Byron Gordon Pierce was born around 1826 in New York. He attended the University of Michigan in the early 1850s, and he married Marilla E. Allan on January 21, 1853. He probably died in the 1850s, and he married a woman named Alicia soon afterward. He had at least four children: Ida, born around 1855; Byron, born around 1859; Emma, born around 1861; and John, born around 1867. He lived in Ohio until the late 1850s, when he moved to Warren, Illinois. He worked as a physician, and by 1860, he owned $2,000 of personal property.

 

In early 1863, he received a commission as a surgeon in the 96^th Illinois Infantry. The regiment took part in the Battle of Chickamauga, the Battle of Missionary Ridge, the Atlanta campaign, and the Battle of Nashville. In February 1865, he called for “more troops [to] be brought into the field, so that now, when the Confederacy is tottering & the people are fearing the worst, let their worst fears be realized…let no part of the rebellious land rest until it is thoroughly & completely subjugated & the last vestige of hope of independence is ground out of their hearts. Give them no rest, no peace, no armistice, no cessation of hostilities, no time to recover from the shock of Shermans march.” He mustered out on June 10, 1865.

 

He returned to Warren after the war and resumed his work as a physician. His wife probably died in the late 1860s. By 1870, he owned $2,000 of real estate. He applied for a federal pension in June 1880 and eventually received one. He died in Warren on November 27, 1884.

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