Reflections on the Civil War and Joseph Pierce
by Irving Moy
Tom Brokow’s best-selling book, The Greatest Generation, refers to that generation fighting during World War II making the world safe for democracy, as “the greatest generation.”
My own belief is that the generation who fought on both sides of the American Civil War could have the greater claim to being the “greatest generation” in our nation’s history.
Unlike World War II, the Civil War was fought on American and not on foreign soil, between Americans. This “Brothers’ War” resulted in 600,000 casualties. If we were to apply this number as a percentage of the population then, this would be the equivalent of losing 5,000,000 Americans today.
The North’s victory resolved two issues left unanswered by the American Revolution: whether in a free government states have the right to breakup the government whenever they choose and whether this republic would continue to endure half slave and half free. It uprooted institutions that were centuries old, transformed the social life of half the country and profoundly impacted our entire national image to the rest of the world. The consequences have set the course of this country to become “a great melting pot” of immigrants into a single nation that Abraham Lincoln called the “last best hope of earth.” It was for these reasons that my parents immigrated to this country from China in order to share in the great “American dream” of having the opportunity and freedom to better themselves and to become productive members of their community. In a sense, this was what the “greatest generation” was fighting to preserve during WWII.
As I reflect more and more on the life of Joseph Pierce, I have come to realize that this unique individual whose life God continually had his hand on, not only contributed to the outcome of the Civil War making this country into what it has become, but actually lived the “American dream” before it even became a possibility.
Consider the following. Although Pierce was sold by his father at the age of ten to a sea captain, he did not spend his life at sea as a cabin boy or servant. Amos Peck for some reason took a liking to him and brought him to be raised by his mother in Berlin, Connecticut. Here he was treated as part of the Peck Family, attending the same country school with Peck’s younger brothers and sisters.
Pierce in 1853 was most likely one of the few Chinese in New England and in Connecticut at the time. Although the first recorded Chinese began to come to America in 1848, the first significant immigration occurred in 1852, confining itself to the Pacific coast. The Pecks with whom he was raised were a prominent family, descendants of Deacon Paul Peck, one of the original proprietors, who along with Thomas Hooker, founded Hartford, Connecticut.
Pierce was an accepted member of his community when he enlisted on July 26, 1862 for, undoubtedly, the same reasons the early volunteers who had answered President Lincoln's call for troops had.
He Was mustered into the Fourteenth Regiment, Company F of the Connecticut Volunteer Infantry that became part of the Second Brigade of the Third Division, Second Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac. From 1862 to 1865, Pierce unknowingly participated in what turned out to be many of the pivotal military events of the war, fighting in the major campaigns from Antietam to Gettysburg to Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House.
He survived some of the bloodiest battles fought during the Civil War. The Fourteenth Connecticut participated in thirty-four battles and skirmishes, lost more men killed in battle in proportion to its size (only 215 (21%) of the original 1,040 men who left to fight returned home) and captured more prisoners, cannon and battle flags than any other Connecticut regiment.
These experiences made Pierce the most renown and highest ranked (corporal) Chinese soldier to have fought in the Civil War. Unlike many veterans who could not settle back to their pre-war lives, he apparently made the transition back to civilian life without too much difficulty. There is no record of him joining any GAR Post after the war; he was able to place this chapter of his life behind him to move on with his life. In 1868, Joseph Pierce settled in Meriden, Connecticut, and for the 48 years that remained in his life, he lived, worked and worshipped within a two-mile radius of his home on Meridian Street.
He listed his occupation as being a farmer when he enlisted to serve with the Fourteenth Connecticut, but in the 1870-71 Meriden City Directory his occupation is listed as being an engraver. His “sisters” with whom he grew up, married into families who established the silver smith trade in Meriden (the city became known as the “silver city”). This family tie apparently opened a door for him to enter a professional trade. On November 12, 1876, at the age of 34, Joseph Pierce, married eighteen year old Martha Morgan, an American woman, from Portland, Connecticut. Just think of the courage both of them had to marry outside the social conventions of that time! What a wonderful story in itself that the two of them married out of love. I would like to believe that the other picture we have of Pierce in formal attire was taken for his wedding to Martha. This marriage produced four children, two daughters, and two sons. Only the sons survived to adulthood.
On March 27, 1890, Joseph and Martha were received as probationary members of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church receiving full membership on November 6th, four days before his 48th birthday.
When his oldest Daughter, Lulu Edna, died at the age of sixteen on February 17, 1895, many people in the community shared in the family's grief. According to the Meriden Daily Republican of February 20, 1895 there were many “floral ensembles” from the church and engravers of the Meriden Britannia Company.
He worked for the Meriden Britannia Co. for a period of twenty-six years before retiring at the age of 72 in 1914.
On January 3, 1916, Joseph Pierce died at the age of 73 after a long complicated illness. He was buried in Walnut Grove Cemetery less than a mile from his home. His obituary made no mention of his service during the Civil War but simply stated that he was “well-known and liked.” His country, however, remembered his participation and contributions by granting him a military pension in 1913 and a monument to mark his gravesite.
His life is this nation’s immigration story in microcosm. Joseph Pierce lived the “American Dream”. He had the opportunity to live a life where he was able to work in a respectable trade in order to provide for his family. He was able to marry out of love the wife of his choosing. He became an accepted and respected member of his community... the very things that all immigrants aspire to when they come to this country, but are often denied.
We may never be asked to make the extraordinary sacrifices these men who fought in the Civil War so willingly offered to make. But as inheritors of the great individual freedoms so costly won as a result of the Civil War, we must not forget the contributions of the Chinese soldiers and sailors and other immigrants who fought and died to preserve the opportunities we have under these freedoms.
We can begin by honoring and respecting the contributions of all nationalities who make up this country called the United States and to accept them as fellow Americans.
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Joseph Pierce Dedication Ceremony and Related News
On August 5,
2006 ninety years after his death, a re-dedication
ceremony was held at Joseph Pierce's gravesite at Walnut
Grove Cemetery in Meriden, Connecticut with the
placement of a G.A.R. bronze flag holder and flag. In a
July 30, 2006 Record-Journal newspaper article, Michael
Kroll, superintendent of the cemetery, said there was
unanimous agreement when the idea was brought to the
Walnut Grove board of directors. "He's a big part of the
history of Meriden and should be recognized," Kroll
said. "There aren't many other dedications...... Pierce
is singled out for the uniqueness of his whole story."
Remarks were
made by Irving Moy, who portrays Pierce with the 14th,
the singing of the "Battle Cry of Freedom," a closing
prayer by President Paul Martinello and concluded with a
three volley salute by an honor guard consisting of Paul
Martinello, Mike Kalweit, Kevin Doyle, Gary Horton and
Irving Moy. Regimental Colors and national colors were
carried by Peter Hershonik and Tad Sattler. Susan
Kirsch, Lauren Martinello and David Sattler attended in
period dress. Besides the general public, attendees
included Gordon and Julie Kwok, from Massachusetts.
Gordon is the webmaster for the much honored site,
"Association to Commemorate the Chinese Serving in the
American Civil War."
Prior to the
ceremony Mr. Kroll mentioned to the group that Pierce's
wife, Martha Morgan Pierce was buried next to him in an
unmarked grave. Peter and Susan then took it upon
themselves as a project to raise funds for a marker.
Through donations totaling $300.00 from family and
members a marker is being made and will be dedicated in
a ceremony in the Spring of 2007 according to Susan.
Related to the
recognition of Pierce, Irving was invited by the Friends
of the Meriden Library to speak on his "Reflections of
Joseph Pierce and the Civil War" on November 8, 2006 as
part of the library's programs to celebrate the
bicentennial celebration of the City of Meriden. A
$100.00 honorarium was given to the 14th Connecticut for
preservation work in Pierce's honor by the library.
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Corporal Joseph Pierce
Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Marker
Dedication Ceremony
Walnut Grove Cemetery
Meriden, Connecticut
August 5, 2006
Remarks by
Irving D. Moy
The War of the Rebellion or the Civil War was the most defining event in this Nation’s history. Over 620,000 casualties resulted more than all the wars combined this Nation has fought in. There was not a person who did not know of a family member or friend who did not suffer a lost during this conflict. Even before the end of the war families decorated the gravesites of their loved ones with flowers in memory of the ultimate sacrifice they made to preserve the Union.
On May 5, 1868, General John Logan, National Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, issued General Order No. 11 that a day would be officially set aside to honor the memories of those who died during the war and the passing of each veteran. The first official celebration of Decoration Day took place on May 30, 1868. This day has since come to be known as Memorial Day. With the passing of each Civil War veteran a marker was placed on his gravesite.
Today we are here to dedicate this GAR marker at the gravesite of Corporal Joseph Pierce, a member of the original 14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry.
When he died on January 3, 1916 at the age of 73, his obituary in the Meriden Daily Journal did not mention his service during the Civil War but only said that he “was well known and liked.” If our government had not provided a grave stone, his gravesite would have been unmarked as the gravesite of Martha Morgan Pierce, his wife who lies next to him. (For more information pertaining to Martha Morgan Pierce visit our Civilian Guidelines page.)
But his military records indicate that Joseph Pierce enlisted in New Britain on July 26, 1862 as a member of the 14th Connecticut. Less than a month later on August 23, 1862, this regiment was mustered into the Second Brigade, Third Division, Second Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, first under the command of General McClellan and then under Generals Meade and Grant.
Its first battle on September 17, 1862 was the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day battle with 26,134 casualties. At the time there were only 35 cities with this number of people. Then it was onward to Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville in the spring of 1863 and then on July 1-3, 1863, the three day battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle on American soil with over 53,000 casualties. Pierce and the 14th Connecticut fought through other major engagements of the eastern theater until General Robert E. Lee’s surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 10, 1865.
On May 23, 1865, he and the regiment marched in the Grand Review of the Armies in Washington, D.C. The regiment was mustered out of the United States Army on May 31, and then upon arriving back to the state capital of Hartford, the 14th Connecticut was mustered out of state service on June 10, 1865.
Of the 1,040 members who left the state in August 1862 only 215 or 21% of the regiment returned. Joseph Pierce was one of these veterans returning as the most famous and highest ranking Chinese soldier to have fought in the Civil War. It is therefore fitting that this marker be dedicated in his honor and memory.
But in doing so, we, in a larger sense are honoring the memory of all the Union soldiers who died on the battlefields and the veterans, who contributed to the Northern victory that set this Nation on its course of a “new birth of freedom” to what it has come to symbolize today to the rest of the world as being, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, “the last best hope of man.”
In the Year 2009 this Nation will be celebrating the bicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. The eloquence of his words still inspires us to this day. In another cemetery, 143 years ago, he spoke these words and with these words, we dedicate this marker to Joseph Pierce.
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate- we can not consecrate- we cannot hallow- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus so far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion- to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”
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Pierce Gravesite Rededication
August 5, 2006
Pierce Gravesite Rededication
August 5, 2006
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For more information on Chinese Serving during the Civil War please visit the following link by clicking HERE.