Peter Victor Deuster
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWisconsin's4th district
In office March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1885
Preceded by	William P. Lynde
Succeeded by	Isaac W. Van Schaick
Member of theWisconsin Senate from the6th district
In office January 3, 1870 – January 1, 1872
Preceded by	Charles H. Larkin
Succeeded by	John L. Mitchell
Member of theWisconsin State Assembly from theMilwaukee 5th district
In office January 5, 1863 – January 4, 1864
Preceded by	John M. Stowell
Succeeded by	J. C. U. Niedermann
Personal details
Born	February 13, 1831 Düren, Rhenish Prussia, German Confederation
Died	December 31, 1904(1904-12-31) (aged 73) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting place	Calvary Cemetery, Milwaukee
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Agathe Gertrude Stoltz ​ ​ (m. 1860⁠–⁠1904)​
Children	5
Occupation	Newspaperman

Peter Victor Deuster (February 13, 1831 – December 31, 1904) was aGerman American immigrant,newspaperman,diplomat, andDemocratic politician. He representedMilwaukee, Wisconsin, in theUnited States House of Representatives for three terms (1879–1885) and was Americanconsul atKrefeld, Germany, during the presidency ofGrover Cleveland.

Born inDüren, Rhenish Prussia, Deuster immigrated to the United States with his parents, who settled on a farm near Milwaukee in May 1847. Deuster had pursued an academic course at acollege in Düren, but left too young to graduate.

He completed his self-education in aprinting office. He started a Milwaukee newspaper called theHausfreund in 1852; it was later taken over byGeorge Brumder's Germania Publishing. He moved toPort Washington, Wisconsin, in 1854 and edited a newspaper. He also served simultaneously as deputypostmaster, deputy clerk of the circuit court, clerk of theland office, andnotary public.

He returned to Milwaukee in 1856 and edited theMilwaukee See-Bote (laterSeebote), aGerman languageDemocratic daily paper, until 1860, when he became proprietor.

TheSee-Bote had been founded by ArchbishopJohn Henni as an anti-radical organ, and under Deuster's leadership it took a strong stance against German radicals and radicalism, callingCarl Schurz "a political mountebank" and railing against the new Republican Party with its freethinkers and abolitionism. During theAmerican Civil War, Deuster was widely reviled as a prominentCopperhead, as he opposed the abolitionist influence on the Lincoln administration and defended GeneralGeorge B. McClellan against his critics. He encouragednegrophobia in his immigrant readers, warning that emancipation and abolitionism would lead to a "Negrocracy" as free whites were forced to compete with cheaper "black cattle," and referred to the abolitionistMilwaukee Herold as part of the "German Nigger Press". Deuster and theSee-Bote were widely blamed for the November 10, 1862,anti-draft riot in nearbyPort Washington. The commander of the German-majority UnionArmy of South-east Missouri forbade the circulation of the paper in areas under his control.Abraham Lincoln, described in theSee-Bote as "the most incapable of statesmen and the most irresponsible of the butchers of men", was defended only when Deuster saw him as being harried by the more radical elements within the Republican Party. Unlike some Copperhead newspaper editors, Deuster publicly mourned Lincoln's assassination, expressing a fear that it would give free rein to theRadical Republicans and unleash a policy of "retribution and revenge".^[1]

He served as aDemocratic member of theWisconsin State Assembly in 1863, succeeding fellow DemocratJohn M. Stowell. He was assigned to thestanding committees onstateaffairs andfederal relations.^[2] He was subject to attacks in the Assembly because of the editorial stances of theSee-Bote. He was not re-elected, and was succeeded in 1864 byJ.C.U. Niedermann, elected on theNational Union Party ticket. At this same time, his brotherJoseph Deuster was also active in Democratic politics (at various times a member of theCommon Council,sheriff, andsergeant-at-arms of the State Assembly).

In 1870 Peter purchased theChicago Daily Union.

He was elected to theWisconsin State Senate'sSixth District (the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 8thWards of the City of Milwaukee, and theTowns ofFranklin,Greenfield,Lake,Oak Creek andWauwatosa) in 1870, with 2178 votes to 1704 for incumbentCharles H. Larkin, a one-timeWar Democrat who chose to run as anindependent.^[3] He was not a candidate for re-election in 1872, and was succeeded by fellow DemocratJohn L. Mitchell.

Deuster was narrowly elected in 1878 as a Democrat to theForty-sixth Congress to succeed retiring Democratic incumbentWilliam Pitt Lynde inWisconsin's 4th congressional district (Milwaukee,Ozaukee andWashington counties) with 11,157 votes to 11,022 for Republican former AssemblymanLeander Frisby and 1,351 forGreenbacker and former National Union AssemblymanTruman H. Judd^[4] He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures onPublic Buildings.

He was re-elected to theForty-seventh Congress (17.574 votes to 15,018 for Republican former AssemblymanCasper Sanger) andForty-eighth Congress (9,688 votes to 8,320 for Republican former AssemblymanFrederick Winkler and 1,922 for former Republican AssemblymanGeorge B. Goodwin, "trades' assembly" candidate). Deuster was publishingThe Daily Journal a part of his re-election campaign for the 48th Congress. The youngLucius W. Nieman bought an interest in the paper and took over when Deuster was successfully re-elected. Nieman grew the publication and changed its name toThe Milwaukee Journal.

Deuster was unsuccessful in seeking reelection in 1884 to theForty-ninth Congress, losing toIsaac W. Van Schaick: with 15,967 votes; to 16,783 for Van Schaick; 1,296 for theUnion Labor candidate,Alderman and formerSocialist AssemblymanHenry Smith; and 226 for C. E. Reed.

He again resumed his newspaper interests, publishing theSeebote and a German language weekly titledTelephone. He was appointed chairman of a commission to diminish theUmatillaIndian reservation inOregon in 1887. He was appointed consul atKrefeld,Germany, February 19, 1896, and served until a successor was appointed October 15, 1897. In 1898, he was the Democratic nominee forLieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, losing in a six-way race to RepublicanJesse Stone with 180,038 votes, to 126,206 votes for Deuster; 8,267 votes forPopulist Spencer Palmer: 7.846 votes forProhibitionist Willis W. Cooper; 2,535 votes forSocial Democratic Party of America candidate Edward P. Hassinger; and 1,543 votes for Herman C. Gauger of theSocialist Labor Party.

He died in Milwaukee December 31, 1904, and was interred inCalvary Cemetery.

There is no source to prove that he and Joseph were related toJohn H. Deuster, although they were all three born inPrussia, moved to Milwaukee, and became active Democratic Party politicians and legislators.

• United States Congress."Peter V. Deuster (id: D000274)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

• 1831 births
• 1904 deaths
• 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
• 19th-century American diplomats
• American printers
• American white supremacists
• Editors of Wisconsin newspapers
• Prussian emigrants to the United States
• Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Politicians from Milwaukee
• People from Port Washington, Wisconsin
• Democratic Party Wisconsin state senators
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin
• Copperheads (politics)
• Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Milwaukee)
• 19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

• Articles with short description
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