All About Slavery - Ha!

A history lesson provided by a Union reenactor for the War Between the States supporting the fact that the WBTS was not about slavery but about federalism and Lincoln's consumption and fixation to keep the Southern states under Union control at all costs.  As can be readily seen by a quick study of the Emancipation Proclamation, the slaves in the North (and in portions of the South and certain territories) actually under Union control were not "freed" as part of Lincoln's heralded misinterpreted war measure. But, they certainly were enlisted in droves and used as cannon fodder by the Union generals.

By 1820 the first Chinese had immigrated to what would become the United States. These early immigrants lived mostly on the West Coast. Joseph Pierce, sold by his father in 1852 to Captain Amos Peck, came to live in the Peck home in Hartford, Connecticut. Although technically a slave, Joe was treated as a member of the Peck family. He received the name “Pierce” after President Franklin Pierce. In...1862, at the age of 20, Pierce enlisted in the 14th Connecticut Infantry. Private Pierce was allowed to keep his traditional Chinese pigtail while serving in the Army of the Potomac.  His unit would play a significant part in the repulse of Pickett’s Charge on July 3. After Gettysburg, Pierce was promoted to corporal. Stand in his footsteps by the monument on Hancock Avenue.   If you live in Connecticut take a picture of Corporal Pierce’s grave in Meriden, Connecticut.