Born in May 1832 near Warrensburg, Missouri, Jeremiah Vardman Cockrell joined the Missouri State Guard when the Civil War began, and served as an officer in the 8th Division at the battles of Carthage, Wilson’s Creek and Lexington.

He was commissioned a captain in the 5th Missouri Battalion in early 1862, but retired when that unit was reorganized. Appointed a colonel of a partisan ranger regiment, Cockrell led his men at the fierce Battle of Lone Jack, Missouri, in August 1862. He was not reelected when that unit reorganized. Cockrell then recruited a force of Confederates and accompanied General Sterling Price on his raid through Missouri in 1864.

Cockrell was wounded in the arm during a skirmish in Jasper County, Missouri. Following the war, he moved to Texas, but was unable to use his arm for several years until the “Minie” ball was finally removed. He kept the bullet in a snuff box as a souvenir until his death on March 18, 1915.

Tintype by Unknown Photographer

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 31999