Robert H. Cumby, Sr. - Sulphur Springs City Cemetery - Sulphur Springs, TX - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

The Handbook of Texas Online (see link) has an excellent biography on man whose name was given to a city just east of here in 1896:

(1825–1881). Robert H. Cumby, Texas legislator and Confederate Army officer, was born on August 24, 1825, in Charlotte County, Virginia, the son of Morgan and Levicy (Tanner) Cumby. In 1836 he moved with his family to Lafayette County, Mississippi. There he married Nancy L. Zollicoffer and resided until 1849, when he moved to Rusk County, Texas. He became a prominent planter and one of the wealthiest men in the county; in 1860 he owned $22,600 in land and $38,000 in personal property, including thirty slaves. He was elected to the Eighth Texas Legislature in 1859 and served as a representative until 1861. At the outbreak of the Civil War he raised Company B of Col. Elkanah Greer's Third Texas Cavalry, also known as the South Kansas-Texas Regiment. The regiment was organized at Dallas on July 13, 1861, and after serving under Gen. Benjamin McCulloch in Arkansas and Missouri was transferred east of the Mississippi River and became part of Ross's Texas Brigade. When the regiment's one-year enlistment period expired on May 8, 1862, new elections for officers were held, and Cumby was elected colonel. Other outstanding officers in this regiment included M. D. Ector, Walter P. Lane, Hinche P. Mabry, and George W. Chilton. Because he was in poor health with chronic diarrhea, Cumby could not assume command and deferred to Lane. He resigned from command of the regiment on June 12, 1862, and returned to Texas. In 1863 Cumby was appointed major and commissary officer to General Greer. Several politicians, including the Texas congressional delegation, recommended Cumby for promotion to brigadier general, but he never again took the field. In 1864 he was appointed brigadier general, Fourth Brigade, Texas State Troops.

After the war he moved to Dallas, where he served as a constable. Later he moved to Sulphur Springs where he ran a grocery. He died in Sulphur Springs November 19, 1881, and is buried in that town’s city cemetery. Cumby, Texas, was named for him.

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There is potential for confusion regarding his rank. His headstone is standard U.S. Government-issued Confederate military headstone, and the inscription is:

Col. Robert H. Cumby Sr.
3 Texas Cav
CSA
Aug 24 1825
Nov 19 1881

"Colonel" and not "General". Because he served as a brigadier general in the Texas forces while Texas was a member of the Confederate States of America, he is considered to have been a Confederate general. (More Generals in Gray, Bruce S. Allardice, p 68)

Description: According to Bruce S. Allardice's "More Generals in Gray," Robert H. Cumby was a landowner and slaveholder who represented Rusk County (where he lived) in the Eighth Texas Legislature from 1859 to 1861. During the Civil War, he served in the 3rd Texas Cavalry, seeing action in Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi. He ultimately became a colonel in his unit, but due to poor health, he never took command, retiring back to Texas in 1862. In 1864, he became a brigadier general, in charge of the 4th Brigade of Texas State Troops, and he retired to Sulphur Springs to run a store after the war. Date of birth: 08/24/1825 Date of death: 11/19/1881 Area of notoriety: Military Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Daylight hours Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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