Brigadier General Alexander Welch Reynolds was born Clarke County, Virginia in August 1817 and graduated from U. S. Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1838, being in the same class as Generals Pierre G. T. Beauregard, William Hardee, Edward Johnson and Carter Littlepage Stevenson. He served in Florida and in the Mexican American War, and served in various capacities in the U.S. Army until Virginia seceded from the Union on April 17, 1861.
Reynolds was commissioned Colonel of the 50th Virginia in July 1861 and took part in the West Virginia Campaign of General John Floyd. He was at Fort Donelson, and was ordered to join General Kirby Smith near Knoxville. His command was sent from Knoxville to Chattanooga and then to Vicksburg, and he was at that time in command of 4 Tennessee regimen- ts. He was promoted to Brigadier General in July 1863 but was not confirmed until September 1863 by the Confederate Congress. After Chickamauga he was assigned to the command of a brigade consisting of the 54th and 63rd Virginia, 58th and 60th, North Carolina. He commanded this brigade at the battle of Missionary Ridge. After this engagement his force was attached to Major General Carter L. Stevenson's Division, Hardee's Corps and was actively involved in the battles near Atlanta until he was severely wounded at New Hope Church. After the War, Reynolds went to Egypt and in 1866 was appointed brigadier general in the army of the Khedive of Egypt. He participated in the Abyssinian War, resided in Cairo and died at Alexandria, Egypt May 26, 1876. He was buried in Alexandria, Egypt but later memorial to him was erected at Lewisburg, West Virginia.