Bio: James H. Cosgrove
Source: (This obituary/tribute was apparently printed in the Alexandria Daily
Town Talk around November 19, 1914 and was written by the late, great
historian, Dr. Milton Dunn.  This copy was found at the Watson Memorial
Library, Cammie Henry Archives, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches,
La., and was submitted by Greggory E. Davies (gedavies@iAmerica.net)



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JAMES H. COSGROVE

Tribute to the Late James H. Cosgrove


Editor Town Talk:

Allow me to pay tribute to that matchless man, James H. Cosgrove, recently
deceased.  He was a master of masters.  Cosgrove was a native of Ireland
(disputed) and was brought to this country at the age of four years.  His
mother, quite a talented and refined lady, taught school at Cloutierville,
Natchitoches, Minden, and Nacogdoches, Texas.  This was prior to the war
between the states, and around Nacogdoches was clustered some of the most
refined and cultured people in the South.
At an early age he enlisted in the Texas Rangers service, served several years
fighting Indians from the waters of the upper Red River to Pecos and Rio
Grande.  At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Fourth Texas
infantry and served in the Army of Northern Virginia throughout the war.  At
the end of the war, he settled in Natchitoches, married a most estimable lady,
a daughter of Dr. Johnson, and raised an interesting family.  He founded a
commercial enterprise at Grand Ecore with Warren Suddath, but not being king
of commercial spirit, this failed.  He then became steamboat agent at Grand
Ecore, during the palmiest days of steamboating in Red River.  During the dark
days of reconstruction in Louisiana, he founded "The People's Vindicator," a
fearless and outspoken paper for white supremacy.  His style was bold and
vitriolic, and it was during Rafe Blount's palmiest days, and Cosgrove dubbed
him as the "New Saddle Colored Senator."
His services to the people was paramount.  It was during this unfortunate era
that the difficulty with E. L. Pierson, commonly called Coley Pierson, and in
which Pierson was killed.  This occurrence was regretted by many.  Upon the
advent of the U. S. soldiers he was arrested for some offense and was put in
the sweatbox.  Walter B. Hopkins, one of the Colfax rioters, was captured, and
Cosgrove aided him to escape.  He served in the legislature in connection with
Dr. Jackson from Natchitoches.  He at different times edited various papers in
different parts of the state; was a favored and brilliant writer.
His last venture was the founding of Cosgrove's Weekly at Shreveport.  His
most lasting and enduring work is his "Memoirs:  a Private Soldier's Views of
the Conduct of the Civil War," and will be issued in book form.
Alas, my dear friend, thy pen has fallen from thy nerveless grasp, but of your
services to this people in their trying hour, your genius will last.

MILTON DUNN

N. B.--Cosgrove may have had his faults, but "The best men are molded out of
faults."-DUNN