According to an Internet database of Illinois veterans of the Civil War, Peter Hess was listed in Company G of the 9th Illinois Cavalry. His residence at the time of enlistment was listed as Lowell. He married Mary Adeline Lawrence and they had a daughter, Emma. His life was cut short in a farm accident. Cemetery record books at Lowell Public Library show him as being buried in the Creston Cemetery, where his headstone lists him as having served in Company G of the 9th Illinois Cavalry.