More than just an acquaintance, a whole branch of the Dibrell family may owe their lives to Peter Francisco, who carried Anthony Dibrell off the battle field at Guilford Court House. Peter Francisco was a neighbor of the Dibrells in Buckingham County, Virginia. His physical appearance must have been striking. The essay below refers to his physical strength. Other sources refer to him as a giant, which makes the story of his evading capture by the British even more noteworthy.

The Story of Peter Francisco and Anthony Dibrell, Jr, by Mary Nan Crowther (28 Nov 1997)

At the Battle of Guilford Court House, Anthony Dibrell, Jr. was carried off the battle field by a gentleman named Peter Francisco, who had such an interesting history that it seems appropriate to add this story to the information about Anthony.

It appears that Peter Francisco was kidnapped and brought from his native land perhaps to be shut out of his natural inheritance. He was a very young boy of perhaps only five years of age when he arrived in America without any identification. It was thought that he might be Portuguese or Italian. After spending several days on the wharf he was taken by the authorities and sent to Prince George poor house, where he remained until bound out to Judge Anthony Winston, who lived at a place called "Hunting Tower," in Buckingham County. A coincidence occurs in that Judge Winston and Anthony Dibrell, Sr. were very close friends having worked together in county government.

During his apprenticeship, he acquired neighborhood notoriety for physical strength, and at the age of sixteen years, after having heard of the impassioned speech of Judge Winston's nephew, Patrick Henry, by the consent of the Judge, he went as a volunteer into the American Revolution, and was with General Lafayette at the Battle of Yorktown, and witnessed, the surrender of Lord Cornwallis.

Prior to this he was in the Battle of Germantown, and the storming of Stony Point, and was the second man who scaled the walls of that fort. He assisted at the Mud Island Fort on the Delaware River for a time. He was also present at the Battle of Monmouth where he was severely wounded by a musketball with injuries so severe that they plagued him for the rest of his life. Like Anthony Dibrell, he, too, was severely wounded at the Battle of Guilford Court House. But this did not slow him down. He was able to trick Tarleton's men and made his escape at a tavern in Amelia County which was probably the best known of his many extraordinary adventures during the Revolutionary War. Upon returning to Virginia he volunteered under Col. William Mayo of Powhatan, and was present at Gate's defeat. It was there that he saved the life of Col. Mayo, who in gratitude for his services gave him 1,000 acres of land in Richland Creek, Kentucky.

In 1948 the story of this brave man reached a Dr. John Manahan of Charlottesville. Or perhaps he had grown up hearing the heroic feats of Francisco. It so happened that Dr. Manahan was on a teaching assignment in Terceira, the largest of the Azore Islands which belong to Portugal and found in the parish register of the Church of Santo Antoniando Parto Juieu the record of a family named Francisco, with a son named Pedro, born 09 July 1760. There were no further entries regarding that child, and since the child whose story he was familiar with had been put on shore at City Point in the summer of 1765 and the authorities felt he was somewhere around five or six years of age at the time, it seemed reasonable to conclude that this was the birth record of the American hero. There were also recorded eight generations of ancestors which appeared to be quite illustrious. It seemed that now the true identify had been established for Peter Francisco. However, the mystery of why he was there was not completely answered - just surmised.

He will always remain a hero of the American Revolution.

Reference:

DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION MAGAZINE.