Radical Retirements: 1860-1903

The five Burleigh siblings who witnessed the Civil War changed their life's direction in the years following that conflict. The war had dual results on the surviving siblings. While the nation had rid itself decisively of slavery, it had not been achieved by moral suasion, and the rhetoric of war certainly dented the siblings' pacifist hopes.

Mary and her husband Jesse Ames moved to Vineland, New Jersey, a commercially successful semi-intentional community. It is likely that Mary participated in Woman Suffrage activity there.

While the death of his beloved wife Gertrude Kimber was undoubtedly a hard blow, Charles did not rest. He became more active in thinking beyond creedal religion, leading the Free Congregational Association in Florence, Massachusetts, then preaching for a year at the Free Congregational Church in Bloomington, Illinois. He also took opportunities to preach and speak under the auspices of Progressive Friends meetings during his 1875 sojourn in eastern Pennsylvania.

William suffered a terrible string of losses during the war years, with his father, wife Harriet, and son William all dying. His second marriage, to Celia Tibbets, brought him fully around to the issue of women's rights, and she assisted in maintaining his legacy after his death by publishing his works and retaining the Burleigh name while pursuing her trailblazing career as a Unitarian minister.

Lucian redoubled his efforts around Temperance, and at Packerville Baptist Church.

George's poetry and prose moves away from the political, instead embracing children's literature, natural science, and sentimental literature. He becomes the old poet of Little Compton, and glories in the success of his surviving son, Sydney Richmond Burleigh.