Early Life and Career
Alexander, known to his friends as Porter, was born in Washington, Georgia into a wealthy and distinguished family of the planters of the Old South. He was the sixth of eight children of Adam Leopold Alexander and Sarah Hillhouse Gilbert Alexander. He became the brother-in-law of Alexander R. Lawton and Jeremy F. Gilmer. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1857, third in his class of 38 cadets, and was brevetted a second lieutenant of Engineers. He briefly taught engineering and fencing at the academy before he was ordered to report to Brig. Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston for the Utah War expedition. That mission ended before he could reach Johnston and Alexander returned to West Point, where he participated in a number of weapon experiments and worked as an assistant to Major Albert J. Myer, the first U.S. Army Signal Officer and the inventor of the code for "wig-wag" signal flags, or "aerial telegraphy." Alexander was promoted to second lieutenant on October 10, 1858.
Alexander met Bettie Mason of Virginia in 1859 and married her on April 3, 1860. They would eventually have six children: Bessie Mason (born 1861), Edward Porter II and Lucy Roy (twins, born 1863), an unnamed girl (1865, died in infancy prior to naming), Adam Leopold (1867), and William Mason (1868). Lt. Alexander's final assignments for the U.S. Army were at Fort Steilacoom, in the Washington Territory, and at Alcatraz Island, near San Francisco, California.
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