Peter Francisco
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Peter Francisco" is an American reel in 2/4 time and D Mixolydian ('A' part) &<br> D Major ('B' part). The parts are played AB (Silberberg) or AABB (Brody, Knauff, Spadaro).<br> The tune appears in George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels, volume II (1839) in the key of F Major.<br> It is known as a North Carolina tune, perhaps in part because Peter Francisco, who was<br> from either North Carolina or Virginia, was a Revolutionary War legend whose deeds were<br> widely celebrated.<br> Francisco’s history is remarkable. It is probable that he began life as Pedro Francisco<br> on July 9, 1760, born at Porto Judeu, on Terceira Island in the Portuguese-held Azores.<br> He was either kidnapped as a boy, or was spirited away to the New World but he eventually<br> came to the attention of Anthony Winston, a local Virginia judge and uncle to firebrand<br> Patrick Henry. Winston put the boy to work at chores around his 3,600 acre plantation of<br> Hunting Tower in Buckingham County, Virginia, taught him English and guided his growth<br> to manhood. It is said he grew to six feet, six inches, nearly a foot over the man of<br> average height in his day, and he weighed 260 lbs. He was as strong as he was large,<br> performing legendary feats of strength throughout his life; yet he was also known for<br> being good-tempered, temperate and charitable.<br> After hostilities broke out with England, Francisco at the age of 16 received Winston’s<br> consent to enlist in the 10th Virginia Regiment as a private. He subsequently fought at<br> Brandywine (where he was wounded), Germantown, Fort Mifflin, Monmouth (where he was again<br> wounded), and Stony Point (wounded a third time). His three year enlistment being up in<br> 1779, Francisco returned to Virginia. Soon, however, the active portion of the war shifted<br> South and Francisco joined Continental forces in the Carolinas, fighting in the disatrous<br> defeat of the Battle of Camden under Gates and the more successful action at Guilford<br> Courthouse with Greene. He became the most famous enlisted man of the war. <br> Francisco was wounded a total of five times, but survived to attended the British defeat at<br> Yorktown. After the war he worked as a blacksmith and continued his education, marrying<br> several times after the death of each wife and fathering several children. In 1825 he was<br> made Sergeant-at-Arms for the Virginia Legislature. He passed away on January 16, 1831.<br> His shoes are preserved to this day at the Guilford Courthouse Battlefield, near Greensboro,<br> N.C.. Chris Goertzen, in his book George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels and the History of<br> American Fiddling (2017), points out that after the war Francisco lived in Buckingham<br> County, Virginia and ran a tavern in New Store, about fifteen miles from Virginia Reels<br> editor George P. Knauff's home in Farmdale, Virginia and only six or seven miles from<br> where Knauff taught for a time at a women's preparatory school.<br> The banjo tablature is by John Letscher. His notes:<br> From the Fuzzy Mountain String Band.<br> It was printed in<br> Brody's Fiddler’s Fakebook(1983) and<br> Banjo Picker's Fakebook (1985),<br> Silberberg's Complete Fiddle Tunes I Either Did or Did Not Learn at Tractor Tavern (2005) and<br> Spadaro's 10 Cents a Dance (1980).<br> It was recorded by Fuzzy Mountain String Band on Fuzzy Mountain String Band (1972) and<br> Summer Oaks and Porch (1973).<br>
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