The Sgt. Jerome Peirce Story
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Total Text Long With Appendices DRAFT 12/22/15 THE SGT. JEROME PEIRCE STORY “ONCE LOST, NOW FOUND, NEVER FORGOTTEN” Josef W. Rokus [Date to be added] Copyright © 2016 by Josef W. Rokus All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. 1 DEDICATION This “Sgt. Jerome Peirce Story” is dedicated to one-time Fredericksburg National Cemetery Superintendent Andrew J. Birdsall and to the several generations of his descendants who have faithfully carried on the tradition started by him in the early 1880s of decorating Sgt. Jerome Peirce’s grave in the National Cemetery each Memorial Day. They have, thereby, honored Sgt. Peirce for the ultimate sacrifice he made on the Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield on May 12, 1864, for the cause he strongly believed in, namely the preservation of the Union. and to Michael Stevens, who has been the volunteer “interpreter” at Sgt. Peirce’s grave at the Luminaria organized in recent years by the U.S. National Park Service at the Fredericksburg National Cemetery each Memorial Day. He has not only retold the role this Union soldier played in the Civil War and how he is still being remembered today but has also reminded the visitors about the meaning and importance of Memorial Day. He has been the driving force behind this “Sgt. Jerome Peirce Story.” 2 CONTENTS [Page numbers to be added] Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1 The Peirce and Jaquith Families Prior to Jerome Peirce’s Death in 1864 Chapter 2 Sgt. Jerome Peirce with the 36th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (August 4, 1862 – May 11, 1864) Chapter 3 The 36th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment at Spotsylvania Court House on May 12, 1864, the Day Sgt. Peirce was Killed Chapter 4 The 36th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment after the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House (May 1864 – June 1865) Chapter 5 Conditions on the Local Battlefields after the War and Sgt. Peirce’s Re-interment Chapter 6 The Peirce Family after Jerome Peirce’s Death on May 12, 1864 Chapter 7 “Once Lost, Now Found, Never Forgotten” Remembering Sgt. Jerome Peirce Chapter 8 Summary of the May 1994 Reader’s Digest Article “Home of the Brave” Chapter 9 Transcriptions of some of the Letters Written by Jerome Peirce and Others Chapter 10 The Final Resting Place of Sgt. Jerome Peirce: The Fredericksburg National Cemetery Chapter 11 The Effort to Erect a Second Gravestone at Sgt. Jerome Peirce’s Grave Conclusion 3 APPENDICES Appendix A Corporal vs. Sergeant and “Peirce” vs. “Pierce” Appendix B Sgt. Jerome Peirce’s Service File Appendix C Sgt. Jerome Peirce’s Pension file Appendix D “History of the Thirty-sixth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. 1862 – 1865” Appendix E Men of the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts Regiment who were Killed or Died of Wounds at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House Appendix F Excerpts from the Sermon Given at the Funeral Service for Sgt. Jerome Peirce by Rev. Levi Ballou on June 19, 1864, at the First Congregational Parish and Society Church in Orange, Massachusetts Appendix G Additional Information about the Letters Written by Jerome Peirce and Others NOTES 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It started with a seemingly simply request from Mike Stevens to “find out everything you can about Sgt. Jerome Peirce and the decoration of his grave each Memorial Day.” It ended up as biographical sketches of not only Jerome but also of his wife, and later, widow, Albinia and their daughter Lucy, a history of the Massachusetts infantry regiment Jerome served with, the probable sequence of events that followed his untimely death in May of 1864 that resulted in him finally being laid to rest in the Fredericksburg National Cemetery, and, of course, the chronology of the annual decoration of his grave in the Cemetery over the last 130 or so years. In the process, a number of unexpected discoveries were made that have provided important details to the “Sgt. Jerome Peirce Story.” These “pleasant surprises” included the discovery of many letters that Jerome had written while serving with the Union army, finding pictures of Jerome, Albinia and Lucy, locating the author of the May 1994 Reader’s Digest article that brought this unique story to national attention, determining with a high degree of certainty where exactly Sgt. Peirce was killed on the Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield, finding the obituaries for Jerome, Albinia and Lucy, locating the text of the Commemorative Funeral Service given by the minister of the church in Orange, Massachusetts, where Jerome had been the Sunday School Superintendent before he enlisted, finding the Civil War monument in Orange where his name is inscribed, locating the Peirce family gravestone in Billerica, Massachusetts, and finding and contacting two distant relatives of Albinia Peirce. Many of these “discoveries” along with many of the more mundane facts in this “story” can be credited to the many individuals who became as fascinated by (maybe “addicted” to) the uniqueness of this story as the author was and, therefore, went out of their way to find obscure information, often in archives that have probably never been accessed, that thereby helped to add invaluable details. The following is the list of those extremely helpful individuals to whom the author is deeply indebted. As always, the historians and staff of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, which administers the Fredericksburg National Cemetery, were most helpful. They included John Hennessy, the Chief Historian/Chief of Interpretation of the Park, historians Eric Mink, Peter Maugle, and Greg Mertz, and the Park’s Museum Curator, Luisa Dispenzirie, who found positive proof that one-time Fredericksburg National Cemetery Superintendent Andrew J. Birdsall decorated Peirce’s grave on Memorial Days in one of Birdsall’s diaries. Donald Pfanz, who recently retired from the position of staff historian at the Park, deserves special mention. He is, without a doubt, the most knowledgeable person about the Fredericksburg National Cemetery, having written a book about the Cemetery that will soon be published. He graciously shared details about the National Cemetery that will appear in his book, based on his extensive research and intimate knowledge of the Civil War battles in the Fredericksburg area. In addition, he provided many very helpful suggestions for improvements and corrections resulting from his review of many sections of the draft manuscript. Several librarians at the indicated institutions went beyond the call of duty to fill in many details of the story. Four of them deserve special recognition. First, Nancy Moore, in the Virginiana Room of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library in Fredericksburg, Virginia, diligently searched back issues of the Fredericksburg newspapers going back into the 1800s for articles pertaining to all aspects of the Jerome Pierce story, including information about Superintendent Andrew J. Birdsall and his descendants, the “re-discovery” of the grave decoration tradition in the early 1990s, etc. Her help was invaluable. Second, Kathy Meagher, at the Billerica, Massachusetts, Public Library became intimately involved in this project by spending many hours looking for (and finding!) details pertaining to the Peirce and Jaquith families during the many years that members of both families resided in Billerica. She also furnished the 5 excellent photograph of the Peirce family gravestone included herein. Third, Charlene Deam at the Orange, Massachusetts, Public Library supplied invaluable information about the church in North Orange that the Peirce family attended prior to Jerome’s enlistment, and she also supplied the pictures of the Civil War monument in Orange on which Jerome Peirce’s name is inscribed. Fourth, Ellen M. Shea at the Schlesinger Library of the Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study at Harvard University went out of her way to find and send copies of valuable records pertaining to Lucy Peirce when Lucy was associated with what at that time was Radcliffe College. Other librarians and members of historical societies who made valuable contributions, such as finding obituaries and particularly details about Lucy Peirce’s education and career, included the following: Henry Scanell at the Boston Public Library, Susan Edwards at the Salem State University Library in Salem, Massachusetts, George Rugg and James Cachey at the Rare Books and Special Collections Library at the University of Notre Dame, David Miller, Head of Technical Services at the Levin Library of Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts, Linda Temple, historian with the Orange, Massachusetts Historical Society, and Maria Seminatore, President of the Billerica, Massachusetts, Historical Society. Early in this study, the author became aware of the fact that the Sgt. Jerome Peirce story had received national attention in a feature article in the May 1994 issue of Reader’s Digest, written by Henry Hurt, editor-at-large of the magazine. After locating a copy of this article, it became apparent that Hurt would probably have unique detailed information about several aspects of this story, particularly since he had discovered many letters that Jerome Peirce had written home during his time of service with the 36th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and had been in touch with Patricia Mason, who had (and still has) the letters. Fortunately, after some effort, Hurt was located, and he turned out to be an indispensable resource. In addition to notes he had compiled when he authored the article, he still had copies of some of the letters that Jerome had written to Albinia, which he graciously shared with the author and which were transcribed and reproduced herein. Hurt also put the author in contact with David Allen Lambert, Chief Genealogist for the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, Massachusetts, who had assisted him in compiling genealogical information about the Peirce and Jaquith families.