Massachusetts Militia - NEW

Item CDV-11999

Description

Richard A. Pierce was a Massachusetts politician and militia officer from New Bedford whose Civil War-era service is somewhat obscure because his rank of brigadier general was in the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, rather than the U.S. Volunteers.
Here is what I can establish from period and historical records:

• Richard A. Pierce was associated with New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives from New Bedford in 1859 and 1860, immediately before the Civil War. 
• He was active in the prewar Massachusetts militia. On September 24, 1860, Pierce became a member of the prestigious Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, one of the state's oldest military organizations. 
• By 1862 he held the rank of captain in the Massachusetts militia.
• Most significantly, a contemporary index to the Middleboro Gazette records that on August 23, 1862, Richard A. Pierce was promoted from captain to brigadier general. 

Source:  Middleboro Gazette