by Manuel Ortuño, Ph.D.
General Jerome B. Robertson of the Confederate States of America
Jerome B. Robertson was originally from Kentucky, he was born in 1815, and his parents were Cornelius and Clarissa Robertson, two recent Scottish immigrants. Cornelius died in 1818, and his almost penniless Clarissa in 1823 apprenticed Jerome to a hatter. A year later the boy and his guardian moved to the city of Saint Louis. Despite these hardships, Jerome Robertson went on to study medicine at Transylvania University and graduated in 1835. The following year he was back in Kentucky where he joined a group of volunteers bound for Texas to serve in its revolution against Mexico. The compulsion felt by Jerome to fight alongside of Anglo-Texans against their heavily favored adversaries, in all likelihood, had its origin in family tradition. The Scots were the underdog vis a vis the English, and they admired the military might of France and the longstanding enmity between her and the “Bully of the British Isles.” All this is based on the fact that the B. between Jerome and Robertson stands for Bonaparte. After Jerome completed his one-year enlistment in the Army of the Republic of Texas, he returned to Kentucky and married Mary Elizabeth Cummins. As planned, he, his wife and his mother, along with several other family members, emigrated to their new country. By the end of 1837 they were settled in Washington-on-the-Brazos, and in this small community Dr. Jerome Robertson set up his medical practice. Subsequently he became very active in a multiplicity of governmental endeavors, first with the Republic and then with the State of Texas. In the late 1830s and early 40s he was successively coroner, mayor and postmaster of Washington-on-the-Brazos, and on several occasions served in campaigns against hostile Indian tribes and Mexican military forces. He then moved his family to Independence, Texas where he ran and won election to the State House of Representatives and later to the Senate. Finally, just before the Civil War broke out, he served as a delegate to the Secession Convention.
Once it was decided that Texas would join the Confederacy, Jerome Robertson quickly raised a company of soldiers. It was assigned to General John Bell Hood’s Infantry Brigade, which became part of the Army of Northern Virginia. Jerome was commissioned as a captain, and thereafter he was promoted rapidly for his valor and accomplishments on the field of battle. Despite the demands and pressures of his military career, Captain Jerome Robertson was known to care deeply about the welfare of those under his command, which gained him the nick name “Aunt Polly”. His superb fighting unit campaigned successfully in Virginia and Maryland, and in 1862 he succeeded John Bell Hood as General of the Texas Brigade. Over the duration of many months of intense fighting he became extremely exhausted. Nevertheless, he and his men fought valiantly in the harsh battles of Fredericksburg and Gettysburg.
In September of 1863, General Jerome Robertson was assigned to the Army of Tennessee under General James Longstreet. At that time the Confederate war effort in the west was going as poorly as that in the east, and General Robertson would express from time to time his displeasure. General Longstreet’s hot temper led him to file court-martial charges against General Robertson, and it succeeded in having him arrested. Fortunately, the final outcome was that General Robertson would return to Texas and be given command of the state reserve forces until the end of the war.
After the Confederacy surrendered General Jerome Robertson went back to his home in Independence and resumed the practice of medicine. In 1868 his wife of more than 30 years died, and she was buried in the family plot near Independence. In 1878 Jerome married the widow Hattie Hendley Hook. and a year later he and his second wife moved to Waco. There he remained active by promoting west Texas railroad construction and by founding and presiding over the Hood Texas Brigade Association. General Jerome Robertson died on January 7th, 1890, his body was transported to Independence, and it was buried along-side of his first wife.
General Felix H. Robertson of the Confederate States of America
Felix H. Robertson, the only son of Jerome B., first saw the light of day in Washington-on-the-Brazos in 1839. Unlike his father, Felix did not have to struggle during his childhood and youth in order to survive. He began his advanced studies at Baylor University when it was located in Washington-on-the-Brazos. Sensing a call to military service, he transferred to West Point, but left before graduation in order to serve the Confederacy. Following in his father’s footsteps, he rose rapidly through the ranks. He began his military career as a second lieutenant for an artillery battery and participated in the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Soon afterwards he was put in charge of an Alabama battery that fought efficiently at Shiloh, and as a result, he was assigned the rank of captain. After a courageous but controversial offensive action at the Battle of Murfreesboro, General Braxton Bragg promoted Captain Robertson to major and gave him command of the artillery reserves. After the Battle of Chickamauga, General Bragg promoted him to lieutenant-colonel and put under his command a cavalry-corps artillery battery. He played a prominent role in the 1864 Atlanta Campaign, and in July of that year, Robertson was appointed brigadier general. He requested and was granted a furlough during which he married his first wife, Sarah Davis.
Along with General Felix Robertson’s rapid and continuous successes, there were also some controversies that arose in relation to his professional behavior. At Murfreesboro, although he was advised not to do so, he led a less than successful charge. Also, some of his fellow officers were critical of him because his close relationship with General Bragg. Unlike his father, he was very harsh with his men, especially when disciplining them. The severe punishments, along with some Indian-like facial features, gained him the nickname “Comanche Robertson.” His most controversial action took place in a small town in southwestern Virginia called Saltville. There had been a battle and a few skirmishes several days before a particularly questionable incident occurred. On October 3, 1864, troops under Robertson’s command killed many wounded Yankee soldiers, but it was never proven that General Robertson had a hand in the matter. Nonetheless, one of the officers under Robertson was hanged for the incident.
In November of 1864 General Felix Robertson received a severe wound during the Battle of Buck Head Creek near Augusta which ultimately ended his military career. While Generals Jerome and Felix Robertson had their shortcomings, they both made many significant contributions to the common good. After the war, Felix returned to Texas and chose Waco for his permanent home. He began to study law and eventually became a member of the Texas State Bar Association. In the late 1870s the sixty-four-year-old Jerome moved to Waco with his second wife, and he became as enthusiastic as Felix about the west Texas railroad expansion. Jerome also founded and presided over the Hood Texas Brigade Association and was a devoted member of the United Confederate Veterans. When he died in 1890, he was buried initially beside his first wife in Independence, but in 1894 Felix had the remains of his father, mother and grandmother moved from the family plot in Independence to Oakwood Cemetery in Waco. General Felix H. Robertson passed away on April 20, 1928 and thus gained yet another distinctive attribute: he became the last and longest surviving general of the Confederacy.
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