Alexander (Alex) Andrews was born on either January or March 25, 1836, in Charlottesville, Virginia. His mother's name was Nancy. He grew up in Madison County, Mississippi, and by the late 1850s, he was enslaved by Methodist minister Charles Green Andrews. He worked as a laborer before the war, and he married Lizzie ("Lizette") Simmons around 1858.

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. He served in Company A of the 5th USCT Heavy Artillery Regiment, which 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, Andrews achieved the rank of corporal. He mustered out with his regiment in Vicksburg on May 20, 1866.

He lived in Vicksburg after the war, and he worked as a field hand picking cotton. He and Lizzie had at least five children together: Walker, born sometime before 1868; Robert, born March 20, 1873; May, born December 14, 1874; Alexander, born November 16, 1876; and Simon, born November 14, 1879. He applied for a Freedman's Bank account on December 9, 1868. He listed his occupation as farmer, and reported that he worked for himself. He applied for a federal 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. By 1910, he and Lizzie were helping raise two of their grandchildren. His wife died on April 25, 1910, and he subsequently remarried a much younger woman named Dolly Burns. 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