Peter J. Otey


Peter Johnston Otey 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 and banker John Mathews Otey. He was a nephew of Episcopal Bishop James Hervey Otey, and his ancestors John Floyd and John Otey fought in the American Revolutionary War. He had at least three elder brothers: Col. Kirkwood Otey, Capt. George Gaston Otey and Capt. Water Hays Otey. His father owned seven enslaved females and five enslaved males 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: Mary Warren Otey Mitchell, Nannie Louis Otey Miller and Nathalie Floyd Otey Ward.

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, former VMI mathematics professor Lt.Col. James W. Massie and former Virginia Governor General John B. Floyd. 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. His three elder brothers also became Confederate officers: Kirkwood Otey commanded the 11th Virginia Infantry including at the Battle of Gettysburg ; George Gaston Otey organized the "Otey Company" of light artillery in March 1862 which was sent to Western Virginia and east Tennessee and became the 13th Virginia Light Artillery by the war's end ; Walter Hays Otey of VMI's class of 1859 served with the 16th Virginia and 56th Virginia before resigning for health reasons and organizing a company of local defense light artillery at the Danville Arsenal.
On October 5, 1862, Peter Otey was promoted to major of the 30th Virginia Sharpshooters Battalion in General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. He then he fought numerous battles and defended Lynchburg as the unit was assigned to General Jubal Early's Army of the Valley. Major Otey receive an arm injury at the Battle of Newmarket, and was sent to Lynchburg to recover. Among those who surrendered after the Battle of Waynesboro, Major Otey was taken as a prisoner of war to Fort Delaware, where he remained until the war's end, alongside future House speaker Charles F. Crisp.

Career

After the war, Otey started working as a cashier for the Lynchburg National Bank, sold insurance and was later named the general manager of the Rivermont Land Co. Otey worked with for former Confederate General William Mahone on the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad, but after that bankruptcy, split with that controversial figure. Starting in 1887 Otry organized and built the Lynchburg & Durham Railroad and became its president until June 21, 1891, when Otey retired shortly before his railroad merged with the Norfolk and Western Railway.
First running for public office in 1894, Otey was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-fourth and three succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1895, until his death. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1896. On February 1, 1900 Otey introduced H.R. 277, which proposed to purchase land in Manassas, Virginia to establish a national battle park on the grounds of the First Battle of Manassas, which was implemented three decades later during the Great Depression.

Death and legacy

Otey died in Lynchburg, Virginia, May 4, 1902, survived by his wife and daughters and was interred in the city's Presbyterian Cemetery.

Electoral history