George Washington's One-Man Army

The Life, Legend, and Battles of Peter Francisco

John T. Palmer

• Publisher: Stackpole Books
• Year: 2026
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9780811777896
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: History

From Brandywine to Yorktown, follow the astonishing real-life journey of the Revolutionary War’s most mythic warrior.

“One-Man Army” was George Washington’s nom de guerre for Peter Francisco. Abducted from the Azores and deposited in the colony of Virginia at the age of four, little Pedro Francisco was an orphan from a strange land in the New World. Renamed Peter Francisco, the youngster found a home under indenture to Patrick Henry’s uncle as a blacksmith. Peter was present for Henry’s famous speech, hearing firsthand the words “Give me Liberty or Give me Death.” By the age of fourteen, he would grow to 6 feet-6 inches and 260 pounds. He would fashion himself an apex warrior serving both in the patriot infantry and cavalry.

In his capacity as a soldier, Peter Francisco participated in some of the fiercest fighting, witnessed the greatest events, and met an astounding number of luminaries from early America headlined by generals George Washington, Nathanael Greene, and the Marquis de Lafayette. All told, Peter fought in at least ten battles and received six gruesome wounds as he dispatched over 20 enemy soldiers . . . mostly by the bayonet and a 6-foot broadsword commissioned for him by Washington. His feats of courage and strength were legendary as he is reputed to have carried a half-ton cannon from the battlefield at Camden.

Postwar, he became a planter and businessman. Endeavoring to educate himself, he overcame illiteracy and developed into a voracious reader. As a veteran, the ”Virginia Giant” was sought out for meetings by the Secretary of State and was received in the home of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He was thrice married into Virginia society, a father of six, and a fixture in the Commonwealth serving as Sergeant at Arms for the legislature late in life. Known to all throughout the newly independent thirteen states, Peter Francisco’s exploits were all but lost to history . . . until now.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Dock Orphan
• Chapter 2: Hunting Tower, Buckingham County, Virginia
• Chapter 3: Private Francisco, Middlebrook, New Jersey
• Chapter 4: Mon Ami, Le Marquis: Philadelphia Campaign, Brandywine Creek
• Chapter 5: The Fog of War: Philadelphia Campaign, Germantown
• Chapter 6: To the Last Extremity: Philadelphia Campaign, Fort Mifflin
• Chapter 7: The Chrysalis: A Baron at Valley Forge
• Chapter 8: Colonel Daniel Morgan: Philadelphia Campaign, Monmouth Courthouse
• Chapter 9: Commando Assault, Stony Point
• Chapter 10: American Hercules, Camden
• Chapter 11: Cavalryman Francisco! Scott’s Lake
• Chapter 12: Left for Dead, Guilford Courthouse
• Chapter 13: Cutting Down Tarleton’s Raiders, Amelia, Virginia
• Chapter 14: The Final Blow, Yorktown
• Chapter 15: Citizen Francisco: Postwar
• Chapter 16: Epilogue of Comrades
• Illustrations
• Notes
• Bibliography
• About the Author