"George Washington's One-Man Army: The Life, Legend" Topic

…, and Battles of Peter Francisco

"Contemporaries called him the Virginia Giant, the One-Man Army, the American Hercules. He fought in an honor roll of Revolutionary War battles: Brandywine, Germantown, Camden, and Guilford Courthouse. He wintered at Valley Forge and witnessed the surrender at Yorktown. He was reputed to wield a massive broadsword. Four states honored him with special days; the nation celebrated him with a postage stamp. Cloaked in myth and legend, the true story of Peter Francisco has never been told – until now.

Pedro Francisco was born to a noble family in the Portuguese Azores in 1760. Five years later, he appeared on a Virginia dock, the victim of kidnapping. Adopted by a relative of Patrick Henry, Pedro became Peter, grew to a massive six-and-a-half feet, and took up blacksmithing. When the Revolution erupted, Francisco joined the Continental Army's Virginia Line and fought near Philadelphia at Brandywine and Germantown before spending the bleak winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge. Severely wounded at Monmouth the following spring, Francisco nevertheless participated in "Mad Anthony" Wayne's bold attack on Stony Point along the Hudson River a year later. Here he was part of the assault's spearhead, was the second American to enter the British fort, may have captured the enemy's flag, and received a gash across his stomach…"

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Armand