Edward L. Pierce

Edward Lillie Pierce (born in Stoughton, Massachusetts, 29 March 1829; died in Paris, 6 September 1897) was an American biographer and politician.

At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted as a private in the 3d Massachusetts Regiment, and served until July 1861, when he was detailed to collect the African Americans at Hampton, Va. and set them to work on the entrenchments of that town.

In December 1861, the United States Secretary of the Treasury dispatched Pierce to Port Royal, South Carolina to examine conditions for African Americans on the Sea Islands.

The care of the African Americans on the islands having been transferred to the United States Department of War, he was asked to continue in charge under its authority, but declined.

He was a member of the Republican National Conventions of 1876 and 1884, and in December 1878, was appointed by President Hayes as Assistant Treasurer of the United States, but declined.

His second visit was for the inspection of European prisons, reformatories and asylums, and the result is given in his report for 1873 as secretary of the board of state charities.