Jeremiah V. Cockrell was born near Warrensburg, Johnson County, Missouri, on May 7, 1832. He attended common schools and Chapel Hill College at Lafayette County, Missouri; he travelled to California in 1849 and returned to Missouri in 1853, where he engaged in farming and studied law.
When the Civil War began in 1861, Cockrell joined the Missouri State Guard as a second lieutenant and fought in the battles of Carthage, Wilson’s Creek and Lexington, where his horse was shot out from under him. In 1862 he entered the regular Confederate army as a captain. As commander of a regiment in August 1862 he made what was called the Lone Jack raid into Missouri, and returned with recruits for the Confederate army. In the spring 1864, Cockrell was sent into southwest Missouri to pave the way for General Sterling Price’s raid; during a skirmish in Jasper County, Missouri, he was severely wounded in the shoulder and was unable to return to active duty. He left the Confederate army as a colonel.
At the close of the war he moved to Sherman, Grayson County, Texas to practice law; he became the chief justice of Grayson County in 1872. In 1885, after moving to Jones County, he was appointed judge of the 39th Judicial District Court. He was elected as a Democrat to the 53rd and 54th Congresses, serving from March 4, 1893 through March 3, 1897. Returning to Jones County after serving in Congress he engaged in raising cattle and farming.
Jeremiah Cockrell died on March 18, 1915 in Abilene, Texas.
Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 31999
