As a ten year old, Peter traveled to Liverpool from Ireland with his mother & siblings. The family boarded the 'Charles Chaloner,' a one hundred and fifty foot long by thirty two foot wide ship. They sailed into the port of New Orleans, Louisiana on 21 May 1851. Eventually the family settled in McEwen.
Peter Connelly enlisted in Co A, 10th Reg't, TN Infantry for twelve months on 25 Apr 1861 in Waverly, TN, two months before his eighteenth birthday. The 10th was organized for state service May 1861 and transferred to the service of the Confederate States 1 Sep 1861. [Military Records, Peter Connelly, Nat'l Archives Records Service].
From 1862 to 1863, Peter served in the American Civil War as a Confederate Soldier in the 10th Infantry (Irish Company). On February 16th, 1862, he was captured along with 12,000 other soldiers when Ulysses S. Grant overtook Fort Donelson in Tennessee and sent to Camp Douglas, IL. The 10th TN became known as the ‘Bloody 10th' because of their terrific losses at Ft. Donelson. The 10th Regiment was released at Vicksburg on September 8th, 1862. Peter rejoined the unit at Clinton, MS on 2 Oct 1862 with the rank of Sergeant. The 10th Reg't fought in the battle at Chickamauga, GA September 19-20, 1863. The 1863 Nov/Dec muster rolls show Peter as ‘deserted from furlough'. One can only gather that Peter had finally had enough of the fighting.
Peter married Amanda Adeline Collier on December 24th, 1866 in St. Patrick Catholic Church, Humphreys Co, TN by Fr. Orengo. The Colliers were among the earliest settlers in McEwen. Amanda's parents were Arthur Collier and Priscilla Plant.
In 1906 Peter purchased land & moved to Oklahoma where he farmed with his sons, John and William. In 1915 he died at his daughter Mollie's home in St. Louis, MO. Amanda died in 1911 in OK and is buried in the Old Collier Cemetery (Dry Hollow) in Waverly, TN.