He was sold by his family to American sea captain Amos Peck in about 1852 and raised as a member of Peck's family in Berlin, Connecticut from about 1853. His birth name is unknown. His first name apparently given him by Peck's crew because they found his own too hard to pronounce, and his last in honor of then-President Franklin Pierce. He enlisted as Private in Company F, 14th Connecticut Infantry on 26 July 1862.