 Reuben Cogburn was born on July 15, 1825.Cogburn was a veteran of the American Civil War who served under Confederate guerrilla leader William Quantrill, where Cogburn lost his eye.He was married first to an Illinois woman who left him to return to her first husband after bearing Cogburn a single, extremely clumsy son, Horace, (of whom Cogburn says in, "He never liked me anyway").