From the Richmond Dispatch, 2/23/1895, p. 2, c. 3

COLONEL GEORGE W. ALEXANDER.
Death of a Brave Confederate Officer Well Known in Richmond.

A special to the Baltimore Sun from Laurel, Md., says:

Among a large circle of friends the news of the death of Colonel George W. Alexander, at his residence, in Laurel, Md., on Wednesday, of paralysis, will be received with deep regret. For some years past his strength had been impaired by successive strokes of paralysis. He was 66 years of age, and was born in Francisville, Pa. Early in June, 1861, he was elected first lieutenant of a company of Confederate soldiers. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of captain and then colonel in the Army of Northern Virginia. He was a member of the Society of the Army and Navy of the Confederate States of Maryland.

Before the war he was appointed an assistant engineer in the United States navy, October 31, 1848, and remained in the service till April 5, 1861, when, after several promotions, he resigned. On the 15th of June of that year he became lieutenant of a company of Marylanders, which, with great difficulty, came to Virginia and offered its services to Governor Letcher for the Confederacy. During an adventurous career Alexander was once captured and confined in Fort McHenry, charged with piracy. He escaped, and a reward of $10,000 was offered for his arrest. He made his way to Richmond, and was soon afterward appointed provost marshal of the Eastern District of Virginia, where he did good service in preserving order in the Confederate capital. Among his various duties was the management of Castle Thunder, which he brought into the best condition the resources of the Confederacy would permit. Colonel Alexander’s talents as an executive were here admirably exhibited, and President Davis on more than one occasion owed his safety to the vigor and foresight the “provost marshal of Richmond” brought to his office.

After the civil war Colonel Alexander went to Canada, where he taught French in a college till it was safe to return home. For many years he resided in Baltimore, with great success putting his scientific education and executive ability to use in his business as sanitary engineer. During the last years of his life, after he became physically incapable of business, he resided in Laurel, Md., where he died.

He leaves a widow, who shared fully with him his perils, his successes, and his sorrows, and is one of the sweetest heroines of the civil war.

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