© Copyright 2000 James David Pearce
RELUCTANT SOLDIER
Jns. N. Watson, C Div
GENERAL AFFIDAVIT
State of Virginia
National Soldiers' Home, Va.
United States Reservation
In the matter of Ctf. #506209 of
Isaac Pierce Co F 1 NC Inf Vols
On this 13th day of July A.D. 1901, personally appeared before me, a United States Commissioner for the Eastern District of Virginia, in and for the aforesaid county, duly authorized to administer oaths:
Isaac Pierce, aged 60 years, a resident of Phoebus in the County of Elizabeth City and State of Va., whose post office address is Phoebus, Va., well known to me to be reputable and entitled to credit, and who, being duly sworn, declares in relation to the aforesaid case, as follows:
That he is the claimant; replying to requirements of the Comr. of Pensions, dated July 10, 1901:
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I have to state that when I was 17 years old I lived in Harrellsville, Hertford County, North Carolina, & when the war broke out in 1861, I was a student in Harrellsville Academy. It was a military school.
We were ordered to go to Raleigh, N.C., to do duty in the state service & we were sworn in the state service for one year. I served nearly all that year in doing guard duty at & near Raleigh.
I never took the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. I refused to take the oath.
Before the year was over, I went home on a furlough and stayed home, and about a year after (Dec 1863) I enlisted in the Union army in Co F 1st NC Vols Inft & served until June 1865.
I never fired a gun against the Union flag or its soldiers.
I got away from the school company just as quick as I could to join the Union army, as I then had two (2) brothers in the Union army.
Captain Poole commanded the school company. I never served in any other organizations than these above stated. If I had refused to go with the school company, they would have taken me anyway. I went against my own wishes.
I am now a member of the National Soldiers Home near Hampton, Va., but live nearby at Phoebus with my family.
Signed:
Isaac Pierce
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