In 1780, Peterson was a 35-year-old veteran soldier, having already served in the
2nd New York Regiment and fought in major battles such as
Saratoga (1777) and
Monmouth (1778) before re-enlisting in the Westchester County Militia. On September 21, he was in the company of a white 19-year-old fellow
private class soldier named
Moses Sherwood. (The two shared a profound bond: Peterson had reportedly held Sherwood’s father in his arms as the latter died during the Battle of Saratoga three years earlier). That day, they were reportedly not on official guard duty but at a
cider mill on Teller’s Point, crushing apples, when they spied the British
HMS Vulture sending a rowboat of men towards land. A skilled marksman, Peterson fired on the rowboat, forcing its occupants to return to the ship. The two then sped to Fort Lafayette at
Verplanck's Point to alert their commander about the vessel. Acting upon this information, troops set up a cannon or cannons at Teller's Point to attack the sloop in a fiery battle that lasted two hours. (A cannon presumably used in that engagement is currently mounted on a commemorative base in front of the
Peekskill Museum, inscribed as "America’s Most Famous Cannon.") These actions contributed to the later capture of Major André, who would have been rescued by the British but was instead stranded on shore. Peterson was given land in
Cortlandt, where he raised a large family; Despite his contributions to this pivotal chapter in American history, Peterson did not receive a veteran's pension until age 90 for his bravery. He died on October 2, 1850, "a revolutionary pensioner, in the 103d year of his age," Remarkably, that cemetery itself bears scars from the same September 1780 event: one of its gravestones still shows damage from a British cannonball fired from the HMS
Vulture during the engagement at Teller's Point. The story of the two soldiers' feat of valor was repeated many times and regarded as a vital part of winning the war. ==Defense of Teller's Point Memorial==