Governor Benjamin Pierce - New Hampshire Historical Society

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Benjamin Pierce’s World 17 World corruption, particularly the royal oppression they had fought so hard to escape. Partisanship was beginning to characterize American politics. In the wake of the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, making it treasonous to criticize the United States government, Republicans like Pierce feared that such an army would be used to put down dissent and eventually to destroy hard-won freedoms. On June 14, 1805, Governor Langdon appointed Pierce brigadier general of the fourth brigade. In 1807, after twenty-one years of militia service, the general retired from his active duty as commander of the Hillsborough County regiments. 36 Between 1807 and 1812, relations between the United States and Great Britain deteriorated as the British Navy blockaded ports and impressed American seamen. Americans settling on lands along the northern border of the United States also feared attack by Indians incited by British officials in Canada. On December 18, 1807, United States Senator Nahum Parker wrote to Pierce from Washington that, because of continuous predations on Americans by the British Navy—“so long the scourge of the sivilezed world”—the American people would be forced “to defend our rights by armies or surrender them.” 37 Inheriting the “Glorious Principles” Though Benjamin Pierce opposed the undeclared, Federalist war with France in 1798, he endorsed the Jeffersonian Republican call to war with Great Britain in 1812. Two of Benjamin’s sons, Benjamin Kendrick and John Sullivan, joined the United States Army on the advice of their father. The entire family recognized the importance of military service at that time to preserving a strong republic. Each of Benjamin and Anna Pierce’s sons followed his precedent, embracing military service when necessary as an important part of their lives. Their three eldest sons, as well as several other close relatives, served in the military, but differed in their choice of whether to remain there during peacetime or to return to civilian life. 38 John McNeil (1784–1850), Benjamin Pierce’s son-in-law; oil on canvas, attributed to Henry Willard (1802–55), c. 1825. The Pierces believed that a strong military was necessary to the defense of American liberties. Franklin and his four brothers all served in the military at one time or another, and two brothers-in-law (both McNeils) boasted distinguished militia and War of 1812 careers. New Hampshire Historical Society. Benjamin Kendrick Pierce, the eldest son, was born in Hillsborough on August 29, 1790. Named for his maternal grandfather, the sturdy settler Benjamin Kendrick, he was educated at Phillips Academy, Exeter, and entered Dartmouth College in 1807, where he pursued a classical course of study for three years. Benjamin K. began the study of law in the office of Hillsborough attorney David Starrett. But, at the outbreak of the War of 1812, he obtained a commission as a lieutenant in the Third Regiment of Artillery, United States Army. After the war, he remained in the army, eventually retiring with the rank of colonel after a distinguished career defending American interests on the frontiers in Michigan and Florida. 39
18 Historical New Hampshire John Sullivan Pierce, Benjamin’s second son, was born in Hillsborough on November 5, 1796. Named for his father’s friend and political mentor Revolutionary General John Sullivan (1740–95), John S. was probably educated in local schools. Like his older brother, he received a commission as lieutenant in the United States Army in 1814. After the war, he remained in the army stationed at Fort Mackinac and died at Detroit, Michigan, on September 28, 1824. 40 Charles Grandison Pierce, the third son, was born in Hillsborough in 1803 and named for the morally virtuous character of a popular English novel, Sir Charles Grandison, written by Samuel Richardson and published in 1753. Charles received an appointment to the United States military academy at West Point in 1818. He later moved to Utica, New York, where he died on June 25, 1828. 41 The future United States president Franklin Pierce, born in Hillsborough on November 23, 1804, joined a military company that was drilling on the Bowdoin College campus, while he was studying there. He was elected their captain. On June 10, 1831, shortly after Franklin’s election to the state legislature, he was appointed captain general’s aide in the militia. He was discharged June 6, 1834, after serving on the governor’s military staff, but later served with distinction as a brigadier general in the United States Army during the Mexican War. 42 Henry Dearborn Pierce, Benjamin’s youngest son, was born in Hillsborough on September 19, 1812. Named for his father’s friend and political confidant General Henry Dearborn (1751–1829), he was educated in local schools and eventually took over the family farm. Henry D. began service in the state militia with an appointment as a cavalry lieutenant in the twenty-sixth regiment on January 27, 1836. He was promoted to the rank of captain on December 8, 1838. In 1842, he was appointed aid-de-camp to Governor Henry Hubbard’s staff with the rank of colonel. A popular orator, Henry D. Pierce also represented Hillsborough in the legislature in 1841 and 1842. Town voters elected him moderator twenty-one times between 1845 and 1868. 43 Finally, Benjamin Pierce’s eldest daughter Elizabeth was the wife of War of 1812 hero John McNeil (1784–1850), whom she had married on December 25, 1811. Of Scots descent, McNeil was the son of one of her father’s revolutionary comrades. Both had served at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Not long afterward, Solomon McNeil (1782–1863), the elder brother of John McNeil, further cemented the family connections by marrying Nancy, Benjamin Pierce’s second eldest daughter. John and Solomon McNeil each served valiantly against the British on the Niagara frontier during the War of 1812. John McNeil remained in the United States Army, rising to the rank of brigadier general before he resigned in 1830 to accept the post of Surveyor of the Port of Boston. 44 A “Firm Example of Patriotic Virtues” Benjamin Pierce’s last official duty was casting a vote as an elector for Andrew Jackson in 1832. He remained a steadfast Democrat to the end of his life. Although retired from government, the aged veteran continued to work to preserve the memory and ideals of the Revolution to his dying day. In 1836, he was elected vice president of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Society of Cincinnati, a hereditary association of former Order of the Society of Cincinnati medal, owned by the Pierces, c. 1850. Both Benjamin and Franklin Pierce belonged to the hereditary organization of revolutionary officers formed in 1783 and named after Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. The Roman general, like the majority of revolutionary soldiers, had left his farm to bear arms and had returned to agriculture as soon as the enemy was defeated. New Hampshire Historical Society.
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Governor Benjamin Pierce - New Hampshire Historical Society

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