author
Charles Lawrence Peirson
b. 1834
A Civil War officer, engineer, and businessman, he wrote from firsthand experience about the Battle of Ball's Bluff and its aftermath. His work blends personal memory with historical detail, giving readers a direct sense of how the war felt to those who lived it.
1 Audiobook
Ball's Bluff: An Episode and Its Consequences to Some of Us
by Charles Lawrence Peirson
About the author
Born in Salem, Massachusetts, on January 15, 1834, he studied engineering at Harvard's Lawrence Scientific School and later worked as a civil engineer and farmer in Minnesota. When the Civil War began, he entered Union service and went on to serve as an officer in the 20th and 39th Massachusetts Infantry, experiences that shaped the writing he is best known for today.
His best-known book, Ball's Bluff: An Episode and Its Consequences to Some of Us (1913), draws on his own wartime memories to revisit a difficult early battle of the war. The book stands out because it is not just a military account, but also a personal reflection by someone who witnessed the confusion, danger, and lasting effects of the conflict.
Later in life, he was active in business in Boston and also published Page Descent, a family genealogy. His surviving papers are noted for their detailed record of army life, including battle preparation, prison life, and the everyday realities of service, making his writing valuable both as history and as lived testimony.