Pierce, William, 1753-1789

<p>William Pierce or William Pierce, Jr. (1753 – December 10, 1789) was an army officer during the American Revolutionary War and a member of the United States Constitutional Convention of 1787.</p>

<p>William Pierce was born in York County, Virginia in 1753, the third and youngest son of Matthew and Elizabeth Pierce. As a young man, he studied art under Charles Willson Peale in Maryland and returned to Williamsburg, Virginia to accept commissions in the Summer of 1775. As tensions with Great Britain turned into armed conflict, Pierce participated in the fighting at Hampton, Virginia, in September 1775. Pierce was commissioned a Captain in the 1st Continental Regiment of Artillery the following year as the new country organized its forces for war. After months of guarding against British incursions in the Hampton Roads, the First Regiment of Continental Artillery was ordered to join the Main Army at Valley Forge in the Spring of 1778. After his regiment arrived in camp, William Pierce's battery was then detached to Major General John Sullivan's command in Rhode Island. Suffering from poor health, Pierce voluntarily suspended his company command and accepted a position as an aide-de-camp to General Sullivan in early 1779. He attended his commander in the punitive expedition in Upstate New York to subdue the British-aligned Iroquois during the summer.</p>

<p>Returning to Williamsburg on furlough in early 1780, he evidently studied at the College of William & Mary and was accepted as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. As the War for American Independence shifted to the southern states, William Pierce was again invited to become an aide-de-camp to a general officer in December 1780, this time to Major General Nathanael Greene. Pierce accepted and joined his new corps on its fighting retreat in North Carolina in early February 1781. William Pierce proved himself valuable to his General over the course of the next two years, not only in his secretarial duties but as a military officer. For example, he assisted in the rallying a contingent of Virginia troops at a critical moment during the Battle of Hobkirk Hill and was also Greene's selection to carry news of the Battle of Eutaw Springs to the Continental Congress.</p>

PIERCE, William, a Delegate from Georgia; born in that State in 1740; completed preparatory studies; served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War as aide-de-camp to Gen. Nathanael Greene; engaged in mercantile pursuits in Savannah, Ga.; member of the state house of representatives in 1786; member of the Continental Congress in 1787; delegate from Georgia to the Federal Convention at Philadelphia in 1787; was an original member and vice president of the Society of the Cincinnati; trustee of Chatham County Academy at the time of his death; died in Savannah, Ga., December 10, 1789.

<ul><b>RACES</b>
<li>11/16/1789 GA Governor Lost 29.69% (-9.38%)</li>
<li>12/31/1786 GA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
</ul>

<b>William Leigh Pierce</b><br>
<b>BIRTH</b> 1740<br>
Georgia, USA<br>
<b>DEATH</b> 10 Dec 1789 (aged 48–49)<br>
Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia, USA<br>
<b>BURIAL</b><br>
Colonial Park Cemetery<br>
Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia, USA