Alexander Douglas Martin of Tennessee and Georgia (1844-1925), Confederate Veteran

Alexander Douglas Martin
(photo credit: "walkerchet" at Ancestry.com;
provenance unknown)

Alexander Douglas Martin was born 1 September 1844, the third of twelve children born to Russell M. and Mary (Rogers) Martin in the Red Bank Community of Hamilton County, Tennessee. His family had been there for a number of years already and would remain there for many more. As a young man, "A. D." enlisted in the Confederate Army on 20 September 1862 for "three years or during the war." He joined the 2d Co. K, 1st Regiment of Confederate Cavalry, which had formerly been known as Captain Tyner's Co. Tennessee Cavalry. The first muster roll, dated 14 May 1863 covers the period through 30 April 1863 and indicates that he "has never been paid." Further muster rolls indicate that he often operated as a messenger to other units and indicate almost continuous service through 31 July 1864.

Shortly after the war ended, Alexander traveled south of the Tennessee border to Newton County, Georgia where he met and married Virginia Ann Dill Ramsey, daughter of Alfred M. and Harriett Asenath (Starr) Ramsey on 22 October 1865. In the period of time between January 1867 and December 1890, Harriett would give birth to at least 12 children: Alford Russell, Augustus Seymour "Aughaby," Alice A., Florence, Eddie, Willy Lee, Daniel Alexander, Paul R., Charles Hamilton, Mary, Mattie, Lottie, Andrew Young "Buck," and Robert Ernest.

During the 1870, 1880, 1900 and 1910 censuses, Alexander is enumerated as a farmer living in counties in the Atlanta area: Newton, Clayton, Henry and Putnam. He applied for a pension from the state of Georgia in 1897 in Henry County, Georgia and was granted a pension. In Dec 1904 he was sent a letter from the Commissioner of Pensions in Atlanta asking him to prove why he shouldn't be struck from the Indigent Pension Rolls of Henry Co., Georgia. They contended that he was capable of working and supporting himself. He replied on 28 December 1904 with his own explanation and an affidavit from three physicians that he was unable to work due to "chronic gastritis and neuralgia of the stomach... disease of the heart and hemorrhoids" and that he had not been able to "perform labor in the last 15 years." 

Another letter, dated January 1909 found in the Georgia State Archives digital collection, requests that his indigent pension should be transferred from Henry County to Putnam County. His first wife, Virginia, had died 14 June 1909 and was buried in Berea Church Cemetery in Henry County, Georgia. Alexander appears to have remarried almost immediately on 4 July 1909 to Maggie Ivey in Putnam County and they are enumerated on the 1910 federal census there. 

From records of the Confederate Soldiers Home in Atlanta, it appears that Alexander was admitted sometime around 20 May 1920. He was released on his own recognizance 26 December 1922 and reinstated on 27 September 1924. He later died in his room there on 19 May 1925. He was buried next to Virginia in Berea Church Cemetery in Hampton, Henry County, Georgia.