Lt Col Peter J. Sinclair

Mac's Great Grandfather

The following is fromThe Flags of Destiny 1861-1961 by Moffitt Sinclair Henderson, daughter of Peter Sinclair and Margaret Carson.

Peter J. Sinclair was born on the Island of Tyree, Argyleshire, Scotland, on March 17, 1837. Most of his boyhood was spent in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he attended school and worked in a store. There, too, he met Miss Ellen Arthur to whom he was married Jun 5th, 1856, when he was but nineteen years of age. Mrs. Sinclair lived until 1873: both husband and son, John Campbell Sinclair, survived her.

Peter J. Sinclair. . . studied law and (had)been licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania before he moved to North Carolina, with his father, in 1858, and secured his license to practice law in this State the same year. Both father and son settled in Cumberland county. . the son turning his attention to jounalism and immediately established the newspaper The North Carolinian, a strong Democratic paper, and remained its editor until the outbreak of the War between the States.

At the outbreak of the war he volunteered with the Lafayette Light Infantry, Company F, First North Carolina Volunteers, but soon raised a company of volunteers from Cumberland County. This company became Company A, Fifth North Carolina Volunteers. . .in July 1861. Late that same month this regiment was hurried to Manassas, in Virginia where is was brigaged under General Longstreet. . . on March 6, 1862, he was made Major and two months later, on May 6, 1862, was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel after the Battle of Williamsburg.. . As lieutenant colonel he led his regiment in the Battle of Seven pines and in the battles around Richmond at which time he served under General D. H. Hill.. . .Colonel Sinclair was wounded at Cold Harbor but recovered in time to be with his men at Fredericksburg. Soon after this battle he resigned his commission to return to Fayetteville; his resignation took effect December 30, 1862. Although he had been severely bruised at Williamsburg when his horse was shot from undr him and had been wounded at Cold Harbor, it was not his injuries which caused him to leave the army . . through his newspaper and privately he had criticised the administration of President Jefferson Davis. . . Regarding his usefulness as an officer impaired, if not ended, he elected to return to civilian life.

In time Colonel sinclair relinquished the editorship of The North Carolinian and moved to Charlotte to become a merchant. Later he farmed in Gaston county. . .he moved to Marion in 1870, where, at thirty-three he began the practice of Law. . . on October 27, 1874 he married Miss Margaret Carson. They had eight children.

He was paralyzed January 7, 1908 and lived until his death, March 1, 1914.

Family Links

Margaret Ann Carson Sinclair, his wife
Jonathan Logan Carson, Margaret's father
John Carson, Margaret's Grandfather
Sinclair Page
The big chart
Sue's Genealogy Page

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