Massachusetts Train Wreck Claimed This U.S. President’s Young Son

Franklin Pierce was America's 14th president. Pierce was one of eight U.S. presidents born in New England, serving one term from 1853 to 1857. He was the only U.S. president to hail from New Hampshire.

Franklin Pierce, a Democrat, was born on November 23, 1804, in Hillsborough, New Hampshire.

In his latest book, Confronting the Presidents: No Spin Assessments from Washington to Biden, historian Bill O'Reilly and co-author Martin Dugard write of Pierce's time in office as "ineffective in confronting critical problems."

O'Reilly and Dugard further state Pierce's "alcohol-fueled indecision" hurt the nation.

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Pierce's policies on slavery contributed to a frenzy that led to the American Civil War. Though a northerner, Pierce opposed the abolitionist movement, signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and enforced the Fugitive Slave Act.

Pierce was a politician and lawyer who served in the Mexican-American War. He also served in the U.S. House and Senate before being elected president.

Pierce's biographers Peter Wallner, Larry Gara, and Jean H. Baker wrote that Pierce's wife Jane suffered from tuberculosis and psychological ailments. Pierce drank heavily before, during and after his time in the White House.

Franklin and Jane Pierce had three sons. All three died in childhood. Franklin Junior died in infancy, while Frank Robert died at age four of typhus.

The Pierce's third son, Benjamin, died at age 11 in a train wreck in Andover, Massachusetts.

Boston Magazine reports, "On a chilly January 6, 1853, Pierce, his wife, and his 11-year-old son, Benny, traveled by train from Andover back home to Concord, New Hampshire." The publication says, "One of the train's axles suddenly fractured, and the Pierce's car tumbled off the tracks and down a 20-foot embankment."

The New York Times reported the train car "broke in pieces like a cigar box."

Pierce and his wife escaped serious injury but young Benny was "nearly decapitated" and "killed instantly."

The crash occurred only weeks before Pierce's inauguration.

Jane Pierce died on March 2, 1863. President Franklin Pierce died on October 8, 1869. Both are buried at the Old North Cemetery in Concord, New Hampshire.