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Howell Cobb (1815–1868)
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When the impassioned representatives of the seceding
states gathered in convention at Montgomery in February
1861 to organize the new Confederate government,
they chose, ironically, Howell Cobb, one of the
most moderate of all Southern leaders, to serve
as their presiding officer. This scion of a prominent
Georgia family had enjoyed a distinguished career
in the United States Congress, where he had earned
a reputation as a consistent nationalist who stood
aloof from prevailing sectional rancor. In 1860,
however, his overriding loyalty to the South was
amply demonstrated when he hastily resigned his
post as secretary of the treasury following the
election of Abraham Lincoln and almost singlehandedly
led his native state out of the Union, protesting
that the Republicans had “buried brotherhood
in the same grave with the Constitution.” |
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Francis D’Avignon (born circa 1814)
Lithograph, circa 1851–1854
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
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