1941 November 16, Harold Martin, “Dreams and Dust”, in The Atlanta Constitution, page 9:
“Yes, sir,” said Private Barton, “it looks like trouble has got a tail-holt on us with a downhill drag. I sometimes feel like going and gittin’ drunk as Cooter Brown”.
2008, John Pritchard, The Yazoo Blues, →ISBN, page 54:
I’m talkin’ about Admiral Porter, General Quimby, and Ulysses S-hole-fukkin Grant hissef, and he was drunker’n Cooter Brown a large part of the time.
2018 April 26, Nikola Budanovic, “The Origin of the Phrase ‘Drunk as Cooter Brown’ Dates Back from the American Civil War and Refers to a Heavy Drinker Who Escaped Being Drafted Due to His Continuous Intoxication”, in War History Online[1]:
In order to avoid military draft, Cooter Brown started drinking excessively every day until the war ended. […] According to this version of the story, the phrase originated from those days, as Cooter Brown’s continuous state of intoxication became legendary.
