One may describe the American Revolutionary War general and United States Senator, John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg – referred to as Peter (Oct. 1, 1746 – Oct. 1, 1807), as a man who sought to sever the chains of a chosen destiny to seek his own self. Son of one of America’s most powerful and strong-minded clergymen, he was tutored in the priesthood. When of age, he and his brothers were bundled off to Europe to study at a prestigious clergy University. Though he ultimately followed through with his father’s wishes to become a Lutheran pastor, the road he traveled was littered with bumps and bruises. Peter Muhlenberg would, whenever possible, seek his own path and flex his own desires to ward off his family’s religious portion.
In Germany, he was expelled from university and enlisted in a British regiment, soon after earning the title ‘Devil Pete.’ So too, he sought an apprenticeship in mercantile business. However, his family’s ties and his father’s influence proved too great, and Muhlenberg was discharged from the military and shipped back to America. Peter would be ordained a Lutheran pastor and assigned a congregation in New Jersey; though a great deal of his time was spent away from the pulpit traveling the countryside in hunting and fishing expeditions. Within a few years, he followed his father’s wishes and accepted a posting in Virginia. But while there, like many firebrand preachers, he became involved in politics; befriending powerful Virginians.
When the call to arms rallied a rebellious colony, he followed his true wishes, and raised a regiment from among his Lutheran congregation; the 8th Continental Regiment labeled the ‘German Regiment.’ Within a year, he become one of the earliest and youngest brigadier generals in the newly formed Continental Army. As a commander, his service and combat experience was lackluster; however when put to service, was distinguished. Skilled in organization and discipline, the regiments in his brigade were considered among the finest in the army. Only one major battle saw his brigade lead the Continental army forward. As such, they were the among the last regiments to leave field. And a portion of his brigade participated in the last major event of the war; the Battle of Yorktown. Otherwise, his capacity as commander remained mostly in a defensive mode, spending much time recruiting and resupplying the army.
And when the war was over, he found himself wearing the robes of a life he had no desire to pursue. He once more cast aside religious doctrine to become a successful merchant and politician, rising to become a Congressional Senator for the state of Pennsylvania, if only having lasted a couple months as Senator prior to resigning.
Early Life
Peter was the oldest of eleven children of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, (Sept. 6, 1711–Oct. 7, 1787), and Anna Maria Weiser (1727-1802). By age thirty-two, father Henry Muhlenberg was one of the most influential pastors within the Lutheran Church in Europe. When Pennsylvania Lutherans sought a leader not just for their colony, but to guide the Lutheran Church in America, Henry answered the call.
Peter’s father Henry arrived in Philadelphia in 1742 and took charge of the largest Lutheran congregation at Providence, Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe, Pennsylvania. Two years later, in 1745, Henry married Anna, the daughter of colonial leader Conrad Weiser. That same year, he gave up his congregation at the church to become the head of the Lutherans in America. He traveled extensively from New York to Georgia to provide leadership to a series of congregations while setting up parishes among newly settled lands. His legacy as a religious leader and powerful personage founded what became the Muhlenberg Family dynasty; generations of influential men and women active in the United States military, politics, academia, and the ministry. Muhlenberg College in Allentown in named for the German Patriarch of Lutheranism in the US.
Peter, as were his male siblings, was tutored under his father’s supervision in Lutheran doctrine. In 1761, the Muhlenberg family moved to Philadelphia, where fifteen-year-old Peter continued his studies at the former Philadelphia Academy (charted the College of Philadelphia in 1755 and later the University of Pennsylvania). Due to his father’s importance, Peter was put under the direct tutorage of the college’s first provost, Dr. William Smith. In 1763 Peter, along with his brothers Frederick and Henry, were bundled up aboard ship for England. There, they traveled onto to the University of Halle, Germany, arriving in the fall of that year.
Apprehensive of his son’s fiery continence, Peter’s father wrote to the University, “…if his soul only is saved, be he in what condition he may, I shall be content. I well know what Satan wishes for me and mine.” While in Germany, no longer under his father’s constant eye, it seemed Peter’s interests were more inclined to fishing and hunting than seminary texts. So too, Henry Muhlenberg, Peter’s great nephew and biographer, wrote that German schools, being strict on the verge of cruelty, became too much for the scholar. In 1764, Peter, in response to an insult, struck his tutor. This resulted in expulsion from the university.
Shortly after expulsion, Peter, rather than returning home to Philadelphia, enlisted with the 60th Regiment of Foot. Leaving behind what he considered the tyranny of proctors and provosts, Peter was finally free to follow his own path. Flexing his muscle and desirous to take risks, his companions in the regiment soon endowed upon him the title ‘Devil Pete.’ Peter’s departure from the ministerial robes to military fame was soon cut short. Within two years as a rank and file regular in the army, the call to return home to his religious roots become too great; Peter’s father had too many friends in high places in Europe. In 1767, Muhlenberg was discharged and though seeking to remain in Europe as an apprenticeship as a sales merchant, he was propelled to ship back to Pennsylvania.
As Muhlenberg’s great nephew later wrote, “Had his own [Peter’s] wishes only been consulted, he would doubtless have chosen the army, but his father very earnestly desired that the church which he had founded in America, should be supported and sustained by the efforts of his sons.” In other words, Peter was once more helpless in choosing his own destiny. He once more fell under his father’s supervision to finish his education at the Philadelphia College and final ordination as a Lutheran pastor.
Ordained and Relocation to Virginia
In early 1768, age 22, Peter was ordained a pastor in the Lutheran Church by the church’s head; his father Henry. On May 12th, he was appointed assistant rector at the Lutheran congregations in New Jersey; Zion’s and St. Paul’s Churches known as the Valley Churches in New Germantown, Bedminster, and Huntington and Somerset Counties. While stationed in New Jersey, on November 6, 1770, he married Anna Barbara Meyer (1751-1806). Anne was the daughter of a successful potter; together they would have three children; Elizabeth (1782-1784) toddler who died of the ‘high fever’, Mary Anne (1791-1803) died age 12, and Francis (1795-1831) who became a US Congressman.
In the previous decades, many of the German inhabitants of the middle states emigrated to Virginia; mainly the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley Regions. The settlements had prospered and gradually enlarged; particularly Dunmore County – Woodstock the county’s seat. By the early 1770’s, the congregation sought a pastor and made an application to Henry Muhlenberg to appoint one, particularly his son Peter. Henry agreed to appoint his son Peter to the position; however, there was a catch. Since the Anglican Church was the state church of Virginia, state law required that all persons chosen to serve a congregation had to be ordained an Anglican minister.
It was decided that Peter would depart for England to be ordained an Anglican Minister so he could accept the position at Woodstock, Virginia. Muhlenberg set sail from Philadelphia for Dover, England on March 2nd, 1772, docking on the tenth of April. Having arrived with excellent credentials, and being the son of the venerated Henry Muhlenberg, Peter quickly received a private ordination from the Bishop of Ely. On April 23rd, he was ordained a priest at the King’s Chapel, St. James’, London. On the 24th of May, 1772, Peter sailed for Philadelphia and arrived two months later. Within two months, Muhlenberg had packed up his family and left for his new congregation in Woodstock, Virginia.
Preacher and Fiery Patriot Whig
The German population in Virginia was large, particularly in the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah regions. As a church leader, Muhlenberg obtained a great deal of respect and influence. Like his father Henry, Peter sympathized with the Whigs (known as patriots) protesting England’s draconic rule. Soon after assuming the colony’s Lutheran Church’s lead, he corresponded extensively with the prominent and most important Whigs of the colony; two of whom he quickly developed a close friendship – George Washington and Patrick Henry. Skilled in chasing down game and the use of the rifle, Muhlenberg impressed Washington during their several hunting excursions. This sealed a friendship that would later be reciprocated in the Commander-in-Chief’s offered promotions and an important role at Washington’s Councils of War.
The Boston Port Bill of 1774 ignited patriot passions throughout the colony of Virginia. Committees of Correspondence, early provisional committees that acted to bind the colonies, popped up in counties from Boston to Georgia. So too Committees of Safety, the military arm that prepared for possible hostilities with England. On June 16th, 1774, the Committee of Correspondence for Dunmore County met and drafted resolutions in response to ‘England’s aggression.’ Muhlenberg chaired the meeting and afterwards, was appointed to lead the Committee of Safety. Soon after, he was chosen to represent his county in the House of Burgesses and the First State Convention on Aug. 1, 1774.
On March 20, 1775, the Virginia Convention met again, this time in Richmond. Patrick Henry offered resolutions that the state of Virginia should be put in a defensive position, to which Muhlenberg gave his full support. When Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, claimed that those in attendance of the convention were treasonous, the dye was cast; there would be no compromise or reconciliation. It appeared to all in attendance that the sword was unsheathed and by the sword, the issue would be decided. The passage passed and Muhlenberg returned to his congregation prepared to take what military steps were necessary to oppose Englang
Pastor Muhlenberg Raises a Regiment
After April 19, 1775 Battle of Lexington and Concord and the June 17th Battle of Bunker Hill, the war spread from New England and middle states into the south. Virginia’s Royal Governor Lord Dunmore departed Wilmington to Norfolk where he consolidated his forces. So too, the Virginia militias were recruited into two state regiments; the 1st under Patrick Henry, and the 2nd under William Woodford. Muhlenberg remained at his pulpit, spewing Whig sentiments and preparing the minds of his congregations to take an active part in the rebellion now so near at hand. After the December 9, 1775 2nd Virginia’s militia’s victory at the Battle of Great Bridge (considered the Bunker Hill of the South) Lord Dunmore could no longer remain in Virginia and took to his fleet.
So too in December, 1775, the Virginia House of Delegates, passed a resolution to raise six additional regiments, increasing the number of Virginia regiments to eight; thereafter called the Virginia Line. All officers who were chosen to lead the regiments had served in the French and Indian War or had led militia forces, save Patrick Henry. Though Muhlenberg’s only military experience was a brief stint with the British 60th Foot in which he had seen no combat, at age 29 and the youngest, he was given the colonelcy of the 8th Virginia Regiment. It appears Muhlenberg’s friendship with Washington and other influential Virginians was instrumental to secure his commission.
However, with the rank of colonel, came the responsibility to recruit the men for the regiment’s ten companies. Though his commission had yet to be formalized, Muhlenberg began to fill the ranks of his new regiment. The 8th (also known as the German Regiment) was organized at Suffolk County Court House between February 9 and April 4, 1776. On March 1st, Muhlenberg had received his official commission as colonel of the regiment. Because of Muhlenberg’s popularity among his German congregation and garnished respect from Virginia farmers, he soon fulfilled his regiments quota. The regiment’s ten companies, seven of musket and three of rifle, totaled 792 men from Augusta, Berkeley, Culpeper, Dunmore, Fincastle, Frederick, and Hampshire Counties, plus the District of West Augusta. On May 25, 1776, the regiment officially became part of the Continental Army. Lt. Colonel Abraham Bowman was Muhlenberg’s second in command who later the following year assumed command of the regiment when Muhlenberg was promoted to Brigadier General.
Muhlenberg Marches to War
The 8th Regiment first order of duty was to reinforce the garrison defending Charleston, South Carolina against a large British fleet and ground force under British General Henry Clinton. The regiment, with its pastor commander at its head, left Suffolk, VA on May 27, 1776, and headed south. They arrived on June 23rd, marching the five hundred miles in just under a month. They were present for the Battle of Sullivan’s Island, June 28, 1776; however, by most accounts, they saw no action. Yet there is some evidence that Muhlenberg’s regiment may have seen some action. General Charles Lee, the American commander of the city, commented that the Virginian troops were “brave to the last degree”. In another report, Lee commented that “I know not which corps I have the greatest reason to be pleased with Muhlenberg’s Virginians, or the North Carolina troops—they are both equally alert, zealous, and spirited.” Yet, he did not detail any actions taken by the Virginians.
With the assault against Charleston foiled, the British forces sailing north to join British Commander General William Howe’s main army sailing for New York City. Muhlenberg’s Regiment would remain in the south for two more months, taking part in a plan General Charles Lee formed to attack St. Augustus, Florida. The 8th marched south to Savannah, Georgia and awaited for the necessary supplies and reinforcements to invade Florida, still under British command. There was much delay and the regiment was subjected to much sickness, Muhlenberg himself succumbing for a spell. By early September, General Charles Lee was ordered north by Washington and the planned attack was abandoned. Muhlenberg soon after led his sickly troops north from Savannah. The progress was slow and the exhausted troops did not arrive in northern Virginia until December 20, 1776.
During this time, Washington’s army fought several decisive battles against the British and by December, 1776, were driven from New York City into Pennsylvania. After Washington’s miraculous victories at the Battles of Trenton and Princeton, Muhlenberg’s regiment received orders on January 21, 1777 to join Washington’s winter camp at Morristown, New Jersey. Muhlenberg’s tired regiment, in the dead of winter, had recruited rank and file to replace those lost to sickness, resupplied, and soon after Washington’s orders, marched north.
Promotion to Brigadier General
Muhlenberg no sooner arrived at Washington’s camp in Morristown, NJ then on February 21, 1777, he was promoted to brigadier general. By January, 1777, Congress had approved the addition of eight-eight additional Continental Army Regiments; Virginia alone would now have fifteen Continental regiments. The army was organized into new divisions and brigades and leaders from the present regiments had to be chosen to fill these ranks. Major General Nathanael Greene’s Division comprised three brigades; a Connecticut brigade of five regiments under Brigadier Alexander McDougall, and two Virginian Brigades; the 2nd Brigade under Brigadier General George Weeden, and the 1st Brigade, given to the young, thirty-year-old Muhlenberg. He would command four Virginia regiments; the 1st, 5th, 9th, and 13th regiments.
Of Muhlenberg’s 8th regiment, Lt. Col. Abraham Bowman, Muhlenberg’s second, became its colonel on March 21, 1777. The 8th was put into the 4th Brigade under Virginian Brigadier Charles Scott; a friend of Washington and former officer in the French and Indian War. Shortly after the regiment fought at the Battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, it was reassigned to the 3rd Virginia Brigade and in September, Colonel James Wood assumed command of the regiment. Due to declining numbers and low recruits, the unit was merged with the 4th Virginia Regiment on May 12, 1779; the 8th no longer existing. This regiment would later be captured a year later at Charleston on May 12, 1780; the rank and file would languish on prison ships for the war’s duration, most would perish in captivity.
Battle of Brandywine Creek
At the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777 , Greene’s division, which included the 1st Brigade under Muhlenberg, had been held in reserve. When it was discovered that the British Commander General William Howe had maneuvered over eight thousand men to assault the American right flank, Washington ordered Greene’s division to conduct a forced march of over three miles in half an hour to support the American line that had collapsed before the massive British assault. The 2nd Brigade under George Weedon arrived in time to stall the British advance, allowing the American units to pull back. Greene’s division acted as a rear guard as the Americans retreated. Muhlenburg’s 1st Brigade were too far to arrive in time and saw no action at Brandywine.
Baptism Under Fire
The Battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777, was Muhlenberg’s first combat command. It is noted that Muhlenberg was among those instrumental during a Council of War in convincing Washington to attack the British at Germantown. The main army was spread out between Germantown and Philadelphia, therefore the Americans would have superior numbers in an attack against Germantown. The plan of attack called for Muhlenberg’s 1st Brigade, Greene’s Division, and fellow Virginian, Brigadier Charles Scott of the 4th Brigade (which included Muhlenberg’s former 8th Regiment), Major General Adam Stephen’s Division, to be the point of assault.
The element of surprise and early morning fog aided the Americans in the initial attack. Muhlenberg’s and Scott’s Virginians forged ahead and broke a portion of the British right wing and entered the village where they took a considerable number of British prisoners. However, as the battle proceeded, the American offense became stalled. This was because General Henry Knox insisted on assaulting the Cliveden Mansion that was stubbornly defended by four hundred redcoats of the 40th Regiment of Foot under Lt. Col Thomas Musgrave. While Knox’s cannon balls harmlessly bounced off the mansion’s stone foundation, and the American forces swarmed around the building, failing in attempt after attempt to storm the works, the British had time to reform – so too the morning fog had burned off.
As the British rallied, Muhlenberg and Scott’s brigades, who had initially pressed through the British lines, found themselves under an assault by superior British numbers. As they pulled back, one of Muhlenberg’s regiments, the 9th, had charged foremost thrust though the British lines and had become surrounded. More than half of the regiment was captured. Though the battle was considered a defeat, it established that the Americans remained a force to reckon with. So too, Muhlenberg’s Brigade of Virginians proved that they could hold their own under fire. They had achieved their initial objective and had they been supported; the possibility of an American victory was possible.
No Major Action in 1778 and 1779
After the Battle of Germantown, Muhlenberg led his men into winter camp at Valley Forge, 1777-1778. At Valley Forge his brigade remained under Greene’s Division and so too his brigade of Virginians; the 1st, 5th, 6th, and 13th regiments with an addition German regiment. On June 18, 1778, British General William Howe abandoned Philadelphia and marched toward New York City. General Washington’s army caught up to him at Monmouth. Muhlenberg’s brigade saw no action during this major battle.
Muhlenberg would remain with Washington’s main army through the winter of 1778 and 1779. After Monmouth, Muhlenberg’s brigade remained in New Jersey. In December, 1778, the army encamped at Middlebrook, NJ, about forty miles southwest of New York City. By all accounts it was a mild winter while both sides clashed in frequent raiding and foraging parties. Muhlenberg spent his time organizing and disciplining his men. In 1779, the war settled into a stalemate. That summer, General Henry Clinton led forces north to attack American forts on the Hudson. Washington sent three divisions to the Hudson Valley that included Muhlenberg’s brigade. Though Muhlenberg’s brigade was in the region during General Anthony Wayne’s storming of Stony Point on July 16th, 1779, they took no part.
The winter encampment of the main American Army, 1779 – 1780 at Morristown, New Jersey, proved to be the coldest and worst experience of the war. Temperatures plummeted below zero with no less than twenty-three snow storms. Food and clothing was in desperate need with many soldiers perishing from sickness and malnutrition. Meanwhile, British Commander-in-Chief General Henry Clinton had set his sights on Charleston, South Carolina. On December 26, 1779, his fleet of frigates and transports set sail from New York City with 8,700 regular infantry on board. Washington got word of this and in December, ordered the Virginia Line to march to Charleston to reinforce the city. Muhlenberg would go no farther than Virginia.
Rebuilds Virginia’s Defenses & Benedict Arnold Invades
While the Virginia Line continued their grueling mid-winter march to help defend Charleston, Washington answered his state’s pleas to organize local defenses. Muhlenberg was ordered to remain in Virginia and assume command of all the militia forces in the state. However, there were virtually no troops present for Muhlenberg to command and the state treasury was empty. It became his duty to raise and prepare troops to reinforce other armies and resist British incursions into the state. As the British increased their focus on Virginia, Maj. Gen. Baron von Steuben assumed command of the American forces in the state on December 1, 1780, becoming Muhlenberg’s superior. The men worked well together and continued their correspondence and friendship after the war.
From January 1 to the 3rd, 1781, now British Brigadier General Benedict Arnold led a contingency of ‘green coated’ loyalists, that included Colonel John Graves Simcoe’s Queen Rangers, up the James River. They landed and on the 3rd and the next day, Jan. 4th, marched to attack Richmond; the new capitol of Virginia after Williamsburg was considered indefensible. The defending Virginia militia of around 200 men fired one weak volley at the encroaching troops and fled. Thomas Jefferson, governor of Virginia, fled, as did many of the townspeople. Arnold would burn Richmond, including several plantations within the region. With his ranks thinned by multiple skirmishes and sickness, Arnold sailed his men back down the James to Portsmouth, Virginia, near Norfolk, arriving on January 19th. There he built fortifications and waited for reinforcements.
By early spring, the Americans devised a plan to corner and capture the much-despised Arnold at Portsmouth. Muhlenberg and von Steuben were to march the thousand-man militia that they’d been able to recruit and train, and meet up with an American force of 1,200 men sent south under General Lafayette. The plan called for a French fleet to defeat the British fleet that supported Arnold’s troops; thereby isolating the British infantry; such a move that would later succeed at Yorktown. The March 16, 1781 Battle of Cape Henry occurred near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay resulting in a French defeat; the French retreating to Rhode Island to lick their wounds. This in turn allowed the British to command Chesapeake Bay and were able to reinforce Arnold with two thousand additional troops under General William Phillips, who took over command from Arnold.
Battle of Blandford (Also Battle of Petersburg)
By April, 1781, General Phillips began to advance British raiding parties and march his forces inland. General Lafayette’s Continentals and a large contingency of Pennsylvania Continentals under General Anthony Wayne were marching to Virginia’s aide, but were several days away. Muhlenberg and von Steuben decided, though outnumbered, to try and slow the British advance and marched their 1,000 man militia to counter Phillips movements. The two sides clashed at Petersburg, Virginia at what has been called the Battle of Blandford.
Phillips troops of approximately 2,500 men landed at City Point, about 13 miles east of Petersburg. The next morning, the 25th, they marched towards Petersburg. Muhlenberg and von Steuben drew up their men just outside Petersburg in lines of battle and waited for the British. At around 2 PM, when a mile from the city, Phillips drew up his line of battle and assaulted the American militia. The first line of militia proved to be more difficult than expected and held their ground. When Phillips brought up more men, the first line drew back to the second line which continued to fire upon the advancing British. After about thirty minutes, the American militia drew off in an orderly retreat, leaving the city to the British. American casualties were around sixty killed or wounded with about 20 for the British. Phillips marched north towards Richmond, arriving on April 29th. But by then Lafayette had force marched his troops to beat Phillips to the punch and was waiting for the English general, thwarting the British attempt to retake Virginia’s capital.
Phillips returned to Petersburg on May 9th to await Cornwallis’ army that was marching up from North Carolina. He was in poor health and contracted a fever, dying on May 13th. The British command was turned back to Arnold, but it was short lived. A week later, on May 20th, Major General Charles Cornwallis arrived and took command from Arnold, ordering the despised turn-coat back to New York. Cornwallis would spend the summer months dodging and chasing after Lafayette and Anthony Wayne’s forces. Eventually, Cornwallis would retreat to Yorktown where he hoped to be resupplied and reinforced.
Yorktown and End of War
At Yorktown, Muhlenberg would command the first brigade in General Lafayette’s Light Division. Muhlenberg’s brigade was part of the Corps of Light Infantry, consisting of light infantry companies from regiments of Massachusetts (ten companies), Connecticut (five companies), new Hampshire (five companies), and Rhode Island and New Jersey (one company each). This brigade of light infantry held the American right flank and manned the two trenches built to move American cannons closer to Cornwallis’ defenses. When plans were made for a final assault on the critical redoubts constituting the main British defense, Brigadiers Muhlenberg and Moses Hazen supplied battalions in the main assault column – Hazen two and Muhlenberg one. This force, commanded by Lt. Colonel Alexander Hamilton and French Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Joseph Sourbader de Gimat, would result in a night bayonet attack that stormed Redoubt Number 10 on October 14th. This critical victory assured Cornwallis that he had no hope continuing and resulted in the British army’s surrender four days later on October 19, 1781.
Yorktown would be Muhlenberg’s last command of troops in action. Due to health concerns, right after Yorktown, he returned to Woodstock, Virginia to recuperate. For the duration of the war, he remained in Virginia, recruiting and organizing troops to send to other armies. By the summer of 1783, with the war basically over, save some skirmishing in the south, Muhlenberg returned home to Woodstock. Interestingly, though at age 29 in 1777, he had been the youngest brigadier in the army, six years later, he proved to be the oldest, having held the rank of brigadier the longest. On September 30, 1783, Congress finally promoted him to major-general, after he had returned home, and the army was disbanded that November.
Afterwards
Muhlenberg was offered to return to his congregation at Woodstock, but decided against it. Poor health and financially strapped, and after eight years of war, he would not return to the pulpit. Soon after his release from the army, he moved his family back to Trappe, Pennsylvania to reside with his father who was yet alive. Done with the clergy, he sought employment in business, contacting his brother-in-law in Philadelphia who was a successful merchant. It may appear that he was returning to his earlier desires when in England, shortly after he had been expelled from university. But once back at his boyhood home, he failed to seek a residence for his family to Philadelphia. He retained his connections politically and by February, 1784, the Virginia Assembly appointed him one of the superintendents to oversee lands due veterans of the war for their service; as major general, Muhlenberg was to receive thirteen thousand acres. He left for the Ohio Falls wilderness on February 24, 1784, and over the next four months, crossed Pennsylvania to Ohio, spending two months at the falls before returning through Kentucky and North Carolina and up the Shenandoah Valley to Philadelphia. He would remain at his father’s home throughout 1784, and in early 1785, make the same trek west to Ohio.
In Pennsylvania, Muhlenberg’s attempts at business were dismal. Instead, he focused on his role as a connected politician and former major general of the army. He became head of the Virginia branch of the Society of the Cincinnati (or Cincinnatus), an organization of former war officers so to have political clout with state assemblies and Congress. In 1784, he was elected to the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Vice-President of the Council, a position comparable to that of Lieutenant Governor. So too, in 1784, tragedy struck when their beloved two-year-old Elizabeth, died of the high fever. The following year, Peter moved his family from the old homestead to Gilbertsville and Falkner’s Swamp German Reformed Congregation, about 20 miles northwest of Trappe and fifty miles from Philadelphia. Though active politically, his business ventures failed to sustain his family adequately, and in the spring of 1787, he moved his family back to live with his parents; his father dying later that year in October.
During his tenure as Pennsylvania Vice-President, he oversaw the conflict at Wyoming, whereas Pennsylvania and Connecticut offered land grants the same territory resulting in a violent insurrection between settlers, and Pennsylvania’s adaptation of the United States Constitution; Pennsylvania became the second state to do so on December 12, 1787, which Muhlenberg fully supported. His term as Vice-President ended on a mysterious note. On October 14, 1788, the minutes of the Executive Council report that Muhlenberg had left Philadelphia without tendering his resignation. A messenger was sent after him. That night, afterwards the messenger returned with the resignation. One can only speculate that the death of his father in 1787, along with financial concerns and the pressures of the Wyoming Insurrection along with promoting the passage of the proposed US Constitution, proved too much for Muhlenberg and he needed time to regroup. Interestingly, this episode is not mentioned by Muhlenberg’s great-nephew biographer.
Pastor Peter Muhlenberg – Slaveholder
It was not unusual for religious leaders to support slavery and even practice it, siting religious scripture for the institution’s justification. See Revolutionary War Journal’s Christian Slaveholders Claimed God Sanctioned and Ordained Slavery for more detail. Peter Muhlenberg was no exception. Though he was, by all accounts, a very religious observer of Whig notions of freedom and equality, and against his congregation’s ‘slavery’ imposed by British Obsessive Bills and Proclamations, he himself was not opposed to owning and trading in slaves. In fact, he owned several slaves including an indentured slave while living at Woodstock, Virginia. One slave in particular; whose name was never recorded, accompanied Peter on all his adventures throughout the American Revolution as his man servant, including after the war during his pair of trips out west. This bondsman is only known by Peter’s father’s reference to him as ‘Peter’s Negro’.
Though Peter’s father, Henry, dealt with many of his Lutheran congregations who supported slavery, he did not own slaves nor endorse the institution. As the Rev. Judith Meier of the Historical Society of Trappe wrote in her article The General and His Slaves; “He [Henry Muhlenberg] had trouble with the fact that one of his sons, the restless Peter, was able to lay aside his preaching gown in favor of the uniform and sword of a rebel officer. How must he felt when he first learned that Peter, long-time resident of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, had Negro slaves?” So too, one would wonder what old Henry felt when Peter and his wife and children, moved in with him in the late fall of 1783, along with their slaves. Anxious to establish himself in business and needing cash, in 1784, Peter auctioned off “his Negro slaves, cattle, and household goods…” We know that Peter did not sell all his slaves in 1784. After his death, his will empowered his executers to emancipate his slave Kitty, and Hanna, “an indentured servant be exonerated from remainder of time.” What happened to Peter’s man servant/slave, history does not record.
Active in Politics
Muhlenberg retained many of his influential friends and remained active in politics. He was elected to the 1st Congress (March 4, 1789-March 4, 1791) as one of the representatives (one elected by the entire state than one specific district) from Pennsylvania. All Pennsylvania’s representatives for the First Congress were elected at-large; in other words, the state was not broken down into districts, but candidates were elected by the entire state population. His brother Frederick, having made a successful name for himself in politics, was the Speaker of the House for the same Congress.
The Second Congress saw Pennsylvania’s House election process broken down into eight voting districts. The fourth district encompassed Chester and Montgomery Counties – Peter Muhlenberg’s residence. Muhlenberg would only garnish 38% of the vote and fail to serve in the Second Congress. However, he threw his hat in the ring for the 3rd Congress (1793-1795) and was successful. But not so in the fourth. But keeping true to odd number sessions of Congress, he was once more successful in the 5th Congress (1799-1801); however, running in the 1st district that time.
In February, 1801, Muhlenberg was elected by the Pennsylvania legislature to the United States Senate on a second ballot defeating George Logan. Muhlenberg being a true Virginian Jeffersonian, President Thomas Jefferson turned to the old general and appointed him the Supervisor of Revenue for Pennsylvania. Muhlenberg accepted and ended up serving Pennsylvania as it’s Senator for only a couple of months before resigning the Senate on June 30th. The following year, 1802, Muhlenberg also became the customs collector for the port of Philadelphia; a position he held till his death. One can assume that having struggled economically during and after the American Revolution, Muhlenberg eventually chose financial stability over Congress.
Last Years and Death
Finding himself spending more and more time in Philadelphia, and perhaps desirous to move out of the old family homestead in Trappe, Muhlenberg, in 1806, bought property closer to Philadelphia on the banks of the Schuylkill River at Passyunk, only two miles from downtown Philadelphia. He moved his wife Anna and eleven-year-old son Francis, but only enjoyed their new home briefly. Anne died on October 27, 1806, aged 54. Muhlenberg spent the next year in poor health; his biographer Henry Muhlenberg, attributed it to a kidney affliction from his years during the war. He died at Gray’s Ferry (just south of center city Philadelphia) on October 1, 1807, aged 61. He is buried beside his wife Anne at the Muhlenberg Family site at Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe, Pennsylvania. His young son Francis was no doubt supported by the Muhlenberg extensive family. He attended Dickenson College in Carlisle and in 1828, was elected to the US House of Representatives.
Henry Muhlenberg described is great uncle as “…tall in person, very active in body, and of undaunted bravery. His coolness and determination, combined with his correct judgment, made him one of the men on which General Washington relied for success, and upon whom, from previous personal knowledge, he could depend.” General Peter Muhlenberg never led his men in glorious battle; however, he did more. His brigade of the Virginia Line, from the opening shots of the war to its conclusion, set the tone in both discipline and excellence and in steadfast dedication – General Muhlenberg was always there when needed; something that every Commander-in-Chief of any army would concur is so necessary to achieve ultimate victory.
Memorials
Sculpture by Blance Nevin, 1889. United States Capitol’s crypt, Washington, DC 
General Muhlenberg Memorial outside the Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA 
Muhlenburg Statue outside Shenendoah County Courthouse in Woodstock VA 
Muhlenberg Commorative Statue on Connecticut Street, Washington, DC 
Statue of General Muhlenberg at Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA 
General Muhlenberg, Woodstock, VA. Bust by Caroline Muhlenberg Hufford Anderson
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REFERENCE
“John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg 1746-1807.” Penn Libraries University of Pennsylvania. Archives and Record Center
Meier, Reverend Judith A. “The General and his Slaves at the Muhlenberg House.” The Historical Society of Trappe, Collegeville, and Perkiomen Valley
Muhlenberg, Henry Augustus. The Life of Major-General Peter Muhlenberg, of the Revolutionary Army. 1849: Cary and Heart Publishers, Philadelphia, PA.
Skardon, Alvin. Church Leader in the Cities, William Augustus Mulhenberg. 1971: University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA.
Taaffe, Stephen R. Washington’s Revolutionary War Generals. 2019: University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma.
Ward, Christopher. The War of the Revolution. Reprint 2011: Skyhorse Publishing, New York, NY.
Ward, Harry M. For Virginia and for Independence, Twenty-eight Revolutionary War Soldiers from the Old Dominion. 2011: MacFarland & Co. Inc. Publishers, Jefferson, North Carolina.