Cyrus Moses Burleigh: Quick-Witted Activist

The "Mirthful" Cyrus Moses Burleigh

Cyrus Moses Burleigh, the next-to-youngest of the siblings, is quite winsome in his writing. But his writing is hard to find, being mainly in journals, letters, and reports from the struggle. When you find them, though, his words sparkle with life and humor. This helps to explain why he was so beloved, and mourned so extravagantly at the time of his early death.

He contributed extensively to both temperance and anti-slavery in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He worked as an agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society in the 1840s. But it was when he followed his brother Charles to Pennsylvania that he really blossomed. He found Quaker culture to be quite congenial, though there is no evidence that he joined the Society of Friends. 

Cyrus Moses Burleigh became part of the editorial board of the Pennsylvania Freeman, engaged with William Still and the Underground Railroad, and reported on the Christiana resistance of September 11, 1851. He was mobbed as a speaker due to his opposition to the Fugitive Slave Law. 

One of the most intriguing moments in his life came at the end of it, when he married his good friend Margaret Jones, who was in a committed relationship with Mary Grew. The marriage gave Margaret the prestige of the Burleigh family connection, and helped to bring Cyrus's worldly affairs to an orderly conclusion. But it is unlikely that this was a "marriage" in any romantic or sexual sense.

Cyrus's hand-written journals, which run intermittently from July of 1837 to March 1845, constitutes a treasure-trove of information about him, his family, daily life in Windham county, and his increasing involvement in reform causes. This website will, eventually, make a full transcription of all three available. Among the famed people noted in it, in addition to the Burleigh family, are Prudence Crandall, Almira Crandall, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and many more. A full index of these names will be included with their internal references in this project once the transcription is complete.

The first two volumes of the diary are noted as being in the John Hay collection at Brown University, but easier access comes from a microfilm with the following catalogue information: Micropublished in "American Poetry, 1650-1900: Part II." No. 352. New Haven, Connecticut: Research Publications, 1975. This same collection includes a collection of hand-written juvenalia by his brother George Shepard Burleigh. The third volume of Cyrus's journal is found at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, where it was misattributed to Charles for many years (see note below). Together these journals provide a precious look at the daily life, activity, and thought of a young man deeply involved in reform movements.

Source of Confusion - C.C. v. C.M.!

Cyrus has been a cipher in the historical record, and, due to their propensity to use their initials, he has been oft-confused with his brother Charles - C.M. Burleigh is Cyrus Moses, while C.C. Burleigh is Charles Calistus. But enough scholars are unaware of Cyrus's existence, or his middle name, and this has led to some misattributions. By providing transcriptions of his journals, and a timeline of his activities, this site hopes to be a clearinghouse for future scholars to avoid such errors, and understand these two brothers as deeply aligned with each other, yet quite separate personalities.

Universal Grief

Cyrus Moses Burleigh's death at such a young age was deeply mourned in the Abolitionist community, equally apparent in publications based in Boston and Philadelphia. One of the most outstanding contributions to this outpouring of grief was a sonnet by William Lloyd Garrison himself, in the pages of The Liberator. It is also interesting that this sonnet reflects Garrison's growing belief in Spiritualism:

Sonnet, “To The Memory of Cyrus M. Burleigh”

Absent, not lost—removed from earth, not dead—

         Existent still, but in a higher sphere:—

What though from us thy mortal form has fled?

         Where’er thou are, as when incarnate here,

If Right is struggling ‘gainst a hostile throng,

         If Justice needs a champion bold and true,

Thou wilt be foremost to redress the wrong,

         And all the powers of darkness to subdue.

Though Early summoned to the spirit-land,

         Thy earthly life, by noble words and deeds,

Was long-extended:—heart, and voice, and hand,

         Thou gav’st to Freedom in her direst needs.

Oh, for thy zeal to free the fettered slave,

Forever hallowed by thy lowly grave!

 Boston, April 2, 1855.        W.L.G.

References

William Lloyd Garrison, “Sonnet” The Liberator 6 April 1855, p. 55