Burleigh was an ac­tive re­form­er and mem­ber of the Un­i­tar­i­an de­nom­in­a­tion. In 1837, he went to Pitts­burgh, Penn­syl­van­ia, where, hav­ing been pre­vi­ous­ly ap­pren­ticed in the print­ing trade, he pub­lished the Christ­ian Wit­ness and Tem­per­ance Ban­ner. In 143, he be­came ed­it­or of the Christ­ian Free­man at Hart­ford, Con­nec­ti­cut. From 1849-1855, he was an agent of the New York State Tem­per­ance So­ci­e­ty. From 1855-1870, he was Har­bor­mas­ter in New York Ci­ty.

Burleigh con­trib­ut­ed po­ems and hymns to var­i­ous per­i­od­i­cals and jour­nals. Ma­ny of these were col­lect­ed and pub­lished as Po­ems (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: 1841). This vol­ume was en­larged with ad­di­tion­al piec­es and re­pub­lished by Bur­leigh’s wi­dow in 1871.

• Hughes, p. 335
• Hustad, pp. 214-5
• Julian, p. 195
• Nutter, p. 396

1. Abide Not in the Realm of Dreams
2. Fades from the West the Fare­well Light
3. Father, Be­neath Thy Shel­ter­ing Wing
4. For the Dear Love That Kept Us
   • For the Deep Love That Kept Us
5. From Pro­found­est Depths of Trib­u­la­tion
6. Lead Us, O Fa­ther
7. Not in Vain I Poured My Sup­pli­ca­tion
8. O Deem Not That Earth’s Crown­ing Bliss
9. Still Will We Trust
10. There is a Beau­ti­ful Land by the Spoil­er Un­trod
11. They Who Have Kept Their Spir­it’s Vir­gin White­ness
12. Thou Who Look’st with Pi­ty­ing Eye
13. Through the Chang­es of the Day
14. We Ask Not That Our Path Be Al­ways Bright
15. When Glad­ness Gilds Our Pros­per­ous Day