Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1925-10-09
FIGHTING PARSON
OF WOODSTOCK
Washington Weekly Tells Story of
Valley Hero

JOuH tttI huHieuDeTS, VINO was
born in Pennsylvania in 1746, was
one of the brayest officers who fought
in the Revolutionary War. His faith
err, Henry Muhlenberg, came over
from Germany in 1742 and estab-
lshed the Lutheran Church in Amer
lea. AS a boy Peter was impetuous;
he was always in trouble and the
patriarch of the Lutheran Church was
much concerned about his son.
When Peter was 16 he was sent
to school at Halle in Germany. But
at the end of two years he got into
trouble He thought one of his tu-
tors had insulted him and he avenged
the wrong on the spot by knocking
the teacher down. This act, of
course, meant the expulsion of Peter
from the university. But he did not
wait to be expelled; he ran away
from the institution. Seeing a regi-
ment of dragons in the town of
Halle he enlisted for life on the spur
of the moment.
Released From German Army
How long Peter Muhlenberg served
in the German army is unknown, but
he was finally released from his en-
listment through the kind Offices of
a British officer who met him in Ger
many and who had known his father
in Philadelphia. Peter now returned
to the colonies and settled down to
the study of theology under his dis
tinguished father. In 1858 he was
ordained a minister of the Evangeli-
cal Lutheran Church and took a
charge in New Jersey Two years
later he married Anna Meyer.
BY this time large number of
Germans had settled in the. Blue
Ridge Mountains. A congregation
was formed at the village of Wood
stock in the Shenandoah Valley and
the patriarch of the Lutheran Church
of America was asked to appoint a /
minister; a, preference was expressed /
for his own son, Peter At this time
church and state were not separate
in Virginia; according to the law of
the colony no minister could enforce
tithes unless he had been ordained
by an Episcopal bishop. Undaunted
by this legal obstruction young Peter
Muhlenberg packed up his old kit
bag, got on a packet, sailed to Lon
don where he was ordained and re-
turned to his congregation at Wood
stock This was in 1872.
Hunted Deer With Washington
While pastor of the German flock
at Woodstock Muhlenherg became ac-
quainted with most of the distin-
guished patriots in the colony. He
knew Patrick Henry and he frequent
ly hunted deer with George Washing
ton in the Northern Neck. From the
beginning the Lutheran preacher took
the side of the patriots in the trou-
BILE with the mother country. In 1874 /
he was made chairman of the com
mittee of safety in Dunmore county;
shortly afterwards he was appointed
a member of the House of Burgesses.
He was also a member of the eonven-
ton of Virginia when Patrick Henry
moved that the colony be Immediate
ly put in a state of defense Muh-
lenberg, as well as the other German
delegates from the Valley, gave the
great orator his full support. This
resolution of Patrick Henry's was de-
clared treason by Lord Dunmore, the
royal governor of the colony. and the
Revolution in Virginia started.
In December 1775. resolution was
passed by the House of Delegates
providing for six new regiments to
defend the state. George Washing
ton and Patrick Henry urged that the
Lutheran pastor from Woodstock be
commissioned colonel of one of the reg
iments. He was accordingly made COL
onel of the Eighth Virginia Regi-
ment. the famous German regiment
of the Revolution. Muhlenberg i'm
mediately set out for home to raise
his regiment II
His Famous Sermon
The various German congregations
scattered through the Shenandoah
Valley were notified that their be-
loved pastor would address them for
the last time on the following Sun
day. When the day came the rude
little log church at Woodstock was
filled to overlooking. The people
from the mountains and the valleys,
dressed in homespun and deerskin had
come to hear Peter give his farewell
sermon. They knew somthing unu-
sual was going to happen, and they
waited patiently for his arrival.
Finally the young minister came
and assembled the pulpit. He talked
He retold the story of the wrongs
to them in plain and simple language
and sufferings of the colonists; he ex-
planned why he considered it his pa
triotic duty to unsheath his sword
in the cause of the people against the
crown. There was not a stir in the
church as the eloquent patriotic
preacher waxed warmer and warmer
on his subject. Then came the eli
max, an incident which has no par
allel in American history.
The preachers words echoed
through the building like a trumpet