Peter John Sullivan was born on March 15, 1821, in Cork, Ireland, to James and Mary Sullivan. His family immigrated to America around 1823 and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended school there before enrolling at the University of Pennsylvania. He served with distinction in the Mexican American War and worked as an official stenographer for the United States Senate.

 

He eventually settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked as a lawyer. He married Margaret McGill on September 11, 1851, and they had at least five children: Clara, born around 1853; William, born around 1855; Mary Eva, born around 1857; Robert, born around 1859; and Margaret, born around 1861. By 1860, he owned $60,000 of real estate and $1,000 of personal property, and he employed at least one white servant.

 

During the Civil War, he helped organize the 48^th Ohio Infantry, and he mustered in as the regiment’s lieutenant colonel on December 8, 1861. He was promoted to colonel on January 23, 1862. He was severely wounded in the Battle of Shiloh, and he resigned from the army on August 7, 1863. After the war, he received a brevet promotion to brigadier general.

 

President Andrew Johnson appointed him Minister to Colombia in 1867, and he held the position for the next two years. He worked to secure a treaty to build a canal across the Isthmus of Darien, but his efforts were unsuccessful. He returned to Cincinnati in 1869 and resumed his legal practice. By 1870, he owned $40,000 of real estate and $22,000 of personal property. He died in Cincinnati on March 2, 1883.

 

Image: Peter John Sullivan (courtesy Wikicommons)

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