Peter Ware

Peter U. Ware was a resident of Albemarle County in the early nineteenth century. His murder in 1833 prompted the arrest, trial, and execution of two Black individuals.

Circumstances behind murder

Biography

Ware was a tinner by trade and owned a shop at lot No. 36 on Fifth Street below the old Virginia Advocate office. He was a member of the local Episcopal church and was known to be a quiet, inoffensive man. In 1831 or 1832, he married Elizabeth Mayo (the daughter of Claudius Mayo, a slave-owning farmer who died in 1857).

While on an excursion of convenience or business, Ware had traveled to the Buck Island neighborhood in 1833 and was there assailed and murdered. According to reports, he had been followed by two men from Charlottesville to the site of the Mount Eagle Baptist Church due to their seeing him obtain money which they had believed was a large amount; however, Ware in reality only had a dollar or two on his person.

Trial and execution of alleged murderers

Two Black individuals named Peter and Leander (the former a servant of Isaiah Stout, the latter a slave belonging to Elizabeth Dean) were accused of the deed on account of suspicious circumstances surrounding the act and were thus speedily brought to trial. Egbert R. Watson, who had recently been admitted to the bar, was assigned as the legal counsel of Peter and Leander, putting forth his maiden advocacy in their defense. However, the two men were ultimately condemned and, in the following October, were executed on the hill above Schenk's Branch opposite of Delevan (a location which at that time had become known as the Gallows Hill of the town).