behind AotW

Alexander James Dallas III was at Antietam in 1862, a Captain in the Second Battalion, 12th United States Infantry. He was from a prominent family, as you might guess from these Gilbert Stuart portraits of his grandparents Alexander James Dallas (the First, 1759-1817) and Arabella Maria Smith Dallas (1761-1837). They were “one of the more fashionable couples in Philadelphia during Washington’s administration.”

Alexander I was later President James Madison’s Secretary of the Treasury and was briefly acting Secretary of War and of State.

Captain Dallas’ father Alexander II (1791–1844) was a US Navy Commander, and his mother was the former Henrietta Constantia Meade (1801-1831), older sister of George Gordon Meade. Another son of Alexander I was George Mifflin Dallas (1792-1864), James K Polk’s Vice President.

_______________

Alexander I’s original portrait is at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Arabella’s is at Mount Vernon.