Edward Porter Alexander

Edward Porter Alexander (1835–1910) was an engineer, an officer in the United States Army, a Confederate general in the American Civil War, and later a railroad executive, planter, diplomat, and author.

Alexander is best known as the officer in charge of the massive artillery bombardment preceding Pickett's Charge on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, but he is also noted for his early use of signal and observation balloon intelligence in combat and is well regarded for his postwar memoirs and analyses of the war.

Edward Porter Alexander in Southern Victory
Edward Porter Alexander was a Confederate officer in both the War of Secession and the Second Mexican War.

In the War of Secession, he became the chief of artillery in General James Longstreet's Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia at the young age of twenty-eight. In the Second Mexican War, he commanded the artillery of the Army of Kentucky, and was second-in-command to General-in-Chief Thomas Jackson throughout the Louisville campaign.

Edward Porter Alexander in The Guns of the South
During the 1864 campaign, Brigadier General Edward Porter Alexander commanded the artillery of General James Longstreet's corps. He became a hero of the Second American Revolution by destroying the Long Bridge with long range artillery fire during the storming of Washington, DC. This prevented General Ulysses S. Grant from effectively counter-attacking and allowed the Confederates to consolidate their occupation.