In 1912, he was elected as the Reichstag delegate for the Tondern–Husum–Eiderstedt constituency for the Freisinnige Volkspartei.
Peterson was born in Mielberg (a hamlet southwest of Jagel), in the Duchy of Schleswig, on March 14, 1826; was educated at the Teachers' Seminary at Tondern, Schleswig, and worked as a schoolteacher for five years.
Training consisted of bombing runs on the airfield at Turnhouse, where the outlines of Tondern's three airship sheds were marked out.