Robert Augustus Alston was born on December 31, 1832 in Macon (Macon County), Georgia. Alston was an attorney, journalist, farmer, and Confederate veteran who became a staunch advocate of prison reform and the ending of the convict-lease system in Georgia. He was killed by Edward Cox, a proponent of the convict-lease system, in a duel in the State Treasurer's office in the Georgia capitol on March 11, 1879.