Yesterday we discussed the opening of hostilities during the Bath-Romney Campaign near the town of Berkeley Spring, West Virginia.  150 years ago today the campaign continues with “Stonewall” Jackson’s Confederates continuing their advance northward towards Hancock, Maryland.  On the Virginia side of the Potomac across from Hancock was the vital Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which had a weak point in the form of a bridge over the Cacapon River which ran into the Potomac from the south.  Jackson tasked the 3^rd Arkansas Regiment under Albert Rust to burn the bridge, and in the process one of the regiment’s promising officers named George D. Alexander was lost.

George Alexander was brown around 1825 in Virginia, and moved to Dallas County, Arkansas sometime before 1850.  That year we found him on the federal census working as President of the Arkansas Military Institute:

We’re not sure if how much, if any, military service he had before 1850, but he could have served during the Mexican War.  The Arkansas Military Institute was founded in 1849 in the town of tulip.  When the Civil War broke out in the spring of 1861, many of the school’s cadets enlisted with George Alexander as their captain, and would form Company I of the 3^rd Arkansas Infantry.  The institute would close its doors during the war, and they never reopened.

George Alexander and the 3^rd would be sent east to Virginia where they ended up in the Valley District under “Stonewall” Jackson in the fall of 1861.  150 years ago today George was near the town of Great Cacapon on the Potomac River in Morgan County, (West) Virginia.

Above: Map of West Virginia, with Morgan County highlighted in Red.

Jackson’s goal was to reduce the Union presence in the region as well as capture, disrupt or destroy whatever federal resources he could.  One good target was a railroad bridge in Great Cacapon that if destroyed could reduce the Union’s ability to shift men and supplies from east to west. George Alexander led his men towards the bridge as other troops of Jackson’s command bombarded the town of Hancock, Maryland, which Jackson described in his report.

Jackson described the many elements moving around the region, including the movements of the 3^rd Arkansas.  Jackson was known for being hard on subordinates, which can be seen in this excerpt, but he does commend the 3^rd Arkansas for their engagement with the enemy near Great Cacapon.  He also mentions Captain George D. Alexander by name as having lost his left arm in the skirmish.  Alexander was taken to Winchester, Virginia where he spent time recover from his wound.  The 3^rd Arkansas failed to destroy the bridge the evening of January 4^th, but the Confederate would return to try their luck again the follow morning.

With one arm George Alexander’s capacity for field duty was reduced, yet he was still able to perform other duties.  On February 26^th he was well enough to leave Winchester and began recruitment duty in Richmond.  It was there his capabilities as an administrator became noticed by his superiors. 

The above is an order from General Theophilus Holmes, who had been a commander around Richmond during the Peninsula Campaign in the spring and summer of 1862.  After the Peninsula, Holmes was named a commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, which included Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Louisiana and Indian Territory.  He facilitated the promotion of George Alexander to major of artillery, and brought him over as his department’s chief of ordnance.  In this position Alexander earned high praise for his work at arsenals in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and Marshall, Texas.

We were not able to locate George Alexander in any postwar records, but know that 150 years ago today he was in harm’s way during a little known campaign led by one of the Civil War’s greatest leaders.