Edward Lillie Pierce (born in Stoughton, Massachusetts, 29 March 1829; died in Paris, 6 September 1897) was an American biographer and politician. He wrote a noted biography of Charles Sumner.
Edward Lillie Pierce (born in Stoughton, Massachusetts, 29 March 1829; died in Paris, 6 September 1897) was an American biographer and politician. He wrote a noted biography of Charles Sumner.
He graduated from Brown University and Harvard Law School, receiving the degree of LL.D. from Brown. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1860. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted as a private in the 3d Massachusetts Regiment, and served until July 1861, when he was detailed to collect the African Americans at Hampton, Va. and set them to work on the entrenchments of that town. This was the beginning of the employment of African Americans on U. S. military works. In December 1861, the United States Secretary of the Treasury dispatched Pierce to Port Royal, South Carolina to examine conditions for African Americans on the Sea Islands. In February 1862, he returned to Washington and reported to the government.
In March, he was given charge of the freedmen and plantations on those islands. He took with him nearly sixty teachers and superintendents, established schools, and suggested the formation of freedmen's aid societies. In June 1862, Pierce made his second report to the government setting forth what he had done. These reports were afterward reprinted in the Rebellion Record, and were favorably reviewed both in Europe and the United States. The care of the African Americans on the islands having been transferred to the United States Department of War, he was asked to continue in charge under its authority, but declined.
He was offered the military governorship of South Carolina, but was not confirmed. He was collector of internal revenue for the 3d Massachusetts District from October 1863 until May 1866, district attorney in 1866-69, secretary of the board of state charities in 1869-74, and a member of the legislature in 1875-76. He was a member of the Republican National Conventions of 1876 and 1884, and in December 1878, was appointed by President Hayes as Assistant Treasurer of the United States, but declined.
In 1883 he gave a library of 800 volumes for the use of both whites and African Americans of St. Helena Island, the scene of his former labors. He also founded the public library of Milton, Massachusetts, where he had resided, and had been a trustee since its organization. He was a lecturer at the Boston Law School since its foundation.
Pierce was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1892. [1]
Pierce visited Europe several times. His second visit was for the inspection of European prisons, reformatories and asylums, and the result is given in his report for 1873 as secretary of the board of state charities.
Pierce was played in the Civil War movie Glory by actor Christian Baskous.
He was a frequent contributor to newspapers and periodicals, and published numerous articles and addresses.
In 1865, he married Elizabeth H. Kingsbury from Providence, Rhode Island. They had six children. She died in 1880. In 1882 he married Maria L. Woodheard from Huddersfield, England. They had two children. [2] His brother, Henry L. Pierce, was a U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts.
Samuel Gridley Howe was an American physician, abolitionist, and advocate of education for the blind. He organized and was the first director of the Perkins Institution. In 1824, he had gone to Greece to serve in the revolution as a surgeon. He arranged for support for refugees and brought many Greek children back to Boston with him for their education.
George Stillman Hillard was an American lawyer and author. Besides developing his Boston legal practice, he served in the Massachusetts legislature, edited several Boston journals, and wrote on literature, politics and travel.
Charles Sumner was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading American advocate for the abolition of slavery. He chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1861 to 1871, until he lost the position following a dispute with President Ulysses S. Grant over the attempted annexation of Santo Domingo. After breaking with Grant, he joined the Liberal Republican Party, spending his final two years in the Senate alienated from his party. Sumner had a controversial and divisive legacy for many years after his death, but in recent decades, his historical reputation has improved in recognition of his early support for racial equality.
George Frisbie Hoar was an American attorney and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1877 until his death in 1904. He belonged to an extended family that became politically prominent in 18th- and 19th-century New England.
Robert Charles Winthrop was an American lawyer, philanthropist, and Whig Party politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House and Senate from 1840 to 1851. He served as the 18th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and was a political ally and colleague of Daniel Webster. After a rapid rise in Massachusetts and national politics and one term as speaker, Winthrop succeeded Webster in the Senate. His re-election campaign resulted in a long, sharply contested defeat by Charles Sumner. He ran for Governor of Massachusetts in 1851 but lost due to the state's majority requirement, marking the end of his political career and signaling the decline of the Massachusetts Whig Party.
George Sewall Boutwell was an American politician, lawyer, and statesman from Massachusetts. He served as Secretary of the Treasury under U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, the 20th Governor of Massachusetts, a Senator and Representative from Massachusetts and the first Commissioner of Internal Revenue under President Abraham Lincoln. He was a leader in the impeachment of U.S. President Andrew Johnson, and served as a House manager (prosecutor) in the impeachment trial.
John Albion Andrew was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. He was elected in 1860 as the 25th Governor of Massachusetts, serving between 1861 and 1866, and led the state's contributions to the Union cause during the American Civil War (1861–1865). He was a guiding force behind the creation of some of the first African-American units in the United States Army, including the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. He belonged to the Whig, Free Soil, and Republican parties during his career.
George Luther Stearns was an American industrialist and merchant in Medford, Massachusetts, as well as an abolitionist and a noted recruiter of black soldiers for the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Nathan Appleton was an American merchant and politician and a member of the group of entrepreneurs known as "The Boston Associates".
Dwight Foster was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. He served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.
John Henry Clifford was an American lawyer and politician from New Bedford, Massachusetts. He served as the state's attorney general for much of the 1850s, retaining the office during administrations dominated by three different political parties. A Whig, he was elected the state's 21st governor, serving a single term from 1853 to 1854. He was the first governor of Massachusetts not born in the state.
Alexander Hamilton Bullock was an American lawyer, politician, and businessman from Massachusetts. First a Whig and then a Republican, he served three terms (1866–69) as the 26th Governor of Massachusetts. He was actively opposed to the expansion of slavery before the American Civil War, playing a major role in the New England Emigrant Aid Society, founded in 1855 to settle the Kansas Territory with abolitionists. He was for many years involved in the insurance industry in Worcester, where he also served one term as mayor.
Jeremiah Mason was a United States senator from New Hampshire.
The Port Royal Experiment was a program begun during the American Civil War in which former slaves successfully worked on the land abandoned by planters.
Charles Hale (1831–1882) of Boston was an American legislator and diplomat. Intermittently from 1855 to 1877, he served in the Massachusetts state House and Senate. He was Speaker of the House in 1859. In the 1860s he lived in Cairo, Egypt, as the American consul-general. From 1872 to 1873 he worked as United States Assistant Secretary of State under Hamilton Fish.
George Edward Ellis was a Unitarian clergyman and historian.
William Henry Whitmore was a Boston businessman, politician and genealogist.
Elias Nason was a Massachusetts Congregational clergyman, educator, editor and author.
Brigadier General James Appleton was an American abolitionist, early supporter of temperance, and politician from Maine.
John Appleton was a prominent American legal reformer, jurist, and scholar in the fields of constitutional economics and classical liberalism.
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