Jewish Montanans: J.O. Cohen

Bridge Street where J.O. Cohen Lived, photo from University of Montana Mansfield Library.

birth, unknown,

died 1871

Helena, MT

From Prussia to rural Texas to battlefields in the Territory of New Mexico and finally to Helena, Confederate States Army (CSA) Private J. O. Cohen seems to have led a complicated life. The 1860 US Census notes Cohen working as a clerk and living with a corn merchant, an overseer and other males in Anderson County, Texas. In October 1861 he joined the volunteer “Anderson County Buckhunters,” so named for their deer hunting, who “rallied to the Confederate cause” according to a local genealogical society.

Upon their muster into the CSA, the Buckhunters became known as Company I of the 7^th Texas Cavalry Regiment. Cohen supplied his own horse, valued at $150 (approximately $4,400 today). The Seventh eventually merged with other regiments to form Sibley’s Brigade, which endeavored to capture New Mexico Territory in 1861-1862. The necessity to forage for food and water in the desert, winter storms, and  Sibley’s grandiose miscalculations led to the death and illness of scores of his troops, including Private Cohen who fell ill in Santa Fe. He was taken prisoner by Union troops on April 20, 1862, was paroled ten days later, and deserted the regiment, taking an oath of allegiance to the US at Ft. Leavenworth, KS in July 1862. 

His July 17, 1870, Helena Daily Herald obituary noted “Major” Cohen had come to Montana in 1865 and “[a] very large concourse of our citizens escorted the deceased from his late residence on Bridge Street…” Although he was not listed as a member of the Hebrew Benevolent Association in its extant membership rolls, J. O. Cohen was, nonetheless, the ninth person to be buried in the Jewish Home of Peace cemetery north of downtown Helena.