Joseph "Joe" Hall Alexander
1840-1905
Joseph "Joe" Hall Alexander was born December 14,, 1840 in
Fayette Co. Tennessee to Silas & Mary Ross Kennedy
Alexander. His first wife was Caroline Adeline
"Cherokee" Thompson. The marriage was in 1867.
His second was Susan Sopronia Duncan, b.1865 d.1947.
"Captain Joe Alexander, of Fort Scott, a survivor of one of the
most famous cavalry commands of the Confederate army, was born in Fayette
County, Tenn., December 14, 1840. His father, Silas A. Alexander, was a
Captain of the State Militia of Tennessee, in the War of 1812, and three
of his ancestors were signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.
The subject of this sketch was reared in Texas, and when the military
strength of the South was called into the field, he went to the front as a
private in Company K, Eigth Regiment, Texas Cavalry, under Col. Frank Terry,
a command more familiarly known as Terry's Texas Rangers. The regiment was
organized at Houston, Tex., joined the forces of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston
at Bowling Green, KY., and at once engaged in active duty. Private Alexander
was with the command in its first fight, Woodsonville, December 17th, 1861,
where Colonel Terry was killed, and at the Battle of Shiloh, under Colonel
Wharton he had his horse killed under him. He was in active service during
the siege of Corinth, and in July, 1862, participated in the famous victory
at Murfreesboro, Tenn., where the Rangers, led by Gen N. B. Forrest, and
supported by the Second Georgia Cavalry and parts of other commands, after a
ride of fifty miles from Chattanooga, attacked the Federal garrison, and
captured about 1,200 prisoners and four pieces of artillery.
The Rangers
suffered severe loss in this fight, and Captain Alexander in the thickest
of the fight was again temporarily dismounted by the killing of his horse.
The Kentucky campaign followed, in which the Rangers were constantly in action
under the lead of Forrest until the retreat to Chattanooga. They fought
under Wharton and Wheeler at the second battle of Murfreesboro, and at
Chickamauga and in the subsequent campaigns in Col. Thomas Harrison's
brigade of Gen. Joseph Wheeler's Cavalry, taking part in the battles from
Dalton to Atlanta, and around that city, the raid through Tennessee, and
the incessant fighting of Wheeler's cavalry during Sherman's advance to
Savannah and toward Virginia.
When the army surrendered in North Carolina,
Captain Alexander refused to capitulate and started for Texas, where it was
hoped the struggle might be continued, but on reaching Columbus, Miss., he
gave his parole.
On returning to his father's farm in Texas, he engaged in
farming, and three years later removed to Fort Smith, where he is now
one of the most successful farmers of that region, owning large tracts
of land both in Arkansas and the Territory."
Contributor: Travis Holt
Joseph Hall Alexander passed away January
10, 1905 at Fort Smith, Sebasrian Co.. Arkansas.
His burial was in Oak Cemetery there.
June 8, 1901
Fort Smith Times
August 19, 1904
Fort Smith Times
June 12, 1905
Fort Smith Times
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