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Peter was one of 158 slaves owned by Charles L. Pettigrew of Tyrrell County in 1860. As a slave, Peter did not have a last name. He was a mulatto, a person of mixed race, with a wife and at least six children. Peter and his family lived on the Pettigrew plantation Bonarva, located on the northeastern shore of Lake Scuppernong (later renamed Lake Phelps). The Pettigrews had owned Bonarva since the 1780s. They had also held slaves since that time, so it is possible that Peter's family had been Pettigrew property for several generations. In 1860 Bonarva had a value of $58,000, with an additional $120,240 invested in personal property, including the slaves. After 1858, however, Charles Pettigrew fell deeply into debt because of a business failure. This debt and the coming war left the Pettigrews anxious about future. When the war began, Peter's life changed in ways that he could have never have anticipated.
In October 1861, Charles L. Pettigrew sent Peter to the Confederate army to serve Brigadier General James Johnston Pettigrew, Charles's brother. Charles wrote: "Peter is well acquainted with horses, is a capable servant in many respects; he can make clothes and is a first rate nurse." Peter had the responsibility for managing General Pettigrew's personal belongings and welfare. In June 1862, when Pettigrew was reported as killed in battle, a fellow officer wrote to the family: "Peter shall be as well cared for as if the General were alive. His grief at the loss of the General is most touching and draws out the sympathies of all of us." But Pettigrew survived. When the general returned to the army, Peter helped him recover from three wounds. In July 1863, Peter accompanied General Pettigrew at the Battle of Gettysburg. After the battle, Peter cared for Pettigrew, who had sustained injury again. Days later, Peter saw his master mortally wounded in another fight and helped carry him from the field. He remained by Pettigrew's side for three days, until the general died. Peter then returned to North Carolina with the body of his master.
After the funeral of his master, General James Johnston Pettigrew, in July 1863, Peter was hired out as a servant to Major Henry E. Young of General Robert E. Lee's staff. Information about Peter's service in the last years of the war is lacking, but if he remained with Major Young, he experienced most of the 1864 battles in Virginia and was present at the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse in April 1865. After the war, Peter took the surname Johnson (possibly meant to be Johnston, in memory of his former master and friend). He rejoined his family and moved to Elizabeth City. The 1870 census listed him there, with his wife, seven children, and two grandchildren. The last recorded mention of Peter came in 1872 in Elizabeth City. A newspaper editor wrote to the Pettigrew family that Peter had visited on several occasions to look at a portrait of General Pettigrew and had once tearfully stated that "there wasn't no better man in the world."
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