Edmund Brooke Alexander

Edmund Brooke Alexander (October 6, 1802 – January 3, 1888) was an officer in the United States Army in the Mexican-American War through the American Civil War who rose to the rank of brevet Brigadier General in 1865.

Early career Alexander was born in Haymarket, Virginia and an 1823 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York – along with Lorenzo Thomas, Alfred Mordecai and George S. Greene.

He was a cadet at the Military Academy, from October 6, 1818, to July 1, 1823, when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to Brevet Second Lieutenant in the 6th Infantry. He was shortly after promoted to Second Lieutenant in the 3d Infantry with the same date of rank.

He served on frontier duty at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, Iowa, 1824; in garrison at Detroit, Mich., 1824‑25, — Green Bay, Wis., 1825‑26; Jefferson Barracks, Mo., 1826‑27; and Ft. Armstrong, Ill., 1828‑29; on Recruiting service, 1829‑30; on frontier duty at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., 1830; and at Natchitoches, Louisiana, 1830‑31.

He served at Fort Towson, in the Indian Territory from 1831 to 1835; on Quartermaster duty at Fort Towson, I. T., 1833‑34, Fort Jesup, Louisiana, 1834‑35, Fort Towson, I. T., 1835, Fort Jesup, La., 1835‑38, Fort Smith, Arkansas, 1839, Fort Towson, I. T., 1840, Fort Jesup, La., 1840, Fort Towson, I. T., 1840.

He served at Fort Smith, Arkansas from 1840 to 1846, during which he was briefly assigned to Washington, D. C. in 1844.

Mexican War Alexander was brevetted major at the Battle of Cerro Gordo on April 18, 1847, and lieutenant colonel at the Battles of Contreras and Churubusco on August 20 during the Mexican-American War.

Colonel Alexander's address upon presenting the unit with regimental colors:

He later commanded the Utah Expedition of 1857–58 until relieved by General Albert Sidney Johnston.