Quick Facts
Biography
Peter Hill Engle was an American lawyer from what is now Dubuque, Iowa who was the first Speaker of the House of the Wisconsin Territory, which at that time included what is now the U.S. state of Iowa.
Elective office
In the first session (October 25 - December 9, 1836) of the Territorial Assembly, Engle (one of five representatives from the half of the Iowa District [that portion of Wisconsin Territory west of the Mississippi River ] known as Dubuque County) was elected Speaker of the House. In the second session, which opened November 6, 1837, he was succeeded by former Congressman Isaac Leffler of Desmoine County, but remained a member of the territorial House of Representatives.
In 1838, after the separation of Iowa Territory from Wisconsin, Engle (a Democrat) was a candidate for Delegate to Congress. He came in a close second to fellow Democrat William W. Chapman in a nominally nine-way race; Chapman achieved a plurality with 1490 votes to Engle's 1454, Whig Benjamin F. Wallace 913, and Democrat David Rorer 605; the other candidates (who included Leffler) received 3 or less votes apiece.