author
Charles Lawrence Peirson
b. 1834
A Civil War officer, businessman, and family historian, he left behind vivid firsthand accounts of battle, imprisonment, and army life. His later writings also show a careful interest in memory and ancestry, from wartime recollections to genealogy.
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, Charles Lawrence Peirson studied at Harvard's Lawrence Scientific School and graduated in 1853. Before the Civil War, he worked as a civil engineer and also spent time farming in Minnesota.
When war began, he served with the 20th Massachusetts Infantry and later with the 39th Massachusetts Infantry. He was captured after the Battle of Ball's Bluff in 1861, returned to service, and was eventually promoted through the ranks, receiving the brevet grade of brigadier general by the end of the war. Archival records note that he wrote extensively about camp life, battle, defeat, prison experience, and the everyday realities of military service.
After the war, Peirson became a Boston merchant in the iron and coke trade. He also published works that preserved both public and family history, including Ball's Bluff: An Episode and Its Consequences to Some of Us and Page Descent: Line of Descent from Nicholas Page of England to Charles Lawrence Peirson of Boston. He died in Boston on January 23, 1920.