Robert Lanford McCalley

From Huntsville, AL, he was an unmarried student at the Virginia Military Institute at the start of the War in 1861. He left school and was Captain and Drillmaster in the Virginia Militia. He resigned that commission in August 1861 and returned to ALabama.when he enlisted as Private on 1 October 1861 in Company I, 4th Alabama Infantry at Camp Law, VA. He was in action from Elthams Landing to Second Manassas, VA in 1862.

He was with his Company on South Mountain and at Sharpsburg, where he was slightly wounded on 17 September 1862.

He was in action from Fredericksburg, VA to Gettysburg, PA where he was severely wounded in the groin and right hip, and captured on 2 July 1863. He was paroled at DeCamp General Hospital, Davids Island, NY Harbor, and exchanged at City Point, VA on 8 September 1863. He was then at the General Hospital, Petersburg, VA. He returned to duty on 26 November 1864 and was retired on 20 February 1864, returning to Huntsville.

He was a civil engineer, lawyer and mineralogist.

Basic information from State of Alabama1. Listed also as R.L. McAlley and R.L. McCallay. His gravesite is on Findagrave, source of several excellent images of him. Family lore says he returned to VMI and graduated, but VMI Archives only shows him as a cadet there in 1861.

01/27/1842; Madison County, AL

04/11/1917; Birmingham, AL; burial in Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, AL