Location:
Prospect Hill Cemetery
Section no: CCC
Memorial no: 380-1
Orientation:
See map of this cemetery: https://cemeteries.nha.org/prospect-hill-cemetery/
Personal Information
Name: Leander Alley
Gender: Male
Age:
Birth:
Death: December 13 1862
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Veteran: yes
Branch of service: Company I, 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
War: Civil War
Number interred: 1
Notes
Inscription:
Ltet
LEANDER ALLEY
Fell on the BattleField
at Fredericksburg Va
Dec. 13, 1862
Æ. 30
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Biographical notes: Youngest of seven children born to Captain Obed Alley and Susan Chase Alley Mitchell. He was two years old when his father died at Paita, Peru. Nephew of Captain George Alley. He married Mary E. Winslow. Mariner. At the age of twenty-eight, he was the first to sign the roll of volunteers joining Company I, 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry on July 18, 1861. Later promoted to First Sergeant. On September 12, 1862, he was promoted to Second Lieutenant. He was so well liked by the men in his company that they contributed the money to purchase a sword for Leander. This sword never reached him as he was killed before it arrived. (The sword is now in the collection of the Nantucket Historical Association.) At the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, he was killed by a ball through his left eye. He was the first young man from Nantucket to volunteer and the first to die in battle during the Civil War. Captain Henry Livermore Abbott of Company I personally paid to have his body embalmed and transported home to Nantucket, according to Josiah Fitch Murphy, whose memoirs are published in Richard F. Miller and Robert F. Mooney’s book The Civil War: The Nantucket Experience.
The Weekly Mirror published the obituary as follows :”The remains of Lieut. Alley arrived here Thursday afternoon, in charge of Private Josiah F. Murphey. On the arrival of the boat at the wharf, the body was taken to the hearse, which was draped with the American ensign, and surmounted by a carved gilt eagle. The remains followed by a long procession, were taken to the residence of his mother on North Water Street, where they were visited by hundreds of people. There was no attempt at private demonstration beyond the display of flags at half-mast. At two o’clock yesterday afternoon, the body was taken to the North Church, where impressive funeral services were held. After the services the funeral procession formed, and moved to the Unitarian Ground, followed by a large concourse of our citizens. The Public Schools were all closed, and large numbers of our pupils followed the body to its final resting place. The merchants also closed their stores, in respect to the noble dead.”
(much of this information is from the Prospect Hill Cemetery website)
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Data Collection
Date data collected: 4/4/2007
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Location note:
Citation source:
Field recorder: Georgen Gilliam Charnes
Data input by: Georgen Gilliam Charnes
Reviewed by: Automatic