William Peery Postpones an Election
William Peery was a militia Captain whose men essentially served as a police force in Sussex County, Delaware.
Peery was forced to postpone the local elections, but that didn’t seem to effect his chances of winning office.
William Peery
William Peery was living in Sussex County, Delaware when the Revolutionary War broke out.
Peery, a lawyer who lived and farmed on land he inherited from his father, signed up with the local militia.
After spending time assisting Hugh Mercer’s Flying Camp, Peery returned to protect his hometown.
Policing
Peery was chosen as a Captain and placed in command of a 100 man militia whose goal was to protect Patriot property in what was then a heavily Loyalist area.
Essentially, William was leading a police force.
Unfortunately, in October of 1777, a raiding party came through that forced Peery to make a tough decision…
Postponement
Peery feared that Sussex County was under attack in an attempt to interfere with an upcoming election.
William, who was running for State Assembly, made the decision to push voting back to the following March.
While this decision was met with some criticism (notably by members of the Assembly from other districts) the citizens seem to have agreed with his action and Peery won the election.
Politician
The people must have approved of William’s job in office as he was reelected to the State Assembly for eight consecutive years.
He followed this up with an appointment to the Continental Congress for the 1785 session, though this was during the period when Congress was essentially useless and he did not do much of note.
He returned home and ‘retired’ into the position of Sussex County Treasurer.
Delaware had many interesting, if little know, Founders.
Here are a few of my favorites:
John Vining - Delaware’s Lonely Representative
John Cook’s Controversial Winter as Governor of Delaware
Joshua Clayton Transforms Delaware’s Executive Branch
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