Alexander Shaler

        GEN. A. SHALER DEAD
         IN HIS 84TH YEAR
   Distinguished Civil War Veteran
    and Long Prominent in State
         National Guard.
     EX- HEAD OF HEALTH BOARD
 also Former Fire Commissioner--
   President of Association of Union
        ex-Prisoners of War.
 Gen. Alexander Shaler died this morn-
ing at his residence, 126 Riverside Drive,
of a complication of diseases due to old
age. Gen. Shaler was born March 19,
1827, and since 1845 has been connected
with the National Guard in this State.  He
is a Medal of Honor man, and has been
distinguished for gallantry in the civil
war.
 Gen. Shaler was a Major in the Seventh
Regiment of the New York National
Guard when the war began, and was
transferred to the First United States
Chasseurs, afterward the Sixty-fifth Regi-
ment, in 1861. Since the close of the war
he has been identified with the National
Guard and was a member of the board to
provide armories for city troops. He was
also connected with the organization of
the Fire Department in Chicago and was
a member of the New York Board of Fire
Commissioners in 1867-78. His last civic
activity in New York was as President
of the New York Board of Health, which
office he held in 1883.
 During the recent celebration of the fif-
tieth anniversary of the start of the Sev-
enth Regiment to the defense of Wash-
ington Col. Roome, speaking of his old
chief, said: "There never was a braver
man than Gen. Shaler. He took the
Sixty-fifth into a peninsula campaign
the best organized and eqipped, I doubt
not, of any volunteer regiemnt in the
war, and equal in point of efficiency of
most of the regiments of regulars.
 "Gen. Shaler was an efficient drill-
master. He would have spent twenty-
four hours a day putting his men into
shape if that had been possible. Day
after day they marched and drilled, and
their training fell largely to Gen. Shaler."
 Gen. Shaler moved to Ridgfield, N.J.,
and was one of the founders of Hudson
Heights and other properties in that
vicinity. He served as the Mayor of the
Borough of Ridgefield from 1899 to 1901.
 Gen. Shaler belonged to a number of
military and patriotic societies. He was
the President of the association known as
the Union ex-Prisoners of War.
 He was a founder of the National Rifle
Association, Commander of the Military
Order of the Loyal legion, a member of
the American Geographical Society, and
United States Medal of Honor Legion.
 Two years ago Gen. Shaler and Mrs.
Shaler celebrated the sixty-second anni-
versary of their marriage at their home in
this city. The anniversary celebration
took on the nature of a family reunion.
Among the relatives of Gen. Shaler were
Mr. and Mrs. William King Shaler of
Newark and Dr. Sumner Shaler, a grand-
son.
 Gen. Shaler was the son of Capt. Ira
Shaler, who was engaged in the West In-
dia trade, and his father removed to this
city in 1834. Young Shaler assisted his 
father in the stone business, and it is
stated that in a lower portion of this city
is many a flagstone placed by Shaler's
own hand. But his heart was always in
the soldier's life and he joined the Third
Regiment when only 18 years old. He
joined the Seventh Regiment, with which
he had been so long identified, in 1848.