Today in History: Death of Peter Francisco, Hercules of the Colonial Revolution of 1776

Genealogists furnish for posterity what Peter Francisco is thought not to have known or received help in determining: the whereabouts of his birth country and family.

Historians give a date of Sunday, June 23, 1765, to the end of the subsequent Revolutionary hero’s existence as Pedro Francisco and beginnings as Peter Francisco. James Durell’s eyewitness account and Peter’s memoirs have the Azores-born child deposited on the wharf of what then was City Point and now is Hopewell, Virginia. Both identify two sailors rowing Peter ashore in a longboat and sailing back down the James River in a foreign ship too distant to be described.

Silver shoe buckles join fine-quality, lace-collared, lace-cuffed clothing in suggesting noble Portuguese origins. 

Historians know of Peter living out of a warehouse near the dock and relying upon area housewives for food scraps and the wharf watchman for company. They list admission into Prince George County Poor House before indentured service under Judge Anthony Winston (September 29, 1723 to July 29, 1783) of Buckingham County. They mention work in the blacksmith shop and in the plantation fields as the chores structuring daily schedules during Peter’s eleven-year indentured service at Hunting Tower. Vestry Book records note Peter’s release in December 1776 to the Tenth Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army under Colonel Hugh Woodson of Prince Edward County.

They offer paper trails of re-enlistment with the first commitment’s expiration in 1779. 

Pension files provide heroism, through three enlistments, at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and Stony Point in 1777; Camden in 1780; and Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse in 1781. Saving the 1,100-pound cannon during the retreat from the Battle of Camden qualifies Peter for an 18-cent commemorative stamp by the U.S. Post Office in 1975.

Post-revolutionary records and memoirs reveal Peter committing to a three-year education through private classes at the John McGraw School and operating a blacksmith shop in Curdsville. They suggest land ownerships in Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, and Prince Edward Counties before Peter’s last service-related position as Sergeant-at-Arms in the Virginia legislature from 1825 onward.

Locust Grove Plantation takes visitors to Peter’s favorite residence in his adopted homeland. 

1. Rodrigo Affonso Fagundes, page to Prince Henry the Navigator 

2. Izabel Rodrigues Fagundes married Cil Annes Curvo 

3. Clara Gil Fagundes married Gaspar Gonçalves Machado Ribeira 

4. Manuel Machado Ribeira Secca married Izabel de Azevedo Netto (daughter of Affonso Annes Netto and Maria Azevedo, granddaughter of Diogo Fernandes de Boim and Dona Marinha Affonsa d'Azevedo, great-granddaughter of Affonso Vaz d'Azevedo and Beatriz Annes de Souza, great-great-granddaughter of Goncalo Annes Souza Fidalgo da Casa Real) 

5. Pedro Machado Netto married Brites de Avila d'Antona (descendant of Baldaya family of Terceira) 

6. Bartholomeu Machado Netto married Maria Luis Faleiro (descendant of Rui Faleiro, cartographer to Ferdinand Magellan, and of Joao RuizFaleiro married Catharina Salta) 

7. Francisco Machado Luis married Maria da Ascensao (daughter of Matheus Vaz d'Antona and Maria Machada, descendant of Antonio Vaz son of Pedro Alvares Sao Francisco and Isabel Goncalves d'Antona daughter of Affonso Goncalves d'Antona Baldaya and Dona Antonia Goncalves) 

8. Francisco Machado Luis married Maria de Sao Joseph do Sacramento (daughter of Antonio Cardoso Machado and Fracisca Linhares) 

9a. Francisco Machado Luis first married first Izabel Bernadda daughter of Bras Pereira, second Marianna Joaquina daughter of Joao Luis Mendes

9b. Joseph 

9c. Antonio 

9d. Angela Maria married Jose Pache de Ormonde 

9e. Pedro Francisco married first Susannah Anderson, second Catherine Fauntleroy Brooke, third Mary Beverly Grymes West

9f. Simao

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

"This representation of Peter Francisco's gallant action with nine of Tarletons cavalry in sight of a troop of four hundred men; Took place in Amelia County, Virginia 1781"
designed by James Warrell (ca.1780-ca1854); drawn by John James Barralett (ca.1747-1815); engraved by David Edwin (1776-1841)
published Dec. 1, 1814, by Philadelphia publisher James Webster (1776?-1851): No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division @ https://www.loc.gov/item/2012648840/

record of Peter (Pedro) Francisco's birth, July 9, 1760
Paróquia de Santo António - Porto Judeu (Parish Church of St. Anthony of Porto Judeu), Terceira Island, Azores: Azores3, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1760_07_09-Pedro_Francisco.jpg

Locust Grove, restored historic home of Peter Francisco located between Dillwyn and Buckingham in Virginia's Buckingam County
Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR), listing date January 18, 1972; National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), listing date 03/16/1972; NRHP reference no. 72001386; private owner Richmond lawyer James Francis Morano Jr. (March 6, 1942-August 5, 2021)
photo by John Duke of the Society of the Descendants of Peter Francisco (SDPF), founded 1971: AlbertHerring, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Locust_Grove_in_2008.jpg

base of monument honoring Peter Francisco at site of present-day Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
Greensboro, Guilford County, northern North Carolina; Saturday, June 19, 2010, 14:26: MarmadukePercy, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peter_Francisco_monument_Guilford_Courthouse_National_Military_Park.JPG

Peter Francisco served as Sergeant-At-Arms for the House of Delegates from 1825 until his death.
Peter Francisco's portrait hangs in Virginia State Capitol, Richmond, Virginia; Saturday, March 13, 2010, 15:18: AlbertHerring (Ser Amantio di Nicolao), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons ~ cropped by Derdriu to emphasize portrait @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Virginia_State_Capitol_complex_-_portrait_of_Peter_Francisco.jpg

"The Peter Francisco Story" (22:03) ~ documentary by Travis Bowman, sixth generation descendant of Peter Francisco and author of "The Hercules of the Revolution"
Uploaded June 21, 2011, by Travis bowman to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jRyxgip5ew

"Peter Francisco - the American Braveheart Story" (3:10)
Uploaded January 23, 2010, by Travis bowman to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV1TW28KtDA

Bowman, Travis. 2009. Hercules of the Revolution: A Novel Based on the Life of Peter Francisco. Davidson, NC: Bequest Publishing.

Eanes, Colonel Greg. 2014. Tarleton’s Southside Raid and Peter Francisco’s Famous Flight. Crew, VA: Eanes Group. 

Medeiros, Jorge S. "Your View: Remember Revolutionary War hero Peter Francisco." SouthCoastToday > Opinion > Columns. March 14, 2012.

• Available at: https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2012/03/14/your-view-remember-revolutionary-war/49705544007/

Moon, William Arthur. 1980. Peter Francisco, The Portuguese Patriot. Pfafftown, NC: Colonial Publishers; and Winston-Salem, NC: Bradford Printing Service, Inc. 

Norfolk, Sherry; and Norfolk, Bobby. 2014. The Virginia Giant: The True Story of Peter Francisco. Illustrations by Cait Brennan. Charleston, SC: The History Press, Inc.