congress. In 1863 he was successful over the man who had beaten him in 1861. After the election, if not before, he was in constant communication with the enemy and went into their lines several times. The Congress expelled him by a unanimous vote. It was rumored that President Lincoln intended to appoint him military governor, but he killed himself accidentally in 1864. Cobb was a “down east Yankee” who had come into the state as a clock pedler. He had no education and little real ability, but was a smooth talker and was master of the arts of the demagogue. In political life he was famed for shaking hands with the men, kissing the women, and playing with the babies. At a Hardshell foot-washing he won favor by carrying around the towels, in striking contrast with his Episcopalian rival, who sat on the back bench. Cobb was for the Confederacy as long as he thought it would win; when luck changed, he proceeded to make himself safe. After his desertion he lost influence among the people of his district. See Brewer, pp. 286, 287; McPherson, pp. 49, 400, 402, 411.
[322] O. R., Vol. II, p. 726 (W. T. Walthall, commandant of conscripts for Alabama, Talladega, Aug. 6, 1863). In the fall of 1864 a secret peace society was discovered in southwest Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. O. R., Ser. IV, Vol. III, pp. 802-820.
[323] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, pp. 555-557.
[324] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, p. 548.
[325] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, pp. 551, 552.
[326] The 61st Alabama Regiment was composed largely of conscripts under veteran officers. It was evidently at first called the 59th. Brewer, p. 673.
[327] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, p. 550.
[328] The 57th Alabama Regiment was recruited in the counties of Pike, Coffee, Dale, Henry, and Barbour. See Brewer, p. 669.
[329] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, p. 550.
[330] O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. II, p. 556. The 59th Alabama Regiment was formed from a part of Hilliard’s Legion. Brewer, p. 671.