Civil War Veterans Buried In Washington State - Peter Panchot

CIVIL WAR VETERAN-UNION ARMY
CORPORAL, CO F, 3RD MINNESOTA INFANTRY
DATES OF SERVICE 28 SEP 1861-2 SEP 1865

Peter was born in up-State New York, the son of George and Catherine (Pillard) Panchot. He had 8 brothers and 3 sisters. Between 1850-1857, the family moved to Minnesota settling on the family farm.

On 28 September 1861, Peter and his younger brother, David, enlisted into Co F, 3rd Minnesota Infantry where both brothers were soon mustered off to the Little Rock, Arkansas area. Private Peter Panchot held the important role of Bugler, guiding the actions of the troops during battle and sounding the time of day. Peter re-enlisted on 20 December 1863 and was promoted to Corporal. He was discharged from service on 2 September 1865, returning to Minnesota.

Six men of this family served in Minnesota units during the Civil War - PVT (Jean) George Panchot, Co F, 2nd Minn Cav (father/step-father to the following men), PVT Charles P. Jeannin, Co G & I, 5th Minn Inf, PVT George F Panchot, Co H 1st Minn Inf (killed in action, Antietam, MD), CORP Peter J Panchot, Co F 3rd Minn Inf, PVT David Panchot, Co F 3rd Minn Inf (died of disease, Little Rock, AR), PVT Augustus F Panchot, Co C Hatch's Independent Minn Cav.

In January 1868, Peter married Harriet "Hattie" Taplin and a few years later relocated the family to up-State New York. He held the position of Postman in the outskirts of Buffalo and in this position was required to walk many miles every day.

By the late 1880's, Peter had made a name for himself as one of the top contenders in Pedestrianism, or competitive walking, from which the modern form of racewalking developed. When the walking craze started Peter entered a six-day race in Buffalo, and won, covering 480 miles. After that, he met with varying degrees of success, competing alongside the top competitors from around the world, in locations such as Madison Square Garden, Boston and California to name a few. His best record was 541 miles in six days.

At the end of his walking career, Peter relocated his family to the Seattle, Washington area. Peter met with an untimely death when the vessel on which he was a passenger capsized near Bainbridge Island. Peter died the next day from exposure. His body was returned to Seattle, and the Death Certificate indicates he was interned in the Mountain View Cemetery.

The cemetery states that they have no record of his burial and that the records may have perished in a fire that occurred around the time of his death. His wife, Hattie, and two of his children are buried in Mountain View Cemetery in unmarked graves. According to the volunteer who searched for the graves of Hattie and her children, there are three more individuals buried in unmarked graves right next to those of Peter's wife and two children. It is, therefore, assumed that one of those graves is that of Peter.

Until such time that evidence to the contrary arises, Peter's memorial will remain attached to the Mountain View Cemetery.

Buried at Mountain View aka Auburn Cemetery