The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: MA
Qualifying Service: Lieutenant
John Pierce, Jr. was born September 22, 1742 at Dorchester, Massachusetts, a son of John and Elizabeth Pierce. John Jr.
married Sarah Blake, also of Dorchester, June 9, 1772.
On the Day of Alarm, April 19, 1775, John was a Third Lieutenant in Lieutenant Hopestill Hall's 2nd Dorchester Company
of Massachusetts Militia, and marched to Lexington. While that mobilization lasted only 12 days, John's hometown of
Dorchester and its citizens were about to play a pivotal role in the Revolution.
On March 4, 1776, on a hilltop referred to as Dorchester Heights, overlooking Boston and its harbor, General
Washington assembled the cannon taken at Ticonderoga in 1775 by Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen. The threat the
cannons posed, as well as the 2000 American Soldiers in the fortifications on Dorchester Heights, compelled the British to
evacuate Boston, March 17.
While no record has been found of John's activities during that two-week period, the citizens of this small town of
Dorchester were certainly impacted by the presence of the Continental Army during that time.
John Pierce, Jr. died December 13, 1833. His grave is in the Dorchester North Burying Ground. Sarah had
predeceased him in 1791.
Today, Dorchester is a part of Boston, having been annexed to Boston in 1870. The people of Dorchester and Boston now
observe March 17 as Evacuation Day to celebrate the British evacuation which had been caused by the cannon at
Dorchester Heights.
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