Rufus Willis Cobb (February 25, 1829 – November 26, 1913) was an American Democratic politician who was the 25th Governor of Alabama from 1878 to 1882.

Cobb's ancestors came to America from England and Wales, settling in Virginia in the colonial era and moving to Alabama in the early 1800s.

He remained there until, in 1863, he was assigned to General Joseph Wheeler's cavalry in Tennessee and placed in charge of a scouting party.

(Owen, p. 357) The population of Alabama was growing; by 1880, the federal census recorded 1,262,505, and the problems of administrative finance and control of the railroads fell to Cobb.

After his term as governor had expired, he retired to private life for a time, but in 1888 accepted the appointment to the office of probate judge of Shelby County.

He was also an attorney for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad; he was involved in cotton planting and developing an iron mine, the Delmar, in northern Alabama.