Cobb, John

Unknown Marker representative of John Cobb's final resting place.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Significance:

Company H, 152nd Illinois Infantry

Place of Birth:

Palestine, Illinois

Date of Birth:

1841

Place of Death:

Tullahoma, Tennessee

Date of Death:

March 13th, 1865

Place of Burial:

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Cemetery Name:

Stones River National Cemetery

John Cobb was born in 1841 in the small community of Palestine, Illinois, as one of seven children of Clinton and Pharebah Cobb. By 1860, he had struck out on his own and was working as a printer.

On February 11, 1865, as the Civil War neared its end, Cobb enlisted as a Private in Company H of the 152nd Illinois Infantry in Olney. The regiment formed shortly afterward at Camp Butler in Springfield before moving south through Nashville to Tullahoma, Tennessee. There, the 152nd Illinois Infantry was assigned to guard the vital Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, an essential supply line for Union operations. While carrying out this duty, Cobb fell ill and died on March 13, 1865. His cause of death was chronic diarrhea, a common and often deadly ailment among Civil War soldiers.

Today, he is buried in an unknown grave within Stones River National Cemetery. 

Tags: stones river national battlefield, stones river national cemetery, american civil war