Solon Borland was born in Suffolk, Virginia. His family moved to North Carolina where he attended preparatory schools. He studied medicine and opened a practice. He moved to Little Rock, Arkansas.
During the Mexican War he was commissioned as a Major in the Arkansas Volunteer Cavalry and served throughout the war.
After the war he was elected as a United States Senator to fill the unexpired term of Ambrose Hundley Sevier. Borland resigned from the Senate in 1853.
Borland served as United States Minister to Nicaragua and to other Central American nations in 1853 and 1854. Borland declined the nomination as Governor of the Territory of New Mexico. After his diplomatic service he returned to Arkansas and practiced medicine in Little Rock.
At the start of the American Civil War he raised a brigade for the Confederate States Army and was the leader of an expedition to seize Fort Smith, Arkansas. He was later commissioned as a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army.
Solon Borland died near Houston, Texas. He is buried in the City Cemetery in Houston.