Sacramento County
Biographies
GEORGE BLAKE COSBY
GEORGE BLAKE COSBY, late
Adjutant-General of California, is a resident of Sacramento
city. A brief mention of his antecedents, a brief glance of the story of
an unusually eventful life, cannot but be gratifying to his many friends, in
connection with the historical volume of a county which has become his
home. In the person of the General we see the harmonious blending of the
characteristics of the old-time southern chivalry, with the energy and business
qualifications of the New Englander. Born in the city of Louisville,
Kentucky, in 1831, his father, Fortunatus
Cosby, Esq., was a gentleman of leisure, a student of belles-lettres, the son
of Fortunatus Cosby (1st), one of the
early settlers of that portion of Kentucky; while his
mother, Ellen Blake, was a native of Boston, Massachusetts,
being of English descent. Young Cosby received his preliminary education
in the schools of his native city, and with the energy born of his New
England mother, entered a clerkship, fully determined to become a
merchant. He was at that time seventeen years old. When the
appointment of a cadetship to the United States Military
Academy at West Point was
within the gift of Hon. Garnet Duncan, Representative of the Louisville
District, a life-long friend of the Cosby family, it was but natural that this
gratifying selection should fall to him. He passed the requisite
examination, donned the uniform of a cadet, entered the academy, and after a
four years’ course was graduated with honor in 1852, and
assigned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Mounted Rifles, stationed at
Fort Ewell, a frontier station at the crossing of the
Indian trail midway between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande, in Western
Texas. He vividly recalls the hardships of that time on the Texan
frontier. In 1857 he was assigned as Lieutenant in the Second United
States Cavalry, on duty in the Southwest, where he was at the breaking out of
the sectional war in 1861. True to his principles and belief as to the calls
of duty, he resigned his position on the 12th of May, 1861, and
hastened to Montgomery, Alabama, at that time the seat of Confederate
government, and tendered his services to President Jefferson Davis, being
accompanied in this departure by George B. Anderson and John B. Hood, also of
the regular army. He remained in the Confederate service until the
capitulation of General Lee, in April, 1865. The stirring events of these
years need not be chronicled here, indeed could not be, within the limits of
this sketch. Suffice to say that he did his duty,—at Bethel
Church, his first battle; at Fort
Donelson,
where he was captured by the enemy; at Perryville, etc. He served with
distinction on the staffs of Generals Magruder and
Buckner, being chief of staff, and Brigadier-General under Van Dorn at the time
of the latter’s death, engaged in skirmishing duty and guarding the flanks of
the army of General Bragg. Later on, toward the close of the war, he was
with General Jubal A. Early as Brigadier-Commander in his memorable Virginia
campaign. Shortly after the failure of the Confederate movement, and in
consequence of the demoralized condition of affairs in the South, the General emigrated to California,
and became, as he tersely expresses it, a "bread-winner for his
family." For two years he had charge of a stage line from Chico
to Silver City,
and later on was a rancher in Butte County. In
1876 he came to Sacramento and was
appointed clerk of the State Senate in the session of that year, and was
reappointed and served in the session of 1878. Subsequently he was
appointed by Governor Irwin Secretary of the State Engineering Department,
holding the position until 1883, when he was appointed Adjutant-General by
Governor Stoneman, and reappointed to the same office
by Governor Bartlett in 1887, an office which by his early education and his
experience as a soldier he was so eminently qualified to fill. Upon the
death of Governor Bartlett in 1887, and upon the accession of the present
incumbent, he was removed for political reasons consequent upon the change of
administration. The General is a most affable gentleman, and
notwithstanding the cares, dangers and disappointments which were crowded into
the early years of his life, he is still in his prime. He wife, also a
Kentuckian, is a daughter of Dr. John M. Johnson, an eminent physician, a State
Senator, and a Medical Director on the staff of General Hardee during the
war. The family residence and home, situated in the southern portion of
this city, is a model of old-time hospitality, and here, surrounded by his
interesting family, the General is at present Recording Clerk in the office of
the Secretary of State.
Transcribed 9-28-07 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated
History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 769-770.
Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Marilyn R. Pankey.