Alexander was born on September 6, 1843, at a farm between the border of Washington and Greene County as the son of James Crawford and Margaret (née Wise).

[2][3] He would spend the next two years in the drug business and would later purchase a farm at Washington County to specialize in livestock and wool.

[2] Despite this though, Hawkins would continue to have an interest in military affairs and around this time, Company H of the 10th Infantry Regiment of the Pennsylvania National Guard was considered to be disbanded due to organizational issues.

Hawkins partook in the Morewood massacre of 1891 and the Homestead strike of 1892 while commanding the regiment and attended the presidential inaugurations of James A. Garfield, Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison.

[3][4] He was survived by his son, Frank L. Hawkins who also fought in the same regiment as his father[5] and his daughter, Jessie Benton Hawkins-Darragh.