Vard Cockrell

Jeremiah Vardaman Cockrell, also known as Vard Cockrell, (May 7, 1832 – March 18, 1915) was a U.S. Representative from Texas, after having served as a field commander in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was a prominent member of the political South–Cockrell–Hargis family.

Cockrell was born near Warrensburg, Missouri, to Joseph Cockrell (the sheriff of Johnson County) and Nancy (Ellis) Cockrell, who had migrated there from the Upper South. He attended the common schools and Chapel Hill College in Lafayette County, Missouri. He was the older brother of Francis Marion Cockrell, who also served as a Confederate officer and later as a US Senator from Missouri.

As a young man, Cockrell went to California in 1849 during the Gold Rush. He worked as a miner and a merchant near the Bear River. Cockrell returned to Missouri in 1853, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits, studied law and, for a time, was a minister in the Methodist Church.

On April 7, 1852, he married Maranda "Jane" Douglas. They had five children together.

Cockrell entered the Missouri State Guard and then later joined the Confederate States Army as a lieutenant. He served throughout the Civil War, attaining the rank of colonel. Cockrell served in the 8th Division of the Missouri State Guard at the Battle of Carthage, the Battle of Wilson's Creek and the Siege of Lexington. He was nominally in command at the Battle of Lone Jack, Missouri, in August 1862. In October 1862, he led a skirmish of State Guard and guerrillas (with Bill Truman) against Kansas forces at the Skirmish at Island Mound in Bates County, Missouri. This was the first time that a regiment of African Americans engaged in combat against Confederate forces; they held their ground and helped achieve Union victory. In 1864 Cockrell was wounded so severely that he could not return to field duty.

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