A Stamp lor
Peter Francisco
The Giant of Guilford Courthouse,
“most famous private soldier €>f The
Revolution.”
By RICHARD A. FAUST
The name Peter Francisco is hardly
a household word.. I certainly didn’t
know who he was until I looked him
up, and it took a little digging with
the help of the reference librarian at
Raleigh’s Olivia Raney library and a
visit to Greensboro to find out. As a
stamp collector and a history buff my
curiosity had been aroused by a U.S.
Postal Service announcement that on
March 25, 1975 four commemorative
stamps would be issued recognizing
four of the less well known heroes of
the American Revolution. The set of
stamps is entitled. “Contributors to the
Cause” and pictures “Sybil Ludington,
Youthful Heroine” on an 8 cent stamp,
“Salem Poor, Gallant Soldier” and
“Haym Salomon, Financial Hero” each
on 10 cent stamps, and last, but far
from least, “Peter Francisco, Fighter
Extraordinary” whose 18 cent stamp
was first issued at Greensboro, N. C.
Peter Francisco should be of interest
to North Carolinians for he gained
what is probably his greatest fame as
a soldier at the battle of Guilford
Court House, dose by Greensboro.
There is no more fascinating per¬
sonality in the annals of the American
Revolution, and. his life reads like that
of a character in a 19th century ro¬
mantic novel. Erected by his grandson,
Peter Francisco Pescud, the monument
in the Guilford Court House National
Military Park which honors him can
hardly recreate in stone the vigor and
vitality of this giant of a fighting man.
Cavalry Charge
It was a cold, crisp day and there
had been a light frost the night before
in the quiet Guilford County country¬
side. One hundred and ninety-four
Peter Francisco e Fighter Extraordinary
. J* ■ . 4 1 4 _ . ' \ _ ' - -* 4_- - ■ ■ — V — ‘ L,.*’
The 18 cent Peter Francisco commemorative stamp, first issued at Greensboro on March 25, 1975,
shows Peter carrying — on his shoulder— a thousand pound cannon during the battle of Camden, S. C.,
thus saving it from certain capture by the British. This stamp and the other three which make up
the "Contributors to the Cause" series are unique in that a capsule biographical sketch is printed
on the reverse (gum) side of each stamp.
Peter Francisco, a giant of a man for his day,
wielded a 5-foot sword given to him by Gen.
George Washington after he complained that
ordinary swords were too light. Legend credits
Francisco with many mighty feats.
years ago, on March 15, 1781 to be ex¬
act, an American army under General
Nathaniel Greene — for whom Greens¬
boro, Greenville and Greene County
are all named — was locked in a vicious
battle with Lord Cornwallis’ British
regulars and Hessians at Guilford
Court House.
Greene’s forces were made up of
courageous but poorly trained and
equipped North Carolina and Virginia
militiamen, together with such veteran
units as Lt. Col. William Washington’s
cavalry, “Lighthouse Harry” Lee’s Le¬
gion and Maryland and Virginia units
of the Continental Army. And they
were not having an easy time of it.
The fighting was fierce and unrelent¬
ing; most of the American first and
second lines had given way, and even
the third defensive line was having dif¬
ficulty holding against elements of the
experienced British Guards.
At this moment, as dramatically told
in the words of Fred J. Cook in his
book What Manner of Men . . . “the
Guards swept forward shouting, the
day all but won, and just as they did,
off on the right wing, William Wash¬
ington and his cavalry changed all with
one mighty stroke. Ordering his bugler
to sound the charge, Washington
launched his eighty - six troopers
straight down the slope in a thunder¬
ing charge on the flank and, rear of
Stuart’s victorious Guards. In the fore¬
most file of the hurtling band, a mas¬
sive figure wielding his tremendous
broadsword, rode Peter Francisco. . . .
Man after man went down before the
overpowering strokes of his broad¬
sword.”
Francisco, six feet, six inches tall
(6'8" by one account) and weighing
THE STATE, May 1975
9
