5 Oct. 1652 the Court approved his election as lieutenant of the Barnstable militia. He was admitted a freeman on 7 June 1653 and in that year served as deputy from Barnstable to the Plymouth Court. On 20 June 1654 he was appointed lieutenant, under Capt. Myles Standish, of a 50-man quota to fight against the Dutch at Monhattoes (New York), but receipt of news of peace between England and Holland on 23 June 1654 made the expedition unnecessary. On 2 Oct. 1658 he was elected a member of the Council of War, and in 1671 became its chairman. Qn 17 Dec. 1673 he was appointed Surgeon General of the Colony troops; he also served as captain of the Plymouth Colony forces during King Philip's War.

Regimental History

       'The defeat that probably affected Plymouth more disastrously than any other military action of the war occurred on March 26, 1676 on the Pawtucket River. A Plymouth Colony company under the command of Captain [Pierce, Michael] set out from [Rehoboth, MA] to fall upon a group of Indians who were reported nearby. With about 65 Englishmen and some Indians, Pierce suddenly found himself facing perhaps one thousand Narragansett warriors, and though the colonists fought bravely, the situation was hopeless. Only a few of the Plymouth troops and their Indian allies escaped with their lives, the town of [Scituate, MA] alone counting at least 15 dead. (After the battle on March 26, at Pawtucket River [now the Blackstone]), the eight survivors made their way back to Rehoboth with the tragic news, and two days later [March 28], the town was attacked by the Indian victors. Since most of the inhabitants had already fled, and the few who remained were in a garrison house, the Narragansetts reduced Rehoboth to a shambles without any opposition. And on the following day they swooped upon Providence.'