A Civil War Biography
Alfred Cumming
Cumming was born 30 January 1829 in Augusta, Georgia. After
graduating 35th in the West Point class of 1849 he was posted in the
infantry to the frontier. He spent time on the staff of David E.
Twiggs in the Department of Texas and accompanied Albert S. Johnston
on the Utah expedition against the Mormons one of the results of
which was to install Cumming's uncle, also named Alfred Cumming, as
territorial governor. The two are often confused as being the same
person. As the war loomed Cumming was serving as a captain in the
7th US infantry. He resigned from the US army on 19 January 1861,
the day Georgia seceded from the Union.
Offering his services to Georgia Cumming's was initially assigned,
on 16 March 1861, as a major in the state militia. By the spring of
1861 he was a lieutenant colonel in the Augusta Volunteer battalion.
The battalion became part of the 10th Georgia in June 1861. Cumming
was named the 10th's colonel on 25 September 1861. The regiment
moved to Virginia and took part during the peninsula campaign at the
siege of Yorktown and at Malvern Hill where Cumming was wounded. He
returned to duty in time to command Cadmus M. Wilcox's Alabama
brigade of Richard H. Anderson's division at Crampton's Gap and
Sharpsburg. Cumming was again wounded at Sharpsburg. He was promoted
to brigadier general on 29 October 1862 and sent to the West. He
commanded the 3rd brigade in Carter L. Stevenson's division at
Champion's Hill and in the defenses at Vicksburg. Cumming was
surrendered with the Confederate stronghold on 4 July 1863 and
paroled. He was exchanged in September and commanded his rebuilt
brigade at Missionary Ridge and during the Atlanta campaign. He was
wounded at Jonesboro on 31 August 1864 ending his active field
service.
Following the war Cumming settled in Floyd County, Georgia where he
farmed. He later moved to Rome, Georgia. In 1888 he served on the
American Military Commission to Korea. He died 5 December 1910 in
Rome, Georgia.
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