John Henry Alley

  Noted events in his life were:

• Census: Marshall Co, MS - 1850 Federal Census, 20 Sep 1850, Marshall Co, MS. ² Northern Div, Stamped Pg 294

• Census: Milam CO, TX 1860 Federal Census, 29 Jun 1860, Nashville, Milam CO, TX. ³ Western District, Pg 25 (stamped 36)

• Military Service: Confederate States of America Army, 27th Brigade, Milam County Guards, 4 May 1861, Milam Co., TX. ⁴

• Fact 1. John Henry Alley was born Nov. 27, 1829, in Alabama. John H. Alley is listed in the 1860 Milam Co. Census as living with the Robert and Freelove (Cornutt) Stewart family as a laborer, and he is listed as having $400 personal estate. Very shortly after this census was taken, John married Mary Elizabeth Stewart, who was his employer's daughter, on July 12, 1860 in Milam Co. The Alleys had three children: Martha Bowlin Euzene "Mattie" Alley, who married John Wesley Lantrip; Sarah Freelove "Susie" Alley; who married Thomas B. Fowler; and Robert Henry Alley, who died in infancy.

Not long after the Alleys' marriage, the Civil War began, and John H. Alley enlisted in the Milam Co. Guards on May 4, 1861 as a Private. In Sept. of 1861, he enlisted as a Sergeant in the newly formed Co. E, 4th Texas Cavalry regiment, according to National Archives data. He was eventually promoted to First Sergeant.

As part of this unit, also known as Sibley's Brigade, John saw combat in New Mexico at the Battles of Valverde and Glorieta Pass. He was taken as a prisoner of war on Wednesday, April 16, 1862, at Albuquerque, New Mexico by Col. Benjamin Stone Roberts, Union Army. He was confined at the infamous Federal Prison, Camp Douglas, in Chicago Illinois. Fortunately for John, he was exchanged at Vicksburg, Mississippi on Saturday, September 20, 1862.

Sibley's Brigade also fought in numerous conflicts in Louisiana, including Cox's Pantation and Bayou Bourbeau. John remained in this regiment until the close of the Civil War. He came home from the war a sickly man, and died on Feb. 23, 1869. John H. Alley is buried in Pin Oak Cemetery in Milam Co., near Milano, Texas.

• Cemetery: Pin Oak Cemetery: Milam Co., TX. ^{5 6}

John married Mary Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of Robert Hanes Stewart and Freelove Lovelace Cornett, on 12 Jul 1860 in Milam Co., TX.¹ (Mary Elizabeth Stewart was born on 18 Jan 1845 in Rome, Floyd CO, GA, died on 28 Oct 1918 in Milam Co., TX and was buried in Milam Co., TX.)