Brigadier-General Alfred Holt Colquitt was born in Walton 
county, GA, on the 20th of April, 1824.  After preparatory 
study in the schools of his State he entered the celebrated 
college at Princeton, N. J., where he was graduated in 1844.

He was admitted to the bar in 1845, but had practiced but a 
short time when the Mexican war came on, in which he served as 
a staff major.  Upon the return of peace he resumed the 
practice of law, and in 1855 was elected to Congress, where he 
served one term.

In 1859 he was elected to the State senate, and in 1860 he 
served as an elector on the Breckinridge and Lane presidential 
ticket.  He was an ardent Southerner, and after the 
presidential election of 1860 he felt that the hour for action 
had come, and earnestly favored the secession of Georgia from 
the Union.

At the very beginning of the war he became captain of a 
company which was assigned to the Sixth regiment infantry, of 
which he was elected colonel at the organization, and 
commissioned May 27, 1861.  In October, 1861, he was in 
command of a brigade near Yorktown, and he and his command 
were engaged in the battles around Richmond in the spring and 
summer of 1862.

After the departure of McClellan's army for the defense of 
Washington, the division of D. H. Hill, to which Colquitt's 
brigade belonged, hastened to join Lee, who was preparing to 
cross the Potomac into Maryland.

On September 1, 1862, Colonel Colquitt was promoted to 
brigadier-general.  His command was engaged in the battles of 
Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and was sent 
into North Carolina under the orders of Gen. D. H. Hill.

When the Federal forces began the invasion of Florida in 1864, 
Colquitt's brigade was hurried down to assist in the defense.  
On the field of Olustee, Colquitt was in actual command, and 
gained an overwhelming victory, which completely defeated the 
Federal scheme for the conquest of that State.

When the campaign of 1864 opened in Virginia, Colquitt's 
brigade was hurried back to Richmond, reaching Petersburg just 
in time to share in the victorious defense of that city.  
General Colquitt continued to serve his country faithfully 
until the close of the war.

After returning to his home he soon became prominent as a 
statesman.  In 1876 he was chosen governor of Georgia for four 
years.  In 1883 he was elected to the United States Senate, 
and again in 1888, serving until his death at Washington in 
1893.

For thirty-five years Senator Colquitt was a Democratic 
leader, upholding the principles of his party with courage, 
eloquence and ability.  His public career and his public life 
were alike stainless.  He was in all the walks of life a 
Christian gentleman of the highest type.