Alfred Marmaduke Hobby was a famous Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 merchant, politician, Confederate officer, and poet. He was born in Macon

Macon, Georgia

Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...

, Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

, in 1836, the son of Martin and Anna Elizabeth (Slade) Hobby. Hobby's nephew is William P. Hobby

William P. Hobby

William Pettus Hobby was the publisher of the Houston Post and the 27th Governor of the U.S. state of Texas from 1917 to 1921....

, governor of Texas from 1917 to 1921. His grandnephew William P. Hobby, Jr.

William P. Hobby, Jr.

William Pettus “Bill” Hobby, Jr., is a Texas Democratic politician who served a record eighteen years as the 37th Lieutenant Governor...

, was lieutenant governor of Texas 1973-91.

In the 1850s, Marmaduke Hobby's mother, a widow, moved with her sons to Madison

Madison, Florida

Madison is a city in Madison County, Florida, United States. The population was 3,061 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 3,195...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, and then to Galveston, Texas

Galveston, Texas

Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...

. Hobby entered a mercantile partnership and established a general store at the new town of St. Mary's of Aransas

St. Mary's of Aransas, Texas

St. Mary's of Aransas is a ghost town near the present community of Bayside in Refugio County, Texas, United States. It served as a settlement and major port until the late 19th century after the emergence of Rockport.-History:...

, Refugio County, about 1857. Although only about twenty-two, he almost immediately became a political leader of the county. Upon the resignation of Henry Lawrence Kinney in 1861, Hobby was elected to the Texas House of Representatives

Texas House of Representatives

The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Texas Legislature. The House is composed of 150 members elected from single-member districts across the state. The average district has about 150,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits...

 for the Eighth Texas Legislature

Eighth Texas Legislature

The Eighth Texas Legislature met from 7 November 1859 to 9 April 1861 in its regular session, a first called session, and an adjourned session. All members of the House of Representatives and about half of the members of the Senate were elected in 1859....

.

He was an ardent supporter of states rights and organized a chapter of the Knights of the Golden Circle at St. Mary's. At the Secession Convention he represented his district and voted for secession. Hobby was reelected to the Ninth Texas Legislature

Ninth Texas Legislature

The Ninth Texas Legislature met from 4 November 1861 to 7 March 1863 in its regular session and one called session. All members of the House of Representatives and about half of the members of the Senate were elected in 1861.-Sessions:...

 but resigned to enter the Confederate States Army

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

. On May 14, 1862, he organized and ascended to the rank of major of the force later known as the Eighth (Hobby's) Texas Infantry regiment. He would eventually rise to the rank of Colonel

Colonel (United States)

In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...

. Hobby commanded the Texas forces at the Battle of Corpus Christi

Battle of Corpus Christi

The Battle of Corpus Christi was fought on August 12 to August 18, 1862, during the American Civil War. United States Navy forces blockading Texas fought a small land and sea engagement with Confederate forces in and around Corpus Christi Bay and bombarded Corpus Christi...

, whom repelled a Union invasion.

While stationed at Galveston during the war, Hobby married Mrs. Gertrude Menard. After the war he disposed of his Refugio County holdings and settled at Galveston, where he resumed the mercantile business. During the war he wrote several patriotic poems. These, including "The Sentinel's Dream of Home," were widely published in newspapers of the period. After the war, he devoted himself more seriously to literary work. His best-known prose was his Life of David G. Burnet (1871). Serfs of Chattenay and Miscellaneous Poems (ca. 1881) contained his "Poem in Honor of Colonel Thomas S. Lubbock." Hobby spent the last years of his life in Silver City

Silver City, New Mexico

Silver City is a town in Grant County, New Mexico, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 10,545. It is the county seat of Grant County. The city is the home of Western New Mexico University.-History:...

, New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

, where he died on February 5, 1881 in a wagon accident near Mimbres Creek.

Hobby had no children; his wife had children from an earlier marriage.