A most uncommon soldier

Jim Bayne
Published: July 9, 2008

I want to relate to you the story I have heard about the exploits of a young Virginian by the name of Peter Francisco. We soldiers who are not commissioned officers are often referred to as “common soldiers” but I think, after hearing of Francisco’s feats, you will agree that there is nothing “common” about Peter Francisco.

As I have been told, Peter Francisco first appeared as a young boy on the docks of City Point on the James River below Richmond. He apparently had been abandoned there and while his clothes were soiled they were of fine material. He did not speak English and the only identification on him was the initials “P F” on the silver buckles of his shoes. He repeatedly said Pedro Francisco so it was assumed that was his name. His situation became known to a Judge Anthony Winston who took him in and raised him. As a youngster he heard the exhortations of Patrick Henry for freedom from the British crown. With the onset of our fight for independence, Francisco, at age 16, joined the 10th Virginia Regiment. By all accounts Francisco was quite large, some 6-feet-6 inches tall and weighing more than 250 pounds, and extraordinarily strong for his age.

Peter Francisco went with his Virginia comrades as they moved north to join Gen. Washington’s forces. He fought at the Battle of Brandywine; of Germantown; of Monmouth and at the capture of Stoney Point. He was at Paulus Hook and at Fort Mifflin. Although he was wounded by a musket ball at Monmouth and by a bayonet at Stony Point he continued his service unabated after convalescing from his wounds.

In December of 1779 upon the completion of his three-year term of enlistment, Francisco returned to Virginia.

It was at this time that the British decided to move their major campaign to the south so he enlisted in the Virginia militia. It was thus that he found himself with Gen. Horatio Gates and his ill-fated campaign at Camden, S.C.. The patriots suffered a major defeat there but it is said that Francisco carried an 1,100 pound cannon on his back as the patriots retreated. He is also said to have saved his colonel from a sure death there.

Francisco returned to Virginia but when learning of a cavalry troop being formed, he grabbed a horse and joined them ending up in the command of Col. William Washington in the battle of Guilford Court House. He was seriously wounded there by a British bayonet which laid open his leg from knee to hip. During that battle it was reported that Francisco slew 11 British soldiers with his broadsword. After recovering he returned to Virginia where he encountered nine of the British Lt.Col. Tarleton’s dragoons at Ward’s Tavern and was captured. One of the dragoons ordered Peter to turn over his watch and silver shoe buckles. He refused to hand them over and when the dragoon reached to wrest them from him, he grabbed the dragoon’s sword and slew him. He killed two more before Tarleton and his remaining force of dragoons approached.

Francisco shouted orders as though there were other patriots in his support which momentarily confused Tarleton whereupon Francisco mounted one of the horses of the original group of dragoons and fled the scene.

His final action was at York Town and the capitulation there of Gen. Cornwallis. Gen. Washington is reported to have said the following of Peter Francisco…”Without him we would have lost two crucial battles, perhaps the war, and with it our freedom. He was truly a one-man army.”

Not having the benefit of obtaining an education before the revolution, Frwncisco went to school — a giant of a man sitting with young children — and received the education he craved. Within three years he was reading the classics. He then tried various occupations; as a farmer; a blacksmith; a tavern keeper and a storekeeper and then was made sergeant at arms for the Virginia House of Delegates. He was married three times and widowed twice. He acquired land and the trappings of the landed gentry in his adopted land for which he fought so well.

A final story relating to Peter Francisco has to do with his being challenged to a fight by a young man who traveled from Kentucky to do so. It is said that Francisco lifted the man’s horse over a fence which put an end to any idea he had of engaging him in a fight.

Note: Peter Francisco is buried at Richmond’s Shockoe Cemetery. His tombstone bears the simple inscription “a soldier of revolutionary fame.” A monument records the spot where he slew the 11 British soldiers at Guilford Court House and a marker has been placed at City Point on the James River where he was first found.

Jim Bayne is the immdediate past president of the Virginia Society, Sons of the American Revolution. He can be reached at .