He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1833, and graduated five years later, standing 35th out of 45 cadets.

Reynolds also owned full or partial interest in two sawmills, two gold mines, four ranches, two homes, three hotels and multiple town lots.

Reynolds utilized the political connections of his brother-in-law, Virginia Delegate Mason Mathews, to lobby for his promotion to general officer with Secretary of War James Seddon.

After Confederate President Davis ordered Lt. Gen. James Longstreet to recapture Knoxville, Tennessee, Buckner's division was sent as a reinforcement.

In case of a Federal attack, the two generals intended for Reynolds' men to fire a single volley and fall back to a position on the crest where a gap was deliberately left.

[14] To compound the error, Bragg ordered Reynolds to move his brigade back to the top of the ridge early in the afternoon.

Upon recovery from his wounds, Reynolds was appointed assistant Inspector General of the District of Georgia in 1865 until the end of the war.

Egyptian chief of staff, Charles Pomeroy Stone assigned Reynolds to serve as Quartermaster, Commissary officer, and paymaster general.

The previous year Frank Reynolds had returned to the United States with his wife and son to buy Remington rifles for the Egyptian government.

At this time, Reynolds lost his support group of expatriates when most of the American officers left for the war against Ethiopia.

With his pay from the Egyptian government in arrears and owing his creditors money, he was forced to move into a seedy boarding house.

[20] The exact whereabouts of Alexander W. Reynolds's remains are not known;[21] they could be in an unmarked grave in Alexandria or in the Patton Tomb located in Lewisburg, West Virginia, at the Old Stone Presbyterian Churchyard.