The family removed to a farm in New York when Peter was still an infant.
During the American Civil War he fought with the 109th New York Volunteers, and became adjutant and quartermaster of the regiment.
After the war he resumed the practice of law in Binghamton.
He was District Attorney of Broome County from 1868 to 1874; and a member of the New York State Senate (24th D.) in 1878 and 1879.
He died on February 7, 1879, at the Eldridge House in Albany, New York, of "apoplexy," and was buried at the Spring Forest Cemetery in Binghamton.