Alexander (Alex) Andrews was born on either January or March 25, 1836, in Charlottesville, Virginia. At the time of the war, Andrews was a slave of Dr. Charles Green Andrews, a pastor in Madison County, Mississippi. Alexander worked as a laborer before the war, and he married Lizzie ("Lizette") Simmons around 1858. 

Alexander Andrews enlisted as a private on February 19, 1864, and mustered in on February 24, 1864, both in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Andrews’s service record describes him as 5 feet, 9 inches tall with black hair, black eyes, and brown complexion. Andrews served in Company A of the 5th USCT Heavy Artillery Regiment. The regiment primarily performed garrison duty near Vicksburg during its service in the Union Army. However, Andrews and his comrades also served on an expedition from Vicksburg to Rodney and Fayette from September 29 to October 3, 1864. Later that year, they took part in an expedition from Vicksburg to Yazoo City from November 23 to December 4. On April 10, 1865, Alexander Andrews achieved the rank of corporal. On May 20, 1866, Andrews mustered out with his regiment in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Following the war, Alexander lived in Vicksburg, where he worked as a field hand picking cotton. Lizzie and Alexander had four children together: Robert, born March 20, 1873; May, born December 14, 1874; Alexander, born November 16, 1876; and Simon, born November 14, 1879. Their marriage ended with Lizzie’s death in 1910, and Alexander subsequently remarried a much younger woman named Dolly Burns. Alexander first applied for a pension in 1897, but his claim was rejected for lack of “ratable disability” under the 1890 pension law. He reapplied and received a pension of $6 per month for “general debility” in 1900, an amount that was increased several times over the remaining years of his life. He was receiving $30 a month when he died on March 23, 1916, of cerebral apoplexy, the medical term for a stroke. Dolly attempted to claim a pension as well, but the law disallowed her application since she had married her husband after 1905.

Documents:

Alexander Andrews Pension Testimony