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 [decorative delimiter] Class of 1851

Vol. II
p457
1516

(Born N. C.)

Alexander McRae

(Ap'd N. C.)

23

Military History. — Cadet at the Military Academy, July 1, 1847, to July 1, 1851, when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to

Bvt. Second Lieut., Mounted Rifle­men, July 1, 1851.

Second Lieut., Mounted Rifle­men, July 1, 1851.

Served: in garrison at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., 1851‑52; on frontier duty at Ft. Merrill, Tex., 1852, — Ft. Ewell, Tex., 1852, — Scouting, 1852‑53, — Ft. Merrill, Tex., 1853‑54, — Ft. Inge, Tex., 1854, — Scouting, 1854‑55, — Ft. Clark, Tex., 1855‑56, — conducting Recruits to New Mexico, 1856, — Ft. Union, N. M., 1856‑57, — Bent's Fork, Col., 1857, — escorting Governor of New Mexico, 1857, — Ft. Craig, N. M., 1857‑58,

(First Lieut., Mounted Rifle­men, Jan. 26, 1857)

— Ft. Union, N. M., 1858, — and on March to Utah, 1858; on Recruiting service, 1858‑60; and on frontier duty at Ft. Union, N. M., 1860‑61, — Scouting, 1861, — Ft. Union, N. M., 1861, — and Ft. Stanton, N. M., 1861.

Captain, Mounted Rifle­men, June 10, 1861: 3d Cavalry, Aug. 3, 1861.

Served during the Rebellion of the Seceding States, 1861‑62, in Operations in New Mexico, being engaged in the Combat of Valverde, where he was

Killed,​1 Feb. 21, 1862: Aged 32.

Buried, West Point Cemetery, West Point, NY.


The Author's Note:

1 Colonel Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Canby, in his official report of the Combat of Valverde, says: "Among the killed is one, isolated by peculiar circumstances, whose memory deserves notice from a higher authority than mine. Pure in character, upright in conduct, devoted to his profession, and of a loyalty that was deaf to the seductions of family and friends, Captain McRae died, as he had lived, an example of the best and highest qualities that man can possess."


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