1857-80s Howell Cobb & Family Covers,One of a Kind Collection

Own Covers from the Man Who Swore in Jefferson Davis 

This singular collection, more than 70 historic covers, brings to life one of the most influential men and families at the heart of the Civil War. 

I love when history comes to us in a way that still feels alive. That’s exactly how I felt when I first received this group of historically unique covers connected to Howell Cobb and his family — a slice of American postal history from a household that stood at the center of national events in the mid 1800’s. 

Cobb led an extraordinary and unusually wide-ranging public life. He entered the U.S. Congress in his twenties and quickly made a mark, rising to Speaker of the House at just 34 — one of the youngest ever to take the gavel. 

His influence only grew from there. After returning home to serve as Governor of Georgia, he remained a prominent national voice, and by the late 1850s he was in Washington again as Secretary of the Treasury under President Buchanan. In that role, he navigated a country pulled in two directions—managing finances, addressing instability, and trying to hold the government together at a moment when unity was slipping away. But his unionist stance would soon change. 

At the Center of Secession 

As the sectional crisis deepened, Cobb’s path shifted alongside the nation’s. He emerged as one of the South’s most forceful advocates for secession, and his leadership shaped the earliest foundations of the Confederacy. He presided over the convention that drafted the Confederate constitution, helped form the government that followed, and later took the field as a major general during the Civil War. To underscore his prominence, it was Cobb who gave the oath of office to Jefferson Davis, the first-and-only President of the Confederacy. Very few figures rose to such heights in both the United and Confederate States, and that unusual path gives these covers real historical weight. 

Many of the covers are addressed to Cobb himself, others to his wife, and several to his close relative (and later aide) Col. John B. Lamar. Together, they paint a vivid picture of a family whose daily life intertwined with national politics, military affairs, and the rapidly changing world around them. 

You’ll find a wide range of material here — 1857 and 1861 issue stamps, Bank Note covers, stamped envelopes, and even free franks from government officials. Every piece has its own bit of personality, and together they offer a real glimpse into the daily mail of a man who shaped some of the most pivotal decades in American history. 

Act now to make this historically significant collection yours.