Alfred H. Colquitt

Alfred Holt Colquitt (April 20, 1824 – March 26, 1894) was an American lawyer, preacher, soldier, and politician. Elected as the 49th Governor of Georgia (1877–1882), he was one of numerous Democrats elected to office as white conservatives took back power in the state at the end of the Reconstruction era. He was elected by the Georgia state legislature to two terms as U.S. Senator, serving from 1883 to 1894 and dying in office. He had served as a United States officer in the Mexican-American War and in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, reaching the rank of brigadier general.

Alfred H. Colquitt
United States Senator from Georgia
In office March 4, 1883 – March 26, 1894
Preceded by	Middleton P. Barrow
Succeeded by	Patrick Walsh
49th Governor of Georgia
In office January 12, 1877 – November 4, 1882
Preceded by	James M. Smith
Succeeded by	Alexander H. Stephens
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 2nd district
In office March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855
Preceded by	James Johnson
Succeeded by	Martin J. Crawford
Member of the Georgia State Legislature
Personal details
Born	Alfred Holt Colquitt April 20, 1824 Monroe, Georgia
Died	March 26, 1894 (aged 69) Washington, D.C.
Resting place	Rose Hill Cemetery, Macon, Georgia
Political party	Democratic
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America  Confederate States of America
Branch/service	United States Army  Confederate States Army
Years of service	1846–1848 1861–1865
Rank	Major (USA) Brigadier General (CSA)
Commands	6th Georgia Infantry Regiment Colquitt's Brigade
Battles/wars	Mexican–American War American Civil War

Early life

Colquitt as Confederate Brigadier General during the civil war.

Alfred Colquitt was born in Monroe, Georgia. His father, Walter T. Colquitt, became a United States Representative and Senator from Georgia. The younger Colquitt graduated from Princeton College in 1844, studied law and passed his bar examination in 1846. He began practicing law in Monroe.

During the Mexican–American War (1848-1849), Colquitt served as a paymaster in the United States Army at the rank of major.[1] After the war, Colquitt was elected as a member of the United States House of Representatives, serving one term from 1853 to 1855. He next was elected to and served in the Georgia state legislature. Colquitt was a delegate to The Georgia Secession Convention of 1861: he voted in favor of secession and signed Georgia's Ordinance of Secession on January 19, 1861.

Civil War

Portrait of Colquitt from a Richmond newspaper in 1863.

At the beginning of the civil war, Colquitt was appointed captain in the 6th Georgia Infantry. Eventually rising to colonel, he led his regiment in the Peninsula Campaign. At Seven Pines, he assumed brigade command after Brig. Gen Gabriel Rains was wounded, and led it through the Seven Days Battles.[2] He led his brigade under Stonewall Jackson in the Battle of South Mountain,[3] Battle of Antietam,[4] the Battle of Fredericksburg, and the Battle of Chancellorsville. Colquitt survived Antietam unscathed although nearly every other officer in the brigade was killed or wounded. After the battle, he was immediately promoted to brigadier general, to rank from September 1.[5]

After Chancellorsville, some questions arose about Colquitt's performance during that battle,[6] and he was transferred to North Carolina in exchange for Brig. Gen Junius Daniel's brigade. His brigade was transferred again in the summer of 1863 to protect Charleston, South Carolina.[7] In February 1864, Colquitt marched his brigade south to help defend against the Union invasion of Florida, and was victorious in the Battle of Olustee.[8] After this battle, Colquitt's brigade rejoined Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Late in the war the brigade returned to defend North Carolina, where Colquitt surrendered in 1865.

Political life

After returning to political life and near the end of the Reconstruction era, Colquitt defeated Republican candidate Jonathan Norcross for governor of Georgia in 1876. He was one of a number of Democrats elected to office as white conservatives regained power in the state, in part by an overt effort by paramilitary insurgents to disrupt and suppress Republican voting, especially by freedmen. Around that time, several thousand "friends" asked for about 30 open government patronage jobs. Those who did not get one of the jobs tried to turn voters against Colquitt. There were rumors that Colquitt was involved in illegal dealings with the Northeastern Railroad. A legislative committee found the governor innocent. During this time he was a part of the Bourbon Triumvirate.

Colquitt was reelected in 1880 to serve two years under the new state constitution, which reduced the term of governor from four years to two.[9] Under his term, debt was reduced.

In 1883, Colquitt was elected by the state legislature as a Democrat to the US Senate from Georgia (this was the practice before an amendment for popular election of senators was ratified in the 20th century). He was re-elected to a second term in 1888.

In 1892, Colquitt suffered a stroke and became partially paralyzed. He recovered enough to resume his duties as a senator, but in March 1894, he suffered another stroke that left him mostly incapacitated. He died two weeks later.[10] His body was returned to Georgia, where he was buried in Rose Hill cemetery in Macon.

Family life

Colquitt's brother, Col. Peyton H. Colquitt, was killed at age 31 at the Battle of Chickamauga.

Colquitt was married twice: first to the former Dorothy Elizabeth Tarver (1829-1855), and after her death to her brother's widow, the former Sarah Bunn Tarver (1832-1898).[11] He was the father of three children with his first wife and seven children with his second wife.

See also

• List of signers of the Georgia Ordinance of Secession
• Confederate States of America, causes of secession, "Died of states' rights"
• List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)
• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)

References

1. Lewis, Felice Flanery (2010). Trailing Clouds of Glory : Zachary Taylor's Mexican War Campaign and His Emerging Civil War Leaders. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 177. ISBN 9780817316785.
2. Burton, Brian K. (2001). Extraordinary Circumstances: The Seven Days Battles. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0253222770.
3. Hartwig, D. Scott (2012). To Antietam Creek : The Maryland Campaign Of September 1862. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 301. ISBN 9781421406312.
4. Toney, B. (1997). "Horrors of the Bloody Lane". America's Civil War. 10 (4). Retrieved June 3, 2016.
5. Sears, Stephen W. (1996). Chancellorsville. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co. p. 240. ISBN 0395634172. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
6. Phalen, Anne Howard (1991). "In Defense of My Great Grandfather". American Heritage. 42 (1). Retrieved June 3, 2016.
7. Wise, Stephen (1994). Gate of Hell : Campaign for Charleston Harbor, 1863. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. p. 87. ISBN 9780872499850.
8. Howland, Chris (2014). "Rebel rally in the Sunshine State". America's Civil War. 26 (6): 38. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
9. Perman, Michael (1984). The Road to Redemption: Southern Politics, 1869-1879. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 207. ISBN 0807841412. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
10. Welsh, Jack D. (2013). Medical Histories of Confederate Generals. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. p. 45. ISBN 9781306303101.
11. "Alfred Holt Colquitt". National Governors Association. Retrieved September 21, 2019.

• United States Congress. "Alfred H. Colquitt (id: C000647)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-02-13
• Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1.
• Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4.
• Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.

External links

• General Alfred Colquitt at the Battle of Olustee
• Holt, Alfred H. "Letter to Wiley B. Burnett, Aug. 20, 1890". America's Turning Point: Documenting the Civil War Experience in Georgia. E. Merton Coulter manuscript collection II. MS 2345. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries. Digital Library of Georgia. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
• "Alfred Holt Colquitt Residence". Atlanta History Photograph Collection, Atlanta History Center. Digital Library of Georgia. Archived from the original on June 17, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
• "International Cotton Exposition". Atlanta History Photograph Collection, Atlanta History Center. Digital Library of Georgia. Archived from the original on June 17, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
• "Memorial addresses on the life and character of Alfred Holt Colquitt : Delivered in the Senate and House of Representatives, fifty-third congress, third session". Digital Library of Georgia. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
• "Newspaper clipping about Alfred H. Colquitt published March 29, 1894". Calhoun-Gordon County Library Obituary File, Calhoun-Gordon County Library, as presented in the Digital Library of Georgia. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
• Alfred Holt Colquitt historical marker
• Alfred H. Colquitt, New Georgia Encyclopedia