Buckingham County Virginia USGenWeb Archives History - Books .....Buckingham County History From Howe's Historical Collections Of Virginia 1845 1845
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Alice Warner http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00015.html#0003503 April 16, 2008, 5:22 am

Book Title: Historical Collections Of Virginia By Henry Howe

Buckingham was formed in 1761, from Albemarle. It is 34 miles long, with a mean
breadth of 24. The James River runs on its N and W and the Appomattox on its s
boundary. Willis' and Slate Rivers rise in the south part. On the margin of the
streams the land is fertile, but the intervening ridges are frequently sterile
and desolate, and in many sections uninhabited. The surface is generally level,
and the only mountain of note is Willis', from which is an almost uninterrupted
prospect over a vast extent of level country. The Buckingham White Sulphur
Spring is 12 miles SE of the court-house, and there are also one or two other
mineral springs in the county, none of which have as yet attained any celebrity.
Buckingham is rich in minerals; some dozen gold mines have been in operation,
only three or four of which have proved profitable. Limestone found in the
county is beginning to be used in agriculture, and iron ore abounds. Upon Hunt's
Creek, within 2 miles of James River Canal, is an inexhaustible slate quarry of
superior quality. The principal literary institutions of the county are a
Collegiate Institute for females, under that patronage of the Methodist church,
and the Slate River Avademy, which has two professors, and is liberally
supported. Tobacco, corn, wheat, and oats are the principal products. Pop. 1830,
18,351; 1840, whites 7,323, slaves 10,014, Free colored 449; total 18,756.

Maysville, the county-seat, 79 miles west of Richmond, near the centre of the
county, on Slate River, 26 miles from its junction with the James, is a neat
village, containing 1 church, 4 stores, and about 200 inhabitants. The
court-house, a handsome building, was planned by Jefferson. New Canton,
beautifully situated on an elevated bank at the junction of the Slate with James
River, contains about 40 dwellings. 

Peter Francisco, a soldier of the Revolution, and celebrated for his personal
strength, lived and raised his family in Buckingham, where he died a few years
since. His origin was obscure. He supposed that he was a Portuguese by birth,
and that he was kidnapped when an infant, and carried to Ireland. He had no
recollection of his parents, and the first knowledge he preserved of himself was
in that country when a small boy. Hearing much of America, and being of an
adventurous turn, he indented himself to a sea-captain for seven years, in
payment for his passage. On his arrival he was sold to Anthony Winston, Esq., of
this county, on whose estate he labored faithfully until the breaking out of the
revolution. He was then at the age of 16, and partaking of the patriotic
enthusiasm of the times, he asked and obtained permission of his owner to enlist
in the continental army. At the storming of Stony-point, he was the first
soldier, after Major Gibbon, wo entered the fortress, on which occasion he
received a bayonet wound in the thigh. He was at Brandywine, Monmouth, and other
battles at the north, and was transferred to the south under Greene, where he
was engaged in the actions of the Cowpens, Camden, Guilford Court-House, &c. He
was a very brave man and possessed such confidence in his prowess as to be
almost fearless. He used a sword having a blade five feet in length, which he
could wield as a feather, and every swordsman who came in contact with him, paid
the forfeit of his life. His services were so distinguished, that he would have
been promoted to an office had he been enabled to write. His stature was 6 feet
and an inch, and his weight 260 pounds. His complexion was sark and swarthy,
features bold and manly, and his hands and feet uncommonly large. Such was his
personal strength, that he could easily shoulder a cannon weighing 1100 pounds;
and our informant, a highly respectable gentleman now residing in this county,
in communication before us says: "he could take me in his right hand and pass
over the room with me, and play my head against the ceiling as though I had been
a doll-baby. My weight was 195 pounds!" The following anecdote, illustrative of
Francisco's valor, has often been published:--

"While the British army were spreading havoc and desolation all around them, by
their plunderings and burnings in Virginia, in 1781, Francisco had been
reconnoitring, and while stopping at the house of a Mr. Wand, then in Amelia,
now Nottoway county, nine of Tarleton's cavalry came up, with three negroes, and
told him he was their prisoner. Seeing he was overpowered by numbers, he made no
resistance. Believing him to be very peaceable, they all went into the house,
leaving him and the paymaster together. 'Give up instantly all that you possess
of value,' said the latter, 'or prepare to die.' 'I have nothing to give up,'
said Francisco, 'so use your pleasure.' 'Deliver instantly,' rejoined the
soldier, 'those massy silver buckles which you wear in your shoes.' 'They were a
present from a valued friend,' replied Francisco, 'and it would grieve me to
part with them. Give them into your hands I never will. You have the power; take
them if you think fit.' The soldier put his sabre under his arm, and bent down
to take them. Francisco, finding so favorable an opportunity to recover his
liberty, stepped one pace in his rear, drew the sword with force from under his
arm, and instantly gave him a blow across the scull. 'My enemy,' observed
Francisco, 'was brave, and though severely wounded, drew a pistol, and, in the
same moment that he pulled the trigger, I cut his hand nearly off. The bullet
grazed my side. Ben Wand (the man of the house) very ungenerously brought out a
musket, and gave it to one of the British soldiers, and told him to make use of
that He mounted the only horse they could get, and presented it at my breast. It
missed fire. I rushed on the muzzle of the gun. A short struggle ensued. I
disarmed and wounded him. Tarleton's troop of four hundred men were in sight.
All was hurry and confusion, which I increased by repeatedly hallooing, as loud
as I could, Come on, my brave boys; now's your time; we will soon dispatch these
few, and then attack the main body! The wounded man 

[[image here: caption, "Francisco's Encounter with Nine British Dragoons [This
representation of Peter Francisco's gallant action with nine of Tarleton's
cavalry, in sight of a troop of 400 men, which took place in Amelia county,
Virginia, 1781, is respectfully inscribed to him, by James Webster and James
Warrell.--Published Dec 1st, 1814, by James Webster of Pennsylvania.]"]]

flew to the troop; the others were panic struck, and fled. I seized Wand, and
would have dispatched him, but the poor wretch begged for his life; he was not
only an object of my contempt, but pity. The eight horses that were left behind,
I gave him to conceal for me. Discovering Tarleton had dispatched ten more in
pursuit of me, I made off. I evaded their vigilance. They stopped to refresh
themselves. I, like an old fox, doubled, and fell on their rear. I went the next
day to Wand for my horses; he demanded two, for his trouble and generous
intentions. Finding my situation dangerous, and surrounded by enemies where I
ought to have found friends, I went off with my six horses. I intended to have
avenged myself of Wand at a future day, but Providence ordained I should not be
his executioner, for he  broke his neck by a fall from one of the very horses.'"

Several other anecdotes are related of the strength and bravery of Francisco. At
Gates' defeat at Camden, after running some distance along a road, he took to
the woods and sat down to rest; a British trooper came up and ordered him to
surrender. With feigned humility, he  replied he would, and added, as his musket
was empty, he had no further use for it. He then carelessly presented it
sideways, and thus throwing the soldier off his guard, he suddenly levelled the
piece, and driving the bayonet through his abdomen, hurled him off his horse,
mounted it, and continued his retreat. Soon he overtook his colonel, William
Mayo, of Powhatan, who was on foot. Francisco generously dismounted and gave up
the animal to his retreating officer, for which act of kindness the colonel
subsequently presented him with a thousand acres of land in Kentucky.

Francisco possessed strong natural sense, and an amiable disposition. He was,
withal, a companionable man, and ever a welcome visitor in the first families in
this region of the state. He was industrious and temperate, and always advocated
the part of the weak and unprotected. On occasions of outbreaks at public
gatherings, he was better in rushing in and preserving public peace, than all
the conservative authorities on the ground. Late in life, partly through the
influence of his friend, Chas. Yancey, Esq., he was appointed sergeant-at-arms
to the House of Delegates, in which service he died, in 1836, and was interred
with military honors in the public burying-ground at Richmond.

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