James Cooper Nisbet (1839 - 1917)

Born 26 Sep 1839 in Macon, Bibb, Georgia, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Louise Winfield (Bailey) Nisbet — married 30 Nov 1882 in Columbus, Muscogee, Georgia, United States

Descendants

Died 20 May 1917 at age 77 in Chattanooga, Hamilton, Tennessee, United States

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Biography

James Cooper Nisbet was born 26 Sep 1839 Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, USA son of James Nisbet.

He wrote Four Years on the Firing Line.

1850 Census Macon Bibb Georgia USA^[1]

• James A Nesbit 32 born Georgia
• F W Nesbit 29 Georgia
• Jane Nesbit 13 Georgia
• J W Nesbit 11 Georgia
• Cooper Nesbit 9 Georgia
• A M Nesbit 7 Georgia

He married in 1866 to Mary E. Young 1844–1876 daughter of Gen. John A Young of Charlotte N. C.

He married 1882 to Louisa Wingfield Bailey 1858–1918 Mrs. James Cooper Nisbet Dies after illness of Several weeks Death has claimed Mrs. James Cooper Nisbet aged 60 well known Chattanooga woman. She passed away Thursday morning at 9 25 o’clock at her home 721 Douglas street after an illness of several weeks. Her husband Col J C Cooper a prominent citizen and resident died about a year ago. Mrs. Nisbet was the daughter of the late Gen Armstrong Bailey Surviving are a daughter Mrs. Lloyd Nisbet Bailey a son J Cooper Nisbet; two stepdaughters Mrs. W Robert Davis and Miss M G Nisbet and two sisters Miss Elizabeth Bailey and Mrs M B Hill Mrs. Nisbet was a talented writer and was well known as the author of adventure stories. Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.^[2]

He passed away 20 May 1917 James was mentioned on a memorial in Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery, Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States with a death date of 20 May 1917.^[3]

TAPS SOUNDED F0R C0L. NISBET Confederate Colonel Passes Over the River to Rest Under Shade of the Trees. Another member of the fast-thinning ranks of the Confederacy has answered the final rollcall. Col. J Cooper Nisbet a captain In the gray army author of “Four Years on the Firing Line” and well-known citizen died early Sunday morning at his home 721 Douglas street He had been ill for some time. Funeral services were held from the residence at 10 o'clock Monday morning. The services were in charge of N. B. Forrest camp U. C. V. of which deceased was a member. Rev. Charles R. Hyde officiated. Interment was in the Confederate cemetery. Surviving Col Nisbet are his wife and four children. The children are Miss M. S. Nisbet of Greenville, S. C. Mrs. W. Robert Davis of San Diego, Cal. J. Cooper Nisbet Jr and Mr. Lloyd Nisbet Bailey of this city. Born in Macon Ga on Sept 26 1839 Col. Nisbet at the age of 21 years was captain of Company H Twenty-first Georgia regiment Trimble’s brigade Ewell's division, Jackson's corps Company H was raised by him and equipped at his own expense. Under him the men were drilled on his farm “Cloverdale” In Dade county Georgia. He was promoted colonel of the Sixty-sixth Georgia regiment Wilson's brigade Walker’s division army of Tennessee in 1863 and remained commander until his' capture in 1865. He acted as a member of the reconstruction legislature of Georgia 1866-1872 He was secretary of the constitutional convention of Georgia in 1877. In 1865 he joined the Presbyterian church and had been a faithful member of this church ever since. Several months ago his illness reached such a stage that he was unable to attend the Caldwell Bible class of which he was a member. He was married to Miss Mary E Young in 1866. She was the daughter of Gen. John A Young of Charlotte N. C. She passed away ten years later leaving three daughters. In 1882 he was married to Miss Louise Wingfield Bailey of Columbus Ga. This union was blessed with the birth of two children. Col. Nisbet was well known in this section. The book which he wrote was a history of his experiences in the Civil war. The volume was widely read. ^[4]

DADE COUNTY SKETCHES. COL. JAMES COOPER NISBET belongs to one of the distinguished and well known families of Georgia. He was born in Macon, Sept. 26, 1839, and was the son of Hon. James A. Nisbet, also a native of this state, born in Greene county. James A. Nisbet was educated at the university of Georgia, and was a graduate of that institution. He read law at the Litchfield law school in Connecticut, and was admitted to the bar about 1833. He commenced the practice of his profession at Macon, first under the firm name of Poe & Nisbet, and later Nisbet & Nisbet. After the war the firm was composed of Howell Cobb, Judge Jackson and Messrs. James A. and E. A. Nisbet, under the firm name of Nisbets, Cobb & Jackson, and long continued among the ablest law firms in the state. Mr. Nisbet early rose to prominence in Bibb county, and was elected mayor of Macon. For several terms he represented Bibb county in the legislature with distinguished ability, and when that body was composed of some of the greatest men whom Georgia has produced. In 1860 he supported the Douglas and Johnson presidential ticket. With Stephens and others he was a strong Union man, and when Georgia seceded he gave his support to the Confederate movement with all the vigor he possessed until the close of the war. He died in Macon in 1871, full of years and honors, after a long, brilliant and successful career as a lawyer and citizen. His father was Dr. James Nisbet, born in Iredell county, N. C., who settled in Georgia in 1791. He married a Miss Cooper, an aunt of Hon. Mark A. Cooper, the distinguished pioneer iron manufacturer of Georgia. To them were born eight children. Of these was Eugenius A., an eminent lawyer, statesman and a man of excellent literary attainments, who graduated at Franklin college in 1821 with the highest honors of his class. He read law at the Litchfield law school, New Haven, Conn, and was admitted to the bar. He served several terms in both upper and lower branches of the general assembly. In 1838 he was elected to congress, and in 1840 was re-elected, but resigned before the close of his term. In 1845 he was elected associate justice of the supreme court at its formation, and was several times re-elected to that position, in which he served continuously until the commencement of the war, his decisions being still quoted as good authority in all the states. In 1861 he was elected to the Confederate congress and served in that body with distinction during four years. Another was Milas Nisbet, a wealthy planter in Morgan county, who died, leaving one son, who married Miss Trabue, of Kentucky, sister of a congressman from that state. Others were John T. Nisbet, a member of the Bibb county bar; Sarah, wife of Dr. William Le Conte, of Liberty county, a large rice planter, and Mary, who died without issue. The father of James C. Nisbet married Frances Rebecca, daughter of Dr. John Wingfield, of Morgan County. Dr. Wingfield was the son of John Wingfield and Rebecca Nelson, of New Kent county, Va. The common ancestor of the Wingfields was Edmund M. Wingfield, first deputy governor of Virginia under Sir John Smith. By this marriage James A. Nisbet reared five children: Irene, wife of Col. George H. Hazelhurst, a distinguished civil engineer; John W., a graduate of Oglethorpe university, and the major of the Twenty-sixth Georgia infantry — he served in the army of Northern Virginia until 1863, and in the western army during the remainder of the war and died in Dade county in 1885; James Cooper, Anna, who married Marshall De Graffenread, a member of the Atlanta bar; Mary Amanda, deceased, and Frank, who died in infancy. Col. James Cooper Nisbet grew to manhood in Macon, and received a classical education at Oglethorpe university, where he graduated in 1858. He removed to Lookout Valley, in Dade county, in 1859, and settled on the Clover Dale stock farm. At the commencement of the war he raised a company in Dade county, and at his own expense uniformed and equipped it. This company he transported to Richmond, Va., and there it was attached to the Twenty-first Georgia, Trimbel’s brigade, Ewell’s division of Jackson’s corps. He was commissioned captain of his company. He fought in all the battles in which Jackson’s corps participated until after the fight at Fredericksburg, including the valley campaign, in which were fought the battles of Front Royal, Winchester, Strausburg, Cross Keys and Port Republic. He was also engaged in several of the seven days’ fights around Richmond, including Cold Harbor, where he was wounded by a shell, but continued to command his regiment (Twenty-first Georgia), and fought at Savage Station, White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill. During the seven days’ fight he commanded his regiment as senior captain with signal ability and courage. He fought Pope at Cedar Run and was engaged in the second battle of Manassas, Chantilly, Harper’s Ferry, Sharpsburg, where he was slightly wounded, and Fredericksburg, where he also commanded his regiment, and for gallantry displayed on the field under the eyes of Stonewall Jackson and Gen. D. H. Hill he was promoted to the rank of colonel. He next went to Richmond and held a personal interview with President Davis and the secretary of war, by whom he was ordered to Macon with instructions to recruit a regiment. He mustered into service fourteen companies, which were organized into the Sixty-sixth Georgia regiment and the Twenty-sixth Georgia battalion; of the latter his brother, John W. Nisbet, was made major, and the command of the regiment and battalion was given to Col. Nisbet. He proceeded with his command to Fort Cobb, in Florida, and later was ordered to Chickamauga, but did not reach the field until after the battle. He was placed in command of Walker’s Georgia brigade and fought at the battle of Missionary Ridge, supporting the right wing under Cleburne. The army fell back to Dalton, and in May, 1864, began the celebrated Atlanta campaign. He fought at the battles of Resaca, New Hope Church, Kennesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek, and on July 22, where he was made prisoner of war, near Atlanta. He was confined at Johnson's island, Lake Erie, until September, 1865. After undergoing four years of hard and self-sacrificing service in support of the Confederacy he returned to his home and again engaged in agricultural pursuits. He married Miss Mary E., daughter of Gen. John A. Young, of Charlotte, N. C. Miss Young was a relative of the historical families of Grahams, Davidsons, Brerards and Ewings, and of Mrs. Stonewall Jackson. To them were born three daughters and one son, two of whom survive: Irene and Malvine. His wife died and he was again married to Miss Louise Wingfield Bailey, daughter of Gen. Armstrong Bailey, of Columbus, Ga. They have two children, James Cooper and Frances Lloyd. His service was again called for by the public in 1868, when he was elected to the house of representatives in the legislature, and served in that body during the sessions of 1869-70 and 1871. In 1877 he was elected secretary of the constitutional convention. He has since filled various positions of trust in his county and is a fitting representative of the progress and push of his age in North Georgia. Mrs. Nisbet is a lineal descendant of a revolutionary officer, being a granddaughter of Maj. Edward Lloyd, of Savannah. Maj. Lloyd entered the patriot army early in his youth, at the age of sixteen years. He was a lieutenant of artillery and lost an arm while in command of his company at the siege of Savannah in 1779, on the same day that the Count Pulaski was killed. He was afterward promoted to the rank of major. At the close of the war he organized an artillery company known as the Chatham artillery. This famous organization is still in existence, and was the first volunteer company organized in the United States after the war of the revolution. He married late in life, in 1810, at Athens, Ga., Mrs. Sarah Anderson Hatchett, a young, beautiful and brilliant widow who was on a visit to Georgia from her native state of Virginia. They had one child, the late Mrs. Gen. Armstrong Bailey, of Columbus, Ga., the mother of Mrs. Nisbet. Maj. Lloyd died at his summer home in Lexington, Oglethorpe Co., this state, in 1814. The Nisbet family, with their connections, justly rank among the most distinguished and illustrious in Georgia and the south, and for upward of three-quarters of a century have taken an active and prominent part in shaping the conduct of public affairs in this state. The family is particularly noted for high intellectual attainments, honorable motives, and has at all times possessed a high character for patriotism toward American institutions. Maj. Lloyd was an officer in the order of the Society of Cincinnatus, which society was organized by Washington, membership being confined to officers of the revolution and to the oldest male descendants, an honor which now descends by right of inheritance to Cooper Nisbet, the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Cooper Nisbet.^[5]

Children

• Malvina Graham Nisbet 1869–1950
• Augustus Young Nisbet 1870–1873
• Irene Nesbit Davis 1881–1960

• J Cooper Nisbet --Mrs. James Cooper Nisbet and small daughter and son Frances and James Cooper Jr are spending a few weeks with Mrs. Nisbet’s mother, Mrs. S J Webster in Birmingham ^[6]

Francis L. Nisbet daughter ^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ 1850 Census Macon Bibb Georgia USA
2. ↑ Chattanooga Daily Times 24 May 1918 Chattanooga Tennessee
3. ↑ Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
   Find A Grave: Memorial #5991968 (accessed 1 April 2024)
   Memorial page for James Cooper “J.C.” Nisbet (26 Sep 1839-20 May 1917), citing Chattanooga Confederate Cemetery, Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee, USA.
4. ↑ The Chattanooga News Chattanooga Tennessee 21 May 1917
5. ↑ Memoirs of Georgia, Volume 1, The Southern Historical Association, 1859, pp 576- 578
6. ↑ Chattanooga Daily Times 9 Nov 1924 Chattanooga Tennessee
7. ↑ 1900 United States Federal Census