Virginia Giant Of The Revolution Peter Francisco

Peter Francisco, also called the, “Virginia Giant,” and the, “Giant of the Revolution,” is a revolutionary war hero who, though he is celebrated, is not celebrated enough for his great war efforts.
Not much is known about his early life, however, it is said that he was abandoned by his parents at the age of five in Virginia during 1965 and later given shelter and minimal education from Judge Anthony Winston. Later, at fifteen years old, he became an apprentice blacksmith before soon enlisting in the continental army.
At 1776 the Two hundred sixty pound and six and a half foot Peter Francisco, at a time where most men averaged five foot six, enlisted into the tenth Virginia regiment where his huge size and his amazing strength were duly noted.

One of these took place during General Anthony Wayne’s assault on the British fortifications at Stony Point, New York. In this attack Francisco was the second man to burst inside the British fort and in the hand-to-hand fighting that followed he suffered a nine inch gash across his stomach. While bleeding profusely he continued to fight capturing the British flag in the process. In his report to George Washington Wayne even mentions Francisco’s heroics. Another of his many battles transpired sometime later in 1780 when Francisco joined a Prince Edward County militia regiment commanded by Col. William Mayo. The regiment fought at the battle of Camden, South Carolina on August 16, 1780, where Francisco probably saved his colonel’s life when with a single shot he “put a ball and three buckshot,” as he remembered, into a British soldier who was about to bayonet Mayo. He then eventually joined a militia under Capt. Thomas Watkins. While in his company at the battle of Guilford Courthouse Francisco suffered his third wound, a deep bayonet cut into his thigh, however, he still fought ferociously. Lt. John Woodson was in the same unit as Francisco and recalled, “When leaving the Battle ground he was very Bloody also was his Sword from point to

Susannah brought with her the estate at Locust Grove, near Richmond, Virginia where Francisco lived out his life and served as the Sergeant-at-Arms for the Virginia States Senate. Peter and Susannah had a son and a daughter and lived together before Susannah passed away in 1790, leaving Peter widowed. Catherine Brooke then became Peter’s second wife four years later in 1794 and he had three sons and a daughter together with her before she passed away as well, leaving him widowed once again. He finally married Mary Grymes West, the widow of Major West, a Virginia planter and stayed married to her until his death. until he eventually died of appendicitis in January 1831, at the age of 71. Francisco was buried with full military honors in Richmond’s Shockoe Hill Cemetery and his burial was attended by many people of high importance and