Brigadier-General Ellison Capers, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 5, South Carolina
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

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[429] attractions, a splendid orator and universally loved by all who knew him. Lieutenant Alfred Aldrich, the eldest son of Judge A. P. Aldrich, was born on May 16, 1843. He was educated at the citadel academy at Charleston where he held the first honors of his class. The year before he was to have graduated, a number of the cadets left the institution and organized themselves into a cavalry company, known as the Cadet Rangers, of which he was second lieutenant. They attached themselves to the Sixth regiment of South Carolina cavalry and served for one year on the sea coast of South Carolina. In 1864 they went to Virginia, where they distinguished themselves for their heroic bearing in the many hard-fought battles of that year. Lieutenant Aldrich was desperately wounded at the battle of Trevilian Station on June 10, 1864. In the early part of the day he was twice wounded—in the left arm and leg, and later in the right shoulder. The last wound was of such a serious nature that his life was despaired of for months, and although he recovered it left him maimed for life. After his recovery he devoted himself to farming, which occupation he has since followed. He married Miss Zaide, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of Maj. Robert Martin, of Augusta, Ga., who died when their son, Robert M., was three weeks old. This son is now a cadet at Clemson college. Lieutenant Aldrich is by nature a leader of men and a brilliant writer. Under the nom de plume of ‘Bourbon’ he did much to fight down the pernicious attempt at fusion with the Republicans in South Carolina in 1876. Since that time he has taken only a passing interest in the politics of the State. He is very fond of manly sports, and some of the finest specimens of horseflesh and gamecocks are to be found upon his plantation. Robert Aldrich, the second son of Judge A. P. Aldrich, was born at ‘The Oaks,’ the residence of his parents near Barnwell, September 25, 1844. At the beginning of the war he was a cadet at the South Carolina military academy. Leaving there in the summer of 1862 he entered the Sixth regiment of South Carolina cavalry as a private. Shortly afterward he was promoted adjutant of the regiment, and in 1864 was detailed by General Hampton to command the dismounted men of the cavalry corps, which he organized into an infantry battalion. This battalion did some effective fighting in the Virginia campaign of that eventful