Col. John Probert Cobb  was born on November 23, 1834 in Wayne County North Carolina.  John Cobb was a planter and plantation owner in Wayne County North Carolina before the Civil War.  On May 16, 1861 Cobb went to Goldsboro, North Carolina where he raised and formed the company named the Goldsboro Rifles.  At the formation and election of officers for the company, Cobb was elected as 2nd Lieutenant of the company.  The Goldsboro Rifles were mustered into service under Company H of the 2nd North Carolina Regt., Cox's Brigade. Cobb took command of the 2nd NC Regt. after the death his colonel, Col. C.C. Tew, at Antietam.  Col. Tew was shot in the head, on September 17, 1862, by a Union ball while talking to a member of an Alabama Regt.  Col. Tew's body was never recovered or identified and remains on the Battlefield of Antietam still today. On September 19, 1864 Cobb was severely wounded while in command at the battle of Winchester, Virginia.  His wounds resulted in the loss of his left leg below the knee.  As a result and loss of his left leg, Col. Cobb used the assistance of an artificial limb for the remainder of his life.  At the end of the war Col. John Cobb and his men were paroled at Richmond in March of 1865 after the surrender of Confederate Forces. After the war Col. Cobb married while still living in Wayne County North Carolina.  According to North Carolina census records John Cobb was married to Sallie E.Whitfield and had the following children; William D., Lucy W., Ann S., Mary S., Winnifred and Grace P. According to The History of Florida:  Past & Present, "With the close of the war he resumed the management of his plantation, and for a number of years was probate judge of Wayne County, until he resigned this office in 1883.  He came to Brooksville, Florida, and subsequently served two terms as tax assessor of Hernando County and one term as postmaster of Brooksville, being appointed postmaster by President Cleveland.   He was an active member of the Episcopal Church in Brooksville." According to Col. Cobb's own writing, he moved to Florida on November 1, 1883.  Land records show that Col. Cobb settled on 40 acres of property situated in the northern section of Hernando County.  After the county split in 1887 the colonel's property was situated in Citrus County.  Col. Cobb received full title to his 40 acre homestead on August 5, 1890 and this property is further described as being situated in Section 22, Township 20, Range 20 in Citrus County. By 1900 Col. Cobb and his wife, Sallie, had moved to Brooksville where they lived and took residence with daughter Lucy W. Cobb Burwell and her husband, John C. Burwell.  By 1907 Col. Cobb and his wife had moved to Tallahassee in Leon County, where they purchased the former home of Capt. R.A. Shine situated on the northwest corner of Calhoun and Georgia Streets.  Col. Cobb retained his property interest in Citrus, Hernando and Hillsborough Counties.  According to his own writing, in 1907 he owned 47 acres of property in Citrus County, with half interests in 75 acres in Hernando and half interest in a young 9 acre orange grove in Hillsborough.  Col. John P. Cobb passed away in 1923. (Photo courtesy of Stacey Jones, research by Jeff Cannon)