Felix Alexander Reeve (September 4, 1836 – November 15, 1920) was a Tennessee Unionist who fought for the North in the American Civil War. An attorney, after the war he also served as Solicitor of the United States Treasury.
Biography Felix Alexander Reeve was born in Cocke County, Tennessee, on September 4, 1836. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and started to practice in 1861.Who's Who in America, edited by John W. Leonard, published by A.N. Marquis, Chicago, Volume 1, 1899, page 595.
During the Civil War Reeve remained loyal to the Union and raised the 8th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, which organized at Camp Dick Robinson and Camp Nelson in Kentucky from November 1862 to August 1863. He commanded with the rank of colonel. Reeve fought in several actions in Tennessee and Georgia before resigning his commission in 1864Record of the Thirty-fifth Annual Reunion, published by United States Military Academy Association of Graduates, 1904, page 372Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, edited by Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Volume 4, 1915, page 242East Tennessee and the Civil War, by Oliver Perry Temple, 1899, page 368Tennesseans in the Civil War; A Military History of Confederate and Union Units With Available Rosters of Personnel, by Tennessee Civil War Centennial Commission, Part 1, 1864, page 392The Loyal Mountaineers of Tennessee, by Thomas William Humes, 1888, page 294
After the war Reeve practiced law, first in Cocke County and later in Knoxville.District of Columbia: Concise Biographies of its Prominent and Contemporary Citizens, by Henry Brown Floyd Macfarland, 1908, page 390
In 1880 Reeve moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the United States Department of the Treasury. He served in several positions, and for most of his government career was Assistant Solicitor of the Treasury.Newspaper article, Nominations, Rome (N.Y.) Semi-Weekly Citizen, March 29, 1893
From 1893 to 1897 Reeve served as Solicitor of the Treasury.The Department of Justice: Its History and Functions, by James Stanislaus Easby-Smith, 1904, page 48Newspaper article, New Men Put in Office, New York Times, March 28, 1893
After serving as Solicitor, Reeve returned to the position of Assistant Solicitor.The Chicago Daily News Almanac and Political Register for 1906, published by Chicago Daily News newspaper, 1905, page 148
In 1908 Reeve played a role in the campaign for President when a 1906 letter from Grover Cleveland to Reeve, in which Cleveland disparaged Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan, was made public.Newspaper article, Bryan Scored by Cleveland, New York Times, October 23, 1908Cleveland and Bryan: No Doubt About the Late President's Views on His Party's Candidate, from the Brooklyn Eagle, published in the New York Times, October 24, 1908
Reeve died in Washington, D.C., on November 15, 1920.Official bulletin of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, published by the organization, March, 1921, page 32Newspaper article, Rites for Col. F.A. Reeve, Washington Post, November 17, 1920 He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 3, Site 1716.U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Nationwide Gravesite Locator , accessed December 11, 2011
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