History Channel to air the story of Colonial soldier

Travis Bowman has said before that he would one day like to see a movie based on the life of his ancestor Revolutionary War soldier Peter Francisco.

He doesn't yet have a development deal for a full-length film, but he is working on a half-hour documentary that will air on the History Channel July 4.

The show, tentatively titled "Top 10 Things You Didn't Know About One of Our Founding Fathers," will focus on the exploits of the 6-foot-6-inch man who fought at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. The anniversary celebration of the battle takes place this weekend in Greensboro.

"It's kind of a quick countdown that fits in perfectly with the other shows they air that day," Bowman said in a telephone interview from his home in Cornelius. "I'm hosting the show, and I'll be saying something like, 'No. 10 is this,' and then cut to a historian or a professor. And there will be some Revolutionary War dramatizations cut in."

Known as the Hercules of the Revolution, Francisco's biography reads like that of an action hero. Born in the Portuguese Azores in 1760, he is believed to have been kidnapped by pirates when he was 5 years old. He was found abandoned on the docks at Hopewell, Va., in 1765 uttering the name "Pedro Francisco." He was taken in as an indentured servant by Judge Anthony Winston, uncle of Patrick Henry.

In 1775, Francisco heard Henry utter his famous line, "Give me liberty or give me death," and a year later joined the Continental Army.

Among the achievements he was credited for during the course of the war was hoisting an 1,100-pound cannon on his shoulders and running away with it to keep out of British hands, killing three grenadiers and capturing an enemy flag after having suffered a bayonet wound to his abdomen and fighting off nine Tarleton's Raiders who tried to arrest him. Official reports say he killed 11 men at Guilford Courthouse in 1781, though he himself said he slew only four.

George Washington once said of him, "Without him, we would have lost two crucial battles, perhaps the war and with it our freedom. He was truly a one-man army."

Bowman, 37, works for an environmental services company and Web casts his own talk show, www.sundaynights.tv. A native of Baltimore, he has lived in North Carolina for four years.

About a year ago, he published a book, "Hercules of the Revolution," about Francisco. While attending a book show in New York, he was approached by a producer from the History Channel's parent company, A&E Television networks.

"He asked if I had considered putting together a documentary, and I said, 'As a matter of fact I have,' " Bowman said. "And a few weeks later I met with him in New York City and fleshed out the details. And he was talking about the idea of our founding fathers. And I said I had never really considered Peter Francisco to be a founding father. But we looked up the definition, and it's a broad term used not just for signers of the Declaration of Independence but anybody who was instrumental in the birthing of our nation."

Charlie Maday, who was working as senior vice president of the Military History Channel at the time, put him in touch with some people from the network.

"It was a story I hadn't heard before," he said in a telephone interview. "I thought it was fantastic. The guy was really quite a character."

Two years ago, Bowman showed up at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse anniversary observance dressed as Francisco. He won't be wearing a Revolutionary War uniform at the event this weekend, but he still plans to attend with his family.

"A lot of people don't know his story," Bowman said. "If you were to walk up to the average person, even in Greensboro, and ask if they know who Peter Francisco is, I bet most of them would say no. So my goal is to raise awareness of what he did."

Here are a few relevant monuments and inscriptions from Guilford Courthouse National Military Park:

Cavalry Monument

Located on the edge of a large cleared field, on what was originally thought to be the third American line, this monument commemorates three men who fought for freedom, and those who served with them.

The inscriptions on the monument read:

1781 1909
TO THE MARQUIS OF BRITIGNY AND COL. WM. WASHINGTON
WHO WITH THEIR NORTH CAROLINA AND VIRGINIA CAVALRY CHARGED
AND RAN THROUGH AND OVER THE 2ND. QUEENS GUARDS IN THE
VALLEY BELOW.
(north face)

TO PETER FRANCISCO
A GIANT IN STATURE MIGHT AND COURAGE WHO SLEW IN THIS ENGAGEMENT ELEVEN OF THE ENEMY WITH HIS OWN BROAD SWORD RENDERING HIMSELF THEREBY PERHAPS THE MOST FAMOUS PRIVATE SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
(west face)

Hooper-Penn Monument

The final resting place for two of the three signers of the Declaration of Independence from North Carolina. Buried beneath the monument are:

William Hooper
Born in Boston on June 17, 1742 he moved to Wilmington, NC in about 1765. He died in Hillsborough, North Carolina, on October 4, 1790.

John Penn
Born in Caroline County, Virginia, May 17, 1741. He died near Stovall, North Carolina in 1788.

Also remembered is North Carolina's third signer of the Declaration of Independence, Joseph Hewes. Hewes was born in Kingston, New Jersey, in 1720 and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 10, 1799. He is buried in an unknown location in Christ Churchyard in Philadelphia.

The inscription on the monument reads:

IN MEMORIAM
WILLIAM HOOPER AND JOHN PENN
DELEGATES FROM
NORTH CAROLINA 1776 TO THE
CONTINENTAL CONGRESS AND SIGNERS
OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
THEIR REMAINS WERE REINTERRED
HERE 1894. HEWES GRAVE IS LOST
HE WAS THE THIRD SIGNER

"LEE, HENRY AND HOOPER WERE THE
ORATORS OF THE CONGRESS"
JOHN ADAMS' DIARY VOL. 2. P. 396, 1774

Kerenhappuch Turner Monument

This monument was erected to the memory of the mother of a soldier who fought in the battle of Guilford Courthouse, Kerenhappuch Norman Turner, by two of her relatives.

The inscription on the monument reads:

1781 1902
A HEROINE OF '76
MRS. KERENHAPPUCH TURNER
MOTHER OF ELIZABETH
THE WIFE OF JOSEPH
MOREHEAD OF N.C. AND
GRANDMOTHER OF CAPTAIN
JAMES AND OF JOHN MOREHEAD
A YOUNG N.C. SOLDIER UNDER
GREENE, RODE HORSE-BACK FROM
HER MARYLAND HOME AND AT
GUILFORD COURTHOUSE NURSED
TO HEALTH A BADLY WOUNDED SON.

ERECTED BY
J. TURNER AND JOS. MOTLEY MOREHEAD

Joseph Winston Monument

This monument was erected to the memory of Joseph Winston and to two of his "Surry County Boys" of the Surry Militia.

The inscription on the monument reads:

IN MEMORY OF THE NORTH CAROLINA TROOPS UNDER MAJOR JOSEPH
WINSTON WHO WERE FIGHTING THE HESSIANS AND TARLETON'S
CAVALRY NEAR THIS SPOT AFTER THE CONTINENTAL LINE HAD
RETREATED FROM THE FIELD OF BATTLE MARCH 15, 1781

ERECTED BY GOVERNOR THOMAS M. HOLT 1893

MAJOR JOSEPH WINSTON
CAPTAIN JESSE FRANKLIN
RICHARD TALIAFERRO
PALAMAN QUI MERUIT FERAT
(Let him who has won the palm bear it)

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