It fought in several engagements throughout the Western Theater, including the battles of Shiloh, Baton Rouge, Siege of Jackson, Sulphur Trestle, Resaca, Murfreesboro, Jonesborough, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Johnsonville.

Following the end of the Atlanta Campaign, Cobb's Battery was detached from the Orphan Brigade and reassigned to defend Mobile, Alabama.

However, due to Kentucky's official policy of neutrality during the early days of the conflict, Captain Lyon found that he could not train and drill his battery properly in Mint Springs.

Designated a reserve unit along with the remainder of Gen. Breckinridge's Division, the six-gun battery engaged the Federal Army at about 11:30 a.m., and its position was overrun by about noon, with all guns captured.

[8] However, while in the swampland between Vicksburg, Mississippi and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the entire Orphan Brigade was hit hard by malaria, to the point that by 11 August 1862, Cobb's Battery had dropped from 117 men fit for duty to only 36.

During the ensuing artillery duel, the commands of Cobb, Slocomb, and Helm suffered 22 wounded or dead, which equaled the Union losses during the battle.