A 1880 graduate of the United States Military Academy (West Point), he served from 1880 to 1916, and attained the rank of major general.

A native of Gallipolis, Ohio, Aleshire attended West Point from 1876 to 1880 and at graduation received his commission as a second lieutenant of Cavalry.

Assigned initially to the 1st Cavalry Regiment, Aleshire served in the 1880s on scouting and frontier duty during the American Indian Wars.

When he retired in September 1916, Aleshire requested to return to active duty if the United States became involved in World War I.

He was recalled in June 1917 and appointed to the Council of National Defense, the U.S. government body that coordinated transportation, industrial, farm production, and financial support for the war effort.

[5] Among his fellow classmates there at the academy were several men who would, like Aleshire himself, eventually attain the rank of brigadier general or higher in their military careers, such as George W. Goethals, William C. Rafferty, John L. Chamberlain, Charles J. Bailey, Frederick S. Strong, James B. Erwin, William S. Scott, and George Bell Jr., and Henry G. Sharpe.

After receiving his commission, Aleshire was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Regiment and he performed scouting and frontier duty at several posts in the western United States during the American Indian Wars.

[6] He remained in the quartermaster's position until October 1895, and from December 1894 to April 1895 performed additional duty as Fort Grant's assistant chief of staff and post exchange officer.

[6] From April 1895 to October 1898, Aleshire was an assistant quartermaster in charge of purchasing horses for the Cavalry and Field Artillery branches, and was stationed first at Jefferson Barracks Military Post near St. Louis, and later Fort Sheridan near Chicago.

[6] As Quartermaster General, Aleshire succeeded at eliminating the unwieldy centralized control of the army supply system that had grown up after the end of the American Civil War.

[11] In addition to creating administrative departments at his headquarters to manage the day to day operations of the Quartermaster Corps, he replaced centralized purchasing with a decentralized system that saved time and money by enabling department, division, and unit quartermasters to procure supplies locally.

[14] The Remount Service continued to operate until the end of World War II, when its functions were taken over by the United States Department of Agriculture.

[15] Aleshire was appointed to a third term as Quartermaster General in August 1916, but declining health caused him to retire for disability a month later.

[16] Aleshire was also an active member of the Military Order of the Carabao following his Philippines service; in December 1913, he was appointed to a committee that visited President Woodrow Wilson to formally apologize after news reports indicated songs disparaging of Wilson and the Filipino people had been sung at the group's annual gathering earlier in the month.

[27] Margaret Deborah Aleshire (1889–1920) died at Tripler Army Medical Center after staying at the Fort Shafter, Hawaii home of her sister during an extended illness.