History of the Virginia Picker logo picture

The house and Civil War era cemetery in this picture were located on Cabin Point Road in Southampton County, Virginia, about seven miles north of Courtland. The house has been relocated but the cemetery is still there. Built in the early 1800s, the house once belonged to Jeremiah Cobb, who is buried in the cemetery along with his eight children.

Cobb was a general in the War of 1812 and was the architect for the Southampton County Courthouse. He is best known for presiding as the chairman of a group of county justices of the peace who tried Nat Turner for the infamous slave insurrection of 1831.

Cobb’s comments as he sentenced Turner are frequently quoted: “The judgment of the court is that you be taken hence to the jail from which you came, thence to the place of execution, and on Friday next, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., be hung by the neck until you are dead, dead, dead, and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul.”