Lucas-Dubuque County IA Archives Biographies.....Alexander, George William 1845 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 9, 2007, 8:04 pm

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896)

HON. GEORGE WILLIAM ALEXANDER, a prominent lawyer of Chariton, Iowa, has been
identified with this place for more than twenty years, and is a fit subject for
biographical mention in this work.

   George W. Alexander was born in the town of Dandridge, Jefferson county,
Tennessee, March 7, 1845, a representative of a well-known and highly respected
family of east Tennessee, members of which were found in the ministerial, legal
and other professional ranks there before the war. In his native town the
subject of our sketch passed his boyhood days, and was there at the time
hostilities were inaugurated between the North and the South, and while yet a
boy in his 'teens he allied himself with the cause of the Confederacy. With him,
as with many others in the South, it was a matter of principle. His interests
were South, his friends were there, and the cause he was taught to believe was a
just one. Whether right or wrong in this, he is entitled to more respect from
his late opponents than the stay-at-home secessionists of the North.

   Mr. Alexander enlisted as Lieutenant in Company C, Thirty-first Tennessee
Infantry, in which he served through the entire war. The regiment was at
.various points throughout the South and participated in many of the great
battles of the war. The first engagement in which our subject participated was
at Walling's Ridge in east Tennessee. He was at the siege of Cumberland Gap, the
battle at Perryville, Kentucky, was sent to Vicksburg to intercept General
Sherman, was in the battle of Champion Hills and finally was among the
surrendered at Vicksburg. He was paroled on the field by order of General Grant,
and the parol given on this occasion is still owned and treasured by Mr.
Alexander. It bears the date of July 10, 1863, and was executed by Captain J. O.
Pullen, of the Twentieth Illinois. Since the war Mr. Alexander has had the
pleasure of meeting Captain Pullen at Chariton. The final oath of allegiance was
taken at Fort Delaware, June 17, 1865, and is also in Mr. Alexander's
possession. After being exchanged September 14, 1863, he returned to duty with
his command at Athens, Tennessee, and participated in the battles between
Longstreet and Burnside. In all, Mr. Alexander was engaged in over sixty
battles; received four wounds, all in different engagements; and at Martinsburg.
Virginia, a horse was shot under him. His was an active, energetic and
continuous struggle for the supremacy of the Confederacy from the beginning of
the conflict until the final capitulation at Appomattox, and his entire service
was characterized by bravery and fidelity. In this connection, we further record
that Mr. Alexander had two brothers in the Confederate army. One, Captain J. M.
Alexander, was commander of Company F, Forty-third Tennessee, and also served
with the same rank in the Sixty-first Tennessee; and the other, James K. P., was
a member of our subject's company. The latter was severely wounded in his first
battle and was discharged; is now a resident of Cartersville, Georgia. Captain
J. M. Alexander was Postmaster of Dawson, Georgia, under President Harrison's
administration; and of the other members of the Alexander family, be it stated
that two sisters of our subject reside near the old home in east Tennessee, and
one sister recently died in Portland, Oregon.

   After the war, owing to the intensely bitter feeling prevalent in the
vicinity of his home in Tennessee, which invaded families as well as
communities, Mr. Alexander left the South and came to Iowa, arriving here in
July, 1865. His first location was at Dubuque, where he resided eight years.
There he entered the office of Judge W. S. Barker, under whose instructions he
pursued the study of law, and in 1871 was admitted to the bar.

   December 30, 1872, Mr. Alexander was united in marriage to Mrs. C. H. Dodson,
nee Hendricks, a native of New York State. Four of her brothers and her first
husband were soldiers in the Union army, the latter dying from disease
contracted while in the service. Mrs. Alexander's only child, C. M., a son by
her first husband, was a well-known citizen of Oskaloosa, where he died.

   Immediately after his marriage, the subject of our sketch came to Chariton,
where he has since been successfully engaged in the practice of his profession;
and in addition to his general practice of law he also gives much attention to
pension work, having secured pensions and increases for hundreds of his late
opponents. As evidence of his popularity in the city with which he has been so
closely identified for the past two decades, Mr. Alexander has twice been chosen
Mayor, which position he filled most ably for two terms of two years each. A
stanch Democrat and a leader in the councils of his party, he has twice been the
Democratic nominee for County Attorney, and, although defeated, his vote was
highly complimentary. He is prominently associated with the Masonic order, in
which he has received the Knight Templar degrees, and he is also an Odd Fellow,
having passed the official stations in the I. O. O. F. Religiously, he is an
active member of the Episcopal Church.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA

ILLUSTRATED

"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendants."'—MACAULAY.

"Biography is by nature the must universally profitable, universally pleasant,
of all things."—CARLYLE

"History is only biography on a large scale"—LAMARTINE.

CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1896


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