Background
Alfred was born on July 1, 1833 at Georgetown, Del. He was the son of Jonathan R. and Catharine (Milby) Torbert. His father was a farmer, a Methodist local preacher, and a bank cashier.
Alfred was born on July 1, 1833 at Georgetown, Del. He was the son of Jonathan R. and Catharine (Milby) Torbert. His father was a farmer, a Methodist local preacher, and a bank cashier.
After attending the local schools, Alfred entered the United States Military Academy in 1851 and was graduated and appointed brevet second lieutenant of infantry on July 1, 1855.
During the next five years he served on the frontier, participating in operations against Indians in New Mexico and in Florida, 1856-57; in the Utah expedition, 1857-60; and in the march to New Mexico, 1860-61; he was promoted second lieutenant in 1856, and first lieutenant, February 25, 1861.
At the outbreak of the Civil War he was assigned to mustering duty in New Jersey; on September 16, 1861, he was appointed colonel of the 16t New Jersey Volunteers, and nine days later, captain in the Regular Army. He commanded his regiment in the Peninsular campaign and took part in the siege of Yorktown, and the battles of West Point, Gaines's Mill, and Charles City Cross-roads. In the second Manassas and Maryland campaigns he commanded a brigade of the VI Corps and was wounded at the battle of Crampton's Gap but rejoined his brigade in time to be present at Antietam. After the battle of Fredericksburg, where he rendered efficient service in covering the withdrawal of the VI Corps across the Rappahannock, he was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers, as of November 29, 1862, and retained command of the same brigade during the Chancellorsville and Gettysburg campaigns.
In April 1864, Torbert was assigned to command the 16t Cavalry Division, which in the Richmond campaign, together with the division commanded by Gen. David M. Gregg under Sheridan, covered the left of the army in its successive turning movements. During these operations Torbert defeated opposing Confederate forces at Hanovertown, Matadequin Creek, and Cold Harbor. In Sheridan's Trevilian raid, June 5-21, 1864, Torbert defeated the cavalry division of Gen. Wade Hampton at Trevilian Station, but suffered a repulse the next day at Mallory's Ford. In the operations before Petersburg he was engaged in a successful action at Darbytown, July 28, 1864. In August, Torbert was ordered to join Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah, and on arrival he was appointed chief of cavalry of the middle military division. During the next four months he maintained contact with the Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley and carried out Sheridan's policy of devastation. At the battle of Winchester, September 19, 1864, Torbert's envelopment of the Confederate left secured the victory. He defeated the cavalry under Gen. Thomas L. Rosser at Tom's Brook, October 9, and when the army was surprised at Cedar Creek, October 19, Torbert's cavalry and Getty's infantry division were the only units that continued resistance until Sheridan arrived and rallied the disordered forces. In December he conducted a cavalry raid to break up the railroads in western Virginia, but did not accomplish that object. Having previously been several times brevetted for meritorious service, on March 13, 1865, he was brevetted major-general, United States Army.
On October 31 of 1866 he resigned from the service. In April 1869 he was appointed United States minister to Salvador. He was transferred as consul general to Havana in December 1871, and to Paris in December 1873, resigning in 1878 to engage in a business enterprise in Mexico.
In August 1880 he sailed from New York on the steamer Vera Cruz in connection with this venture and was drowned when the vessel was wrecked off the Florida coast. His chivalrous conduct in this disaster befitted his gallant career. Torbert as a subordinate commander was stanch, sure, and victorious. On independent cavalry missions requiring the utmost initiative and audacity he was less successful.
His genial and steadfast character was evinced by the esteem in which he was held by his military associates, by the dependability of his troops, and by his popularity in public and private life.
On January 17, 1866, he married Mary E. Curry of Milford, Del.
