George Foster Pierce, Jr.

Son and grandson of Methodist clergymen, in 1860 he was a 17 year old living with his father, stepmother, and 5 siblings at Madison in Morgan County, GA; his father was then president of the Madison Female College. He was near graduation at Emory College when he enlisted on 16 (or 20) April 1861 and mustered as a Private in Company D of the First (Ramsey's) Georgia Infantry and was with them to their disbanding on 15 March 1862. He enlisted again, probably as a Sergeant, in Company G of the Infantry Battalion, Cobb's Legion on 18 March 1862.

He was wounded in action at Crampton's Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862 and captured.

He was sent from Fort Delaware to Aikens' Landing, VA for exchange on 2 October and formally exchanged to return to duty on 10 November 1862. He was elected Junior 2nd Lieutenant to date from 25 September 1862 and was wounded again, at Chancellorsville, VA on 3 May 1863. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on 8 January 1864 and was wounded for the third time, by a gunshot in the Wilderness, VA on 6 May 1864 and treated in a hospital in Danville, VA. He was detailed as Acting Assistant Adjutant General to General D.M. DuBose in February 1865 and was captured at Sailor's Creek, VA on 6 April. He was a prisoner on Johnson's Island near Sandusky, OH to 19 June 1865, when he took an oath of allegiance to the United States and was released.

He studied the law and was admitted to the bar in 1866, and by 1870 and to at least 1880, except for a year in Macon, GA, he was a prosperous lawyer in practice at Sparta, Hancock County, GA. He was a member of the state legislature for two terms, from 1871-75.

His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3, also as George F Pearce. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860 & 1870.

He married Harriett H "Hattie" Harley (1843-1906) in January 1870 and they had a daughter and 4 sons.

He was known as George Foster Pierce, Jr., but his father was James and his grandfather was Lovick; instead, he was named for his uncle, Emory College president (1848-54) and later Methodist Bishop, George Foster Pierce (1811-1884), who largely raised him after his mother's death in December 1844.

02/28/1843; Columbus, GA

02/24/1884; Hancock County, GA; burial in Sparta Cemetery, Sparta, GA