Byron Root Pierce

Byron Root Pierce (September 20, 1829 – July 10, 1924) was an American dentist who served as a Union Army general in the American Civil War. He was noted for fighting at First Manassas and during the Peninsula and Seven Days Campaigns.

Biography Pierce was born on September 20, 1829, in East Bloomfield, Ontario County, New York. He came from a family of soldiers. His grandfather, Thaddeus Root, was a veteran of the American Revolutionary War. He was also the great grandson of Aaron Root, a Lieutenant Colonel of the First Berkshire County Regiment of the Massachusetts militia. There he was wounded and his brother, Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Pierce, took over. Some sources said his leg required amputation. However, this was wound was addressed by the regimental surgeon and did not require hospitalization. He took part in the Bristoe and Mine Run campaigns, among other operations conducted in Virginia. He was promoted to brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers on June 7, 1864. After the Battle of Sailor's Creek, on April 6, 1865, he was brevetted to major general. After the war he was active in veteran affairs, serving as the Grand Army of the Republic's commander of the Department of Michigan for two years.

Pierce died in 1924 and was buried in Fulton Street Cemetery in Michigan.