Von Henikstein was the highest ranking Jewish officer in the Austrian army and chief of staff before the battle of Königgrätz in the Austro-Prussian War. Von Henikstein was the youngest son of the Jewish banker Ritter Joseph von Henikstein, was baptized as a child and in 1828 entered in the Austrian engineering corps. In 1829 he became Lieutenant, 1832 First Lieutenant and 1842 captain. In 1835 he married in Verona Santina von Scholl, daughter of the fortress architect Franz von Scholl, the "Austrian Vauban". Alfred von Henikstein died on January 29, 1882 in Vienna.