John Pierpont "Autographs of Freedom" (1853). John Pierpont did not write the song "Jingle Bells" as erroneously claimed by Robert Fulghum in his collection of essays It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It (1989). "Jingle Bells" was composed by his son James Lord Pierpont, who lived in Savannah, Georgia, and who was a Confederate soldier during the Civil War, composing songs for the Confederate States of America, including "Our Battle Flag", "Strike for the South", and "We Conquer or Die". John Pierpont was also the maternal grandfather of financier J. Pierpont Morgan. For detailed genealogical information, see 20>16232 in
Francis Harrison Pierpont the time of West Virginia's statehood this included at least some measure of control about thirteen counties claimed by the newly admitted state. In 1864 Pierpont called a Constitutional Convention in Alexandria that recognized West Virginia and abolished slavery, and promulgated the civil Constitution in force in Virginia until 1869. On May 9, 1865, one month after the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, President Andrew Johnson appointed Pierpont as the Provisional Governor of Virginia. Pierpont immediately re-located the seat of government to Richmond. Pierpont followed a policy of forgiveness to those politicians who had served in the Confederate