Solon Borland
| Solon Borland | |
|---|---|
 |
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United States Senator from Arkansas |
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In office March 30, 1848 – April 11, 1853 |
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| Preceded by | Ambrose Hundley Sevier |
| Succeeded by | Robert Ward Johnson |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
September 21, 1808 Suffolk, Virginia |
| Died | January 1, 1864 (aged 55) Houston, Texas |
| Resting place | City Cemetery Houston, Texas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Hildah Wright Eliza Hart Mary Melbourne |
| Profession | Politician, lawyer, publisher, physician |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 United States Confederate States
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| Service/branch | |
| Years of service | 1846–1847 1861–1862 |
| Rank |
 Major Colonel
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| Unit | Mounted Arkansas Infantry |
| Commands | 3d Arkansas Cavalry |
| Battles/wars |
Mexican-American War American Civil War |
Solon Borland (September 21, 1808 – January 1, 1864) was a newspaperman, soldier, diplomat, Democratic United States Senator from the State of Arkansas and a Confederate officer during the American Civil War.
Borland was born in Suffolk, Virginia. When he was a youth, his family moved to North Carolina, where he attended preparatory schools. He later studied medicine and opened a practice. He married three times, first in 1831 to Hildah Wright of Virginia, who died in 1837, and with whom he had two sons. He then married Eliza Buck Hart of Memphis, Tennessee in 1839, but she died in 1842, with no offspring. In 1843 following his second wife's death, he moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he founded the Arkansas Banner, which became an influential newspaper in statewide Democratic politics. Three years later, he challenged the editor of the rival Arkansas Gazette, a Whig paper, to a duel due to a slander published against Doctor Borland. In 1845 he had met Mary Isabel Melbourne, of Little Rock, with whom he would marry that same year and later have three children.
In 1831, Borland led forces as a Captain that were dispatched to Southampton County, Virginia to fight Nat Turner's slave rebellion.
During the Mexican-American War, Borland was commissioned as a major in the Arkansas Volunteer Cavalry, serving under Archibald Yell. He served throughout the war, having turned over his newspaper to associates. Borland was taken as a prisoner of war by the Mexican army on January 23, 1847, just south of Saltillo, Coahuila. He escaped, and was discharged when his regiment was disbanded and mustered out in June, but continued in the army as volunteer aide-de-camp to General William J. Worth during the remainder of the campaign, from the Battle of Molino del Rey to the capture of Mexico City on September 14, 1847.
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