Alison Nelson was a soldier, statesman, and Indian fighter who in his native Georgia served as a legislator and as mayor of the City of Atlanta. He was a general in the Cuban Liberation Forces in 1850. After reaching Texas in 1856, he joined state troops fighting Indians. He was elected to the state legislature in 1859 and served as a delegate to the 1861 Texas Secession Convention. During the Civil War he raised, trained, and led the 10th Regiment Texas Infantry, was sent into the defense of Arkansas, and repulsed a Federal assault on Devall's Bluff in June 1862. He died of illness in camp near Austin, Ark., on Oct. 7, 1862.