Peter Flaherty was a resident of Mansfield on August 15, 1862 when he enlisted as a Private in Co. D of the 21st Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered out June 16, 1865.

The descriptive muster roll of the 21st Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry lists his age as 35 and his occupation as farmer.  He is described as 5’ 9” tall with a dark complexion and dark hair and blue eyes.  His marital status is married. 

He was born about June, 1828 in Ireland and emigrated about 1849. In the 1860 U.S. census in Mansfield, he was a 30 year old farm laborer. Peter Flaherty married Celia ______ about 1850 and their children include: James Flaherty, born about 1851; John Flaherty, born about 1857; Patrick Flaherty, born about 1859; and Thomas Flaherty, born about 1854. After the Civil War, he returned to Mansfield and was a farmer there until after 1870; he moved to Coventry by the 1880 U.S. census. He resided in Coventry until after the 1900 U.S. census. In the 1910 U.S. census, he is an inmate at the Fitch’s Home for Soldiers in Darien, Connecticut.

On April 5, 1882, he applied for an invalid pension, No.445,124 that was granted under certificate No. 292,539. 

Peter Flaherty died on March 20, 1915 at Fitch’s Home for Soldiers in Darien, Connecticut and is buried at Saint Mary’s Cemetery in Coventry, Connecticut.