Michael Piggott was born on September 29, 1834, in Thurles, Ireland, to Owen and Mary Piggott. His father was a laborer. The family immigrated to America in 1840s and settled in St. Louis, Missouri. As a young boy, an early biographer noted, Piggott “obtained employment as cabin boy on one of our Mississippi river steamers.”

 

He became an apprentice bricklayer in 1850, and he moved to Quincy, Illinois, in the spring of 1854. He reportedly received no formal education, but he taught himself to read and write in the 1850s. He married Eleanor Cannell on November 4, 1856, and they had at least six children: Mary Jane, born around 1860; Fanny, born around 1866; Schuyler, born around 1868; Nellie, born around 1871; Katherine, born around 1873; and Joseph, born around 1876.

 

He enlisted in the Union army in 1861 and mustered in as a private in the Western Sharpshooters. The regiment later became the 66^th Illinois Infantry, and it took part in the Battle of Fort Donelson, the Battle of Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, and the Atlanta campaign. He received a series of promotions: to 2^nd lieutenant, then to 1^st lieutenant, and finally to captain. He was severely wounded in the Battle of Resaca on May 15, 1864, and surgeons amputated his right leg. He mustered out on January 24, 1865.

 

Piggott returned to Quincy after leaving the army. He received an appointment as Deputy United States Assessor, but he resigned the position to serve as messenger in the United States House of Representatives. He supported the Republican Party, and President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him postmaster of Quincy. By 1870, he owned $5,000 of real estate and $1,000 of personal property, and he employed at least one white domestic servant.

 

By 1900, he was working as a lawyer. He remained in Quincy for the rest of his life, and he died there on July 12, 1921.

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