Cornelius Robinson

Background

Cornelius was born on September 25, 1805, in Wadesboro, Anson County, North Carolina, United States. He was the son of Todd and Martha Terry Robinson.

Education

Robinson attended the University of North Carolina.

Career

Cornelius Robinson was admitted to the bar in 1824, although he never practiced law. Robinson operated a planting and commission business in Mobile, Alabama, throughout the antebellum period.

He served in the Indian Wars in 1836 and as a brigadier general during the Mexican War. He was a member of the Alabama secession convention and a staunch supporter of secession. During the Civil War, he was a member of the staff of Braxton Bragg and served in the provisional Confederate Congress in 1861-1862.

Robinson was a member of the Post Office Committee. He did not stand for election to the permanent Congress but did have various minor military duties throughout the remainder of the war. After the war, he was a planter in Lowndes County, Alabama.

Achievements

• For his military actions, Cornelius Robinson was promoted to Brigadier General. In political life, he was known as a member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States.

Politics

Cornelius was a staunch Democrat who became a fierce Southern rights advocate as agitation over the issue of slavery in the territories intensified. Robinson, along with other radical Southern rights men, opposed the Compromise of 1850 because it failed to guarantee the South permanent equality with the North in the Federal system.

Connections

Robinson's marriage to Martha Owen Dejarnette on January 3, 1828, produced eight children.

Father:

Todd Robinson

1766-1838

Mother:

Martha Ann Terry Robinson

1775-1833

Sister:

Hannah Pickett Robinson Caldwell

1795-1876

Brother:

William Robinson

1799-1882

Sister:

Anne Terry Robinson Wyatt

1801-1849

Brother:

Tod Robinson

1812-1870

Wife:

Martha Owen Dejarnette Robinson

1812-1896

Son:

Cornelius Byron Robinson

1829-1866

Daughter:

Cathleen Iantha Robinson

1831-1835

Son:

Tod Robinson

1834-1834

Daughter:

Martha Owen Robinson

1835-1836

Daughter:

Martha Frances Robinson Hunter

1840-1929

Son:

John William Robinson

1843-1884

Daughter:

Cornelia Owen Eliza Robinson

1848-unknown

Daughter:

Eli Terry Robinson

1851-1922

colleague:

Braxton Bragg

References

• Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy
  1997
• The Confederacy: A Guide to the Archives of the Confederate States of America
  1986