Howell Cobb Plantation

Site of the large Baldwin County plantation of Howell Cobb, one of the "Great Georgia Triumvirate" of Stephens, Toombs and Cobb, and his wife, the former Mary Ann Lamar. Born at Cherry HIll in Jefferson County, Georgia Sept. 7, 1815, he graduated cum laude from the University of Georgia in 1834, was admitted to the Bar in 1836, and then bagan the distinguished career that was to make him one of Georgia's most illustrious sons. Solicitor General, 1837; Member of Congress, 1842 (four terms); Speaker of the House, 1849; Governor of Georgia, 1851; returned to Congress, 1854; Secretary of the Treasury, 1857. A Jacksonian Democrat, opposed to nullification and secession, his aid to the "Constitutional Union" party, formed in Georgia by Stephens and Toombs (both Whigs) to support the Compromise of 1850, made him many enemies in the South; but despite his love for the Union, when Georgia seceded he bowed loyally to her choice and became a great leader in the Confederacy. He was President of the Secession Convention in 1861, Colonel of the 16th Georgia Volunteer Infantry, and Major General Confederate States Army. On the night of Nov. 22, 1864, on his March to the Sea, Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman, USA, camped here. Upon learning from slaves the ownership of this plantation, he ordered its total destruction which, except for the slaves' quarters was accomplished that night by the 23rd Missouri Veteran Volunteer Infantry.