Background
Alexander Travis Hawthorn was born in Conecuh County, Alabama on January 10, 1825 and was educated at Evergreen Academy and Mercer University.
Alexander Travis Hawthorn was born in Conecuh County, Alabama on January 10, 1825 and was educated at Evergreen Academy and Mercer University.
He then studied law at Yale University for two years, from 1846 to 1847, and relocated to Camden, Arkansas, where he commenced the practice of law.
When the "Sixth Arkansas" was organized in 1861, Hawthorn was elected first its lieutenant-colonel and then, the following spring, was appointed its colonel. He was present at the Battle of Shiloh and took a gallant part in the assault on Hindman Hill, in 1863, during the attack on Helena, Arkansas. In 1864 he led a brigade in Major-General Churchill"s division, during the joint campaign of the Federal Major-Generals Banks and Steele.
And was a participant in the Battle of Jenkins" Ferry.
Meanwhile, he had been promoted brigadier from February 18, 1864. He continued in Churchill"s division until the close of the Civil War.
Hawthorn emigrated to Brazil in 1867, but returned to the United States in 1874 and engaged in business in Atlanta. Six years later he entered the Baptist ministry and was ordained, after which he lived in Texas until his death, 31 May 1899, at Dallas.
He is buried in Marshall.