Civil War  |  Historic Site

Peter Jacob Carter

Virginia

7638 Bayside Rd
Franktown, VA 23354
United States

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Peter Jacob Carter is the subject of this portrait, taken by an unknown photographer in the nineteenth century. This image was published in Luther Porter Jackson's Negro Office-Holders in Virginia (1945).
Peter Jacob Carter is the subject of this portrait, taken by an unknown photographer in the nineteenth century. This image was published in Luther Porter Jackson's Negro Office-Holders in Virginia (1945). University of Virginia Special Collections

Born enslaved on 29 May 1845 near Eastville, Northampton County, Peter Jacob Carter served in the 10th United States Colored Troops during the Civil War and afterward attended Hampton Institute. He represented Northampton in the House of Delegates from 1871 to 1879, was conspicuous in First Congressional District politics, chaired Republican state conventions and African American mass meetings, and attended the party’s national conventions. A prominent Eastern Shore politician, in the 1880s he joined the Readjuster Party, led by former Confederate general William Mahone. Carter died 19 July 1886 and was buried in the family cemetery near Franktown.

Marker: WY-11-a, Virginia Department of Historic Resources (2009)

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