Alfred H. Colquitt

Alfred Holt Colquitt

Alfred Holt Colquitt (born April 20, 1824 in Monroe , Walton County , Georgia , † March 26, 1894 in Washington, DC ) was a lawyer, preacher, US Senator , Governor of Georgia and brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War .

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Alfred Colquitt, whose father Walter T. Colquitt was also a politician and was a member of both chambers of Congress for Georgia , studied law at New Jersey College, later Princeton University , and graduated in 1844. He was admitted to the bar in 1846. After that, he was admitted as Lawyer settled in Monroe. Colquitt served during the Mexican-American War in the US Army with the rank of major as an administrative officer. He resigned on January 31, 1848.

Back in Georgia, Colquitt continued his law firm and was active in politics. He was elected to the US House of Representatives for two years on March 4, 1853 . Colquitt worked as a lawyer after that tenure and was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1859 . In 1860 he supported the election of John C. Breckinridge as president. The House of Representatives named Colquitt in 1861 as a delegate to the Georgia Secession Convention, in which he co-signed Georgia's declaration of withdrawal on January 19, 1861.

Colquitt was hired on March 16, 1861 as a captain in the infantry force of the Confederate Professional Army (ACSA) . On May 27, 1861, he was promoted to colonel and appointed commander of the 6th Georgia Infantry Regiment. Colquitt was appointed brigade commander on October 3, 161 and took part in the seven-day battle from June 25 to July 1, 1862 . On September 1, 1862, he was promoted to Brigadier General.

Colquitt took part with the brigade under Major General Jackson on September 14, 1862 in the Battle of South Mountain , on September 17, 1862 in the Battle of Antietam , from 11 to 15 December 1862 in the Battle of Fredericksburg and on 2 and May 5, 1863 in the Battle of Chancellorsville . After these battles, questions arose about Colquitt's ability and his brigade was transferred to North Carolina and, in the summer of 1863, to Charleston , South Carolina . In February 1864 he marched south with his brigade to help defend against the advancing Union forces in Florida and was victorious in the Battle of Olustee . After this battle, his brigade was transferred to the Northern Virginia Army by Robert E. Lee . Towards the end of the war, Colquitt's brigade was sent back to the defense in North Carolina, where he surrendered in 1865.

After the war he continued his legal practice and became an active member of the Democrats . In 1876 he won the office of governor of Georgia against the Republican Jonathan Norcross . In 1880 he was re-elected to this office. He was elected US Senator in 1883 and 1888 and held this office until his death in 1894.

See also

• List of Confederate Generals in the Civil War

literature

• David J. Eicher: The Civil War in Books. An Analytical Bibliography. University of Illinois, Urbana IL et al. 1997, ISBN 0-252-02273-4 .
• Richard N. Current (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Confederacy. 4 volumes. Simon & Schuster, New York NY et al. 1993, ISBN 0-13-275991-8 .
• John H. Eicher, David J. Eicher: Civil War High Commands. Stanford University Press, Stanford CA 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3 .
• Ezra J. Warner: Generals in Gray. Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge LA 1959 (Reprinted ibid. 1992, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5 ).

Web links

• Biography in the Georgia Encyclopedia
• Alfred H. Colquitt in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Alfred Colquitt in the National Governors Association (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Barton Myers: Alfred H. Colquitt (1824-1894). New Georgia Encyclopedia, University of Georgia Press, April 14, 2016, accessed May 12, 2020 (English, Colquits CV). 
2. ^ ^{A b} John H. and David J. Eicher: Civil War High Commands. Stanford University Press, 2001, accessed on May 4, 2020 (Colquitt's biography, p. 180). 
3. ^ John H. and David J. Eicher: Civil War High Commands. Stanford University Press, 2001, accessed on May 16, 2020 (Colquitt's biography, p. 181).