Col. James Cooper Nisbet Col. James Cooper Nisbet Only rubble remains where the family home once stood in the Cloverdale community near Rising Fawn. Even the man's remains lie outside the county, in the Confederate cemetery in Chattanooga. Though little evidence of Col. James Cooper Nisbet's life appear here today, the man's legacy lives on.
Historians still consider it one of the most reliable documents for research into the Civil War.
Born in Macon and a graduate of Oglethorpe University, Nisbet was allegedly a descendant of James Nisbet, once governor of Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. The colonel's great-grandfather was apparently responsible for leading the family to new life in America, migrating in 1730. In 1861, Nesbit organized Company H, 21st Regiment, to fight for the Confederacy and served as its captain until he became colonel of the 66th Georgia Infantry. He was eventually captured by the Union army near Chickamauga and sent to federal prison on Johnson's Island. He returned to Dade County sometime after his release in 1865.