Where did we get the saying "Drunker than Cooter Brown"?

Question

Here in the south some people will tell you that if you get really really drunk your "Drunker than Cooter Brown".

Where did this saying come from? I have heard people from Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas say this. So who was Cooter and why was he always so trashed?

Answer 1

Folklore has it that Cooter Brown had family on both sides during the Civil War and he didn't want to fight for either side. So he got drunk, stayed drunk throughout the war years, and was not drafted. Now a person's intoxication is measured to his.