Peter Mitchell

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color in the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Medford, Massachusetts(?)

The following is from the 2004 National Park Service study Patriots of Color researched and prepared by George Quintal:

 

Nothing is known of the early life of Peter Mitchell.

He joined the eight month’s service on 24 April 1775 from Medford in the company of Capt. John Baker (10^th), in Col. Samuel Gerrish’s (38^th) regiment.^I On 27 May 1775 he took the oath ‘required by Congress to be taken by the Mass. Army.’^II He is listed on the 1 August 1775 muster roll,^III on the August pay roll^IV and on a 9 August 1775 list ‘of men who were in need of blankets.’^V On 27 September 1775 he was listed on a company return, now serving under his Lt. Col. Loammi Baldwin who had taken command after Col. Gerrish was broken for cowardice at Bunker Hill. On 19 November 1775 his name was on an ‘order for bounty coat or its equivalent in money dated Camp at Sewall’s Point.’^VI

It is undoubtedly the same Peter who lost his wife, a ‘negro,’ on 30 May 1776 in Medford.^VII

Footnotes:

1. Secretary of Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908), 10:851; listed as ‘Mitchell.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
2. Ibid 10:718; listed as ‘Michel.’
3. Ibid 10:851
4. Ibid 10:717; listed as ‘Michal.’
5. Ibid 10:839; listed as ‘Mitchel.’
6. Ibid 10:851
7. Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, Medford, Deaths, 408; listed as ‘Mitchel,’ referencing a Congregational Church record.

Learn more about Quintal's study.