In the case of the origin of his identification with the child named Pedro Francisco, his parents, Luiz Francisco Machado and Antónia Maria, natives of mainland Portugal (then an empire under the government of the Marquis of Pombal), a relatively wealthy and noble family, settled on the Island of Terceira (where he was born), distancing themselves more from personal or political enemies in the continent.

[clarification needed] According to the traditional version of his biography,[1] he was found at about age five on the docks at City Point, Virginia, in 1765, and was taken to the Prince George County Poorhouse.

The Azorean legend says the Francisco family had many political enemies and set up Peter's abduction to protect him from accident or death by his parents' foes.

When he was old enough to work, he was apprenticed as a blacksmith, a profession chosen because of his massive size and strength (he grew to be six feet and eight inches in height, or 203 centimeters, and weigh some 260 pounds, or 118 kilograms, especially large at the time).

In October, Francisco rejoined his regiment and fought in the Battle of Germantown and the Siege of Fort Mifflin on Port Island in the Delaware River.

Francisco was part of General Anthony Wayne's attack on the British fort of Stony Point on the Hudson River.

Francisco's entry into the fort is mentioned in Wayne's report on the battle to General Washington, dated July 17, 1779, and in a letter written by Captain William Evans to accompany Francisco's letter to the Virginia General Assembly in November 1820 for pay.

[2] Following the Battle of Camden, South Carolina, Francisco noticed the Americans were leaving behind one of their valuable cannons, mired in mud.

In a letter Francisco wrote to the Virginia General Assembly on November 11, 1820, he said that at Camden, he had killed a grenadier who had tried to shoot Colonel Mayo.

He reportedly killed eleven enemy soldiers during the battle, including one who wounded him severely in the thigh with a bayonet.

According to Henry Howe, the alleged encounter happened when one night, nine British Legion cavalrymen surrounded Francisco outside of a tavern and ordered him to be arrested.

[5] However, in his 1820 letter to the Virginia legislature, Francisco reported having killed one and wounded eight enemy soldiers along with capturing eight of their horses.

[3] In an 1829 petition to the United States Congress, he claimed to have killed three enemy soldiers and frightened the other six away while capturing eight of their horses.

He died of appendicitis, on January 16, 1831, and was buried with full military honors in Shockoe Hill Cemetery in Richmond.