Peter Willard

Peter Willard's Gravemarker

Peter Willard was a man of color who served as a Private in the 5th Massachusetts Regiment during the Revolutionary War. He enlisted in Marlborough, MA, though his residence is given as Lancaster. I can find no vital records for him in either of those towns. If his muster description is to be believed he was born around 1754. His death on January 31, 1819 does appear in the records for Millbury where he is buried. They list him as a "Revolutionary Pensioner".

The description from his enlistment papers are as follows: “age 25 years; stature 5 ft. 3 in; complexion, black; eyes, black; hair, woolly; residence, Lancaster.”

His white bronze gravemarker was placed in West Millbury Cemetery many decades after his death, since white bronze wasn’t available until the 1880s. Whether it replaced an earlier marker or is the only one he has had I am not certain.