Long, Pierse, 1739-1789

Pierse Long (1739 – April 13, 1789) was an American merchant from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He served as a colonel of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War and served as a New Hampshire delegate to the Confederation Congress in 1785 and 1786.

Born in Portsmouth in the Province of New Hampshire, he received a limited education, then was apprenticed to another merchant, Robert Trail. After his apprenticeship, Pierse became a merchant in his own right, exporting timber to the West Indies and importing goods from England and Ireland. He prospered in business and became active in the militia and in civic affairs. As the Revolution neared, he became a member of Portsmouth's Committee of Safety. In 1774, he participated in the raid that removed gunpowder from Fort William and Mary. The following year, the town sent him to the revolutionary Provincial Congress held at Exeter. As New Hampshire reorganized the militia in preparation for war, he was named colonel of the Continental Army regiment raised in New Castle, New Hampshire called Long's Regiment. During the Saratoga campaign of 1777, he led the bulk of his regiment in the withdrawal from Fort Ticonderoga, delaying the British at the Battle of Fort Ann. Following most of the regiment being dscharged, Long and a few of his men fought as volunteers in the Battle of Saratoga as a part of Enoch Poor's brigade. After returning home, Long was confined to his home for nearly half a year by illness before resuming his mercantile activities.

In 1784, New Hampshire named him as a delegate to the Continental Congress. In Congress, he was active in developing some of the proposals for dealing with western lands. While not passed at the time, many of these became part of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787. On his return to New Hampshire, he served on the state council from 1786 until 1789. He was a member of the State's convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1788. Long was appointed by President Washington customs collector for the port of Portsmouth but owing to ill health was unable to assume the duties of the office. He died in Portsmouth and was buried in the Proprietor's Burying Ground there.