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Note: Even though he was forty years old and already had a family of seven children at the time of his enlistment Alexander was a Union Army veteran of the Civil War. He was a Sergeant in E County, 2nd Tenn Cavalry, serving from 1862-1865. He returned to Emerts Cove after the war and remained there until after his mother's death. In 1876 he moved to Grainger County, to a farm on the Holston River, just below the present Cherokee Dam and lake. All his children moved with him except Joseph , who was already married and had a home of his own in Sevier County. His second marriage, to Jerusha, ended in divorce after a very short time.
Alexander was almost certainly named for Alexander Preston, an early settler (apparently as much as 15 years before Martin Shults) in the Sevier County area and a very prominent citizen. Mr. Alexander Preston was mentioned in Goodspeed's History . Mr. Preston was appointed by legislative acts of 1807 and 1809 as a Trustee of the old Nancy Academy, the first secondary school in Sevier County. When in 1813 financial difficulty forced a legislative act providing for a lottery to raise money Mr. Preston was one of a select group of men appointed to conduct it. Alexander Preston was a Lt. Col. in the militia and it was he who wrote the letter to the Governor of Tennessee affirming Philip Shults's election and appointment as Lieutenant of Militia. Alexander Preston last appeared in the 1830 Sevier County census, living alone. In 1822 Martin Shults named a son 'Alexander Preston Shults' and a later grandson of Martin's was named 'David Alexander Preston Shults'. The two names have continued in use in the Shults line up to the present time, with at least 9 Shults men having "Alexander" as a first or middle name, and at least 8 men bearing the name "Preston."
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