Alfred was born on February 4, 1829, in Clinton, Georgia, United States. He was the son of Alfred Iverson and his wife Caroline Holt. His father was a United States senator from Georgia at the time of secession. Young Iverson was reared in Columbus, Georgia, and in Washington, D.C.
Iverson attended military school in Tuskegee, Alabama, and read law, a subject which he did not like, before entering the army during the Mexican War.
Alfred Iverson Jr. was a railroad contractor in the 1840s and a first lieutenant of cavalry in the army before the Civil War. He served posts in Kansas and on the frontier during the Indian Wars of 1858-1859. Iverson resigned from the United States Army in 1861.
Early in the Civil War, he was captain and later colonel of the 20th North Carolina Regiment. His well-trained regiment showed its skills during the Seven Days. During the battles of Sharpsburg and South Mountain in September 1862, Iverson commanded Garland’s Brigade.
Promoted to brigadier general on November 1, 1862, he fought at the Battle of Fredericksburg in late 1862 and at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in 1863 before going to Georgia to lead the cavalry in Martin's Division and to organize state troops. In 1864, he fought with Joseph Wheeler’s Cavalry, and he captured General George Stoneman at Sunshine Church. He surrendered after Appomattox.
After the war, Alfred was a businessman in Macon, Georgia, until 1877, when he moved to Orange County, Florida. After farming there, he moved to Osceola County, Florida, where he was in the orange grove business.
Alfred Iverson Jr. regained his reputation during the 1864 campaigning in the West, after being given a brigade in the cavalry corps of Major General Joseph Wheeler. His most notable performance was the capture of Major General George Stoneman and large numbers of his troopers during Stoneman's and McCook's Raid in July. Stoneman would be the highest-ranking Union officer taken prisoner during the Civil War.
Alfred married twice in his life, first to Harriet Harris Hutchins, with whom he had two daughters, and second to Adella Josephine Branham.
unknown-1884
1826-1900
1837-1887
1837-1861
1833-1904
1857-1953
Iverson's brigade participated in Thomas Jackson's famous flanking march, suffering heavy casualties (including Iverson himself, wounded in the groin by a spent shell), but managed to get less credit and notice than two other brigades in the line.
