Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1915-04-15


Then swept his kindlng glance OF tire
From startled pew 10 GREATNESS choir
When suddenly his mantle wide
His hands impatient flung aside,
And. 10 he met their wondering eyes
Complete in all a warriors guise.
Amoment there was awful pause
When Berkeley cried, Cease, traitor cease !
God. temple is the house OF peace =
The other shouted, Nay. not so,
When God is with our righteous cause;
His holiest places then are ours.
His temples are our forts and towers
That irown upon the Nrant foe;
In this, the dawn OF Freedoms day,
There is time 10 fight and pray
And now before the open door
The warrior priest had order'd So
The enlistng trumpets sudden roar
Rang through the Chapel, DER and Ger
Its long reverberatng blow,
SO loud and clear. it seem'd the ear
OF dusty death must wake and hear
And there the startling drum and fife
Fired the living with ercer life;
While overhead with wild increase,
Forgetting its ancient toll OF peace,
The great bell swung as neer before:
II seemed as il would never cease;
And every word lis ardor flung
From off its iubilant iron tongue
Was, War war war r.
WHO dares"-this was the patriots cry,
As striding from the desk he came
Come out with me. in Freedoms name.
For her to live. for her to die p
hundred hands flung up reply
hundred voices answered. Il
suspect that the great bell" existed
only in the poets Imagination but in the
main the picture he draws is true to fact
There has been good deal OF controversy
between the Lutherans and the Episco-
palians as to the ownership Of Mullen
berg and the lot where the little old church
stood but il one were TO follow the VAL
ley Pike today until he comes just oppo-
site the old stone courthouse in Wood
stock, then turn east and 60 about 100
yards along the cross street, he would
stand almost exactly at the spot where
that martial drama was enacted in the
long ago. The ground is still in sacred
service, more modern church taking the
place OF the colonial one.
Elon o. Henkel, ofNew Market, whose
ancestors for several generations have
been Lutheran ministers, has Mullen
berg's black robe and other relics OF the
revolutionary day. He thinks it is alto
gether probable that the Woodstock scene
was re-enacted at New Market and at
Rude's Hill, near New Market. AT both
Of these places were Lutheran churches
or meeting houses.
have made repeated efforts TO get
copy OF the muster roll OF the German
regiment, but without success. Ii seems
likely that none is now in existence. But
the record OF that body is written in the
history OF liberty, and its name is linked
with that OF Brandywine, Germantown,
Monmouth, and Yorktown. The enthus-
iaSm with which the Germans ofthe Valley
followed the young colonel is illustrated
in the story that among them came seven
from near Harper's FenY-three OF them
sons and four the grandsons OF old fried
rich Ladner. who had come from Wuhem-
berg in l75l.
When Muhleuberg was made general
in 1777 Abraham Bowman, a member OF
the committee Of l774 and brother OF
Major Joseph Bowman who served with
George Rogers Clark, succeeded TO the
command OF the German regiment. Capt.
Abraham Hite was paymaster from Jan.
/, l779, to May u. 1880. Among the
field officers was Mai. Peter Helfenstein,
of the lower valley.
Muhlenberg and his men participated
in the fighting at Charleston, S. C., in
1776. The next year he was brigadier-
general and placed in command OF the
Virginia line. Subsequently he took part
in the battles Of Brandywine, German
town and Monmouth, and in the capture
Of Stony Point. At Brandywine. it is
said, he was opposed by some German
troops in the British service, among whom
were some Of his former comrades Of the
dragoon DAYS in the fatherland. They
recognized him from afar, the story goes,
and cried out either in Joy or terror,
"Here comes Devil Pete"
Later Muhlenberg defended Virginia
against Leslie and Arnold. being COM
mander-in-chief there till the arrival Of
Steuben. Upon the invasion Of Virginia
by CORVALLIS he stood next in command
to lafayette, and at the siege of York
town was in command Of the first brigade
OF light infantry. He retired at the close
Of the revolution with the rank OF major
general, settling, soon after, in his native
State, Pennsylvania.
During the latter years Of his life Muh-
lenberg was prominent figure in politics.
In l774 he had been member Of the
Virginia House OF Burgesses, and in l776
had sat in the State convention. After
locating in Pennsylvania he served three
terms in Congress-1789-9l, 1895, 1799-
1901. In the wear 1901 he was chosen
United States Senator, but resigned in
order to accept the Office of supervisor
ofrevenue or the district OF Pennsylvania.