Peter J. Otey

Peter Johnston Otey (December 22, 1840 – May 4, 1902) was former Confederate States Army officer and later prisoner of war during the American Civil War, who became businessman, land developer and railroad executive before retiring and winning election to the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat from Lynchburg, Virginia and serving three terms before his death. Early and family life Peter J. Otey was born on December 22, 1840 in Lynchburg, Virginia to Lucy (née Norvell) and banker John Mathews Otey (1792–1859). He was a nephew of Episcopal Bishop James Hervey Otey, and his ancestors John Floyd (a privateer) and John Otey (commanding Kent County riflemen) fought in the American Revolutionary War. He had at least three elder brothers: Col. Kirkwood Otey (1832–1897), Capt. George Gaston Otey (1834–1862) and Capt. Water Hays Otey (1837–1890). His father owned seven enslaved females and five enslaved males (including 20 and 30 year old black men) in 1850. Otey attended private schools in Lynchburg, then like his brothers the Virginia Military Institute. Shortly before graduating, he and his fellow cadets were sent to combat John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. He graduated on July 1, 1860 with a degree in civil engineering. Otey married Mary Malvina Floyd on April 14, 1863 in Wytheville, Virginia. Their son John Floyd Otey died as a teenager, although three daughters survived their parents. Confederate service On the outbreak of the American Civil War, Otey left his job on the Virginia and Kentucky Railroad, and supposedly fired a cannon at Sewell's Point after Virginia seceded and actually hit a Union vessel, as well as fought with the U.S. Monticello on May 19, 1861. He became a lieutenant in Company S, 51st Virginia Infantry in the Army of the Kanawha under Col. Gabriel C. Wharton (VMI class of 1847, who had become a civil engineer in Arizona), former VMI mathematics professor Lt.Col. James W. Massie and former Virginia Governor General John B. Floyd (uncle of his fiancee, later wife). Otey served as a staff officer, and the 51st Virginia was tasked with protecting the Kanawha Valley and its salt and other mines, but had little success. The regiment suffered defeats at Carnifax Ferry and Cotton Hill in 1861 and in February 1862 at Fort Donelson, Tennessee, although only 2 members surrendered and the majority including this Otey escaped to defend Nashville.