Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 June 1885 — GILBERT A. PIERCE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GILBERT A. PIERCE.

Governor of Dakota Territory,

Gilbert A. Pierce, Governor of Dakota Terrl'tory, was born in New York State. He went to Indiana when 16 years old, and subsequently studied law at the Chicago University After his admission to the bar he practiced at Valparaiso, Ind., for six months before the outbreak of the war. Upon the Monday v s olio wing the firing upon Fort Sumter he enlisted in Co. H, Ninth Indiana Volunteers, and was elected Second Lieutenant. He served in Western Virginia under Gen. G. B. McClellan and participated in the battles of Philippi, Laurel Hill, and Carrick’s Ford. Upon June 3,1861, he was appointed Captain and Assistant Quartermaster by President Lincoln, and was assigned to duty at Paducah, Ky. He served at Fort Donelson and Shiloh and also in the Vicksburg campaign. He was promoted a Lieutenant Colonel and ' Chief Quartermaster of the Thirteenth Army Corps in 1863, and was made Colonel and Inspector of Department 1864. By a written order from Secretary Stanton he was assigned -to duty as Special Commissioner of the War Department in the South, and served with Gen. Foster. Upon the surrendar of Mobile he entered that city with the victors. In 1865 Col. Pierce was elected to the Indiana Legislature 1 and • was Chairman of the Committee on Benevolent Institutions. In 1869 he was appointed one of the Financial Secretaries of the United States Senate. He resigned this position to accept an editorial chair on the Chicago Inter ' Ocean. In 1876 he became managing editor of that paper, holding the position for several years. In 1883 he became connected with the Chicago News, and was thus engaged when appointed as Governor of Dakota. When the grand reunion of all the armies took place at Chicago in 1868 Gov. Pierce was chosen to read the original poem on the occasion. He is the author of “Dickens' Dictionary,” published by James R. Osgood & Co., of Boston. He is also the author of several plays, one of which has been quite successful. He has written two novels, “Peggy, a Country Heroine,” and "A Dangerous Woman,” and also many sketches for the ieading magazines, etc.