Edward W. Peck was born on July 30, 1839, in Stratford, Connecticut. His father died around 1842, and he moved to Derby, Connecticut, around 1855. He worked as a plumber’s apprentice.
He enlisted in the Union army on May 22, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Battery B of the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery later that day. The regiment took part in the Peninsula campaign, the Seven Days’ Battles, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, and the Battle of Gettysburg. He mustered out on May 21, 1864.
Peck returned to Derby after leaving the army, and he earned a living as a plumber and tinsmith. He married Anna Alcott on September 13, 1865, and they had at least five children: Louisa, born around 1866; Beulah, born around 1868; Lavinia, born around 1869; Archibald, born around 1873; and Edward, born around 1875. By 1870, they owned $700 of personal property, and they employed one Irish domestic servant. His wife died in 1897.
He remained in Derby with his children, and by 1900, he was working as a stone dealer. He married Ella L. Lewis around 1908. A state military census in 1917 described him as 5 feet, 5 inches tall, with a weight of 115 pounds. His wife died on September 16, 1926, and by the late 1920s, he was living with his daughter Lavinia in Derby. He died there on May 26, 1930.