CONGEESSIONAL RECORD 
 
 The Fig-hting Parson of the Revolution, Who Was a Lutheran 
 Minister, Representative in Congress, United States Senator, 
 and a Major General in the American Army 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 OP 
 
 HON. ALFRED L. BULWINKLE 
 
 op north carolina 
 In the House of Kepeesentatives 
 Monday, April 16, 1928 
 
 Mr. BULWINKLE. Mr. Speaker, H. J. Res. 239, the resolu- 
 tion now under consideration before the House, provides that 
 the Peter Muhlenberg Memorial Association, of Washington, 
 D. C, shall erect, without cost to the United States Government, 
 a monument to the memory of Gen. Peter Muhlenberg, of Revo- 
 lutionary fame, on that public park in the city of Washington, 
 D. C, lying between Ellicott Street, Connecticut Avenue, and 
 Thirty-sixth Street NW., under the approval of the Joint Com- 
 mittee on the Library and the Fine Arts Commission. 
 
 America, in its history, has produced many great men, and 
 among these there is none greater than the lighting parson of 
 the Revolut on, who was a Lutheran pastor, who became a 
 major general in the American Army, a Representative in Con- 
 gress, a United States Senator, and who held other offices of 
 distinction and for over 30 years rendered to the Nation his 
 best service. 
 
 The monument to be erected shall be a memorial to the 
 memory of Johann Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, who was born on 
 the 1st day of October, 1746, in Trappe, Montgomery County. 
 Pa. His father, the Rev. Henry Muhlenberg, immigrated to 
 America in 1742 and was one of the first to establish the 
 Lutheran Church in Amer'ca. His mother was Anna Maria 
 Weiser, a daughter of Col. Conrad Weiscr, jr., the celebrated 
 Indian agent of colonial days. In 1761 his parents moved to 
 Philadelphia and Peter entered an academy, where he studied 
 for some time under a Doctor Smith. In the early part of 
 1763 he and his two brothers were sent to school at Halle, 
 Germany, to study for the ministry. Peter had not attended 
 the school very njng Uerore ne left on account of the fact that 
 one of his teachers had insulted him and he had knocked him 
 down. Peter did not wait long enough to be expelled, but ran 
 away from the university and enlisted in a German regunent 
 that was then quartered in the town of Halle. How long he 
 remained as a soldier in the German Army is not known, but 
 history states that he was discharged from the service through 
 the efforts of a British officer who knew his father in Phila- 
 delphia. After being discharged from the German Army he 
 engaged for a short time in the mercantile business and from 
 that he returned to America, studied theology, and in 1768 
 was ordained a minister in the Lutheran Church. 
 
 He was first an assistant pastor of Zion and St. Paul 
 Lutheran Churches in New Gerniantown and Bedminster in 
 Hunterdon and Somerset Counties, N. J. The year follow- 
 ing he became the pastor of both of these churches. On 
 November 6, 1770, he married Anna Barbara Meyer, of Phila- 
 delphia. Two years passed and then he received' a call to the 
 pastorate of the Lutheran Church at Woodstock, Va. Under 
 the law at that time in churches of the Virginia colony, no one 
 save an ordained minister in the Church of England could 
 preach in the colony, and in order, therefore, to accept the call, 
 he went to England and was oidained a minister in the 
 Episcopal Church at the Royal Chapel of St. James on the 
 23d of April, 1772, the Bishop of London officiating at the 
 ordination services. A month later he left London and arrived 
 in Philadelphia during the month of July. Then he returned 
 to the valley of Virginia and entered upon his duties as pastor 
 of the Lutheran Church at Woodstock. He soon became very 
 popular, not only with members of his own congregation but 
 with others as well. 
 
 The history of the time shows that Peter Muhlenberg was a 
 friend of Washington, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry 
 Lee, and acquainted with other famous - Virginians of that 
 period. In those troublesome days Pastor Muhlenberg of the 
 Lutheran Church at Woodstock was active always in behalf of 
 the patriots in the trouble then brewing with the Mother 
 Country. In 1774 he was made chairman of the committee of 
 safety in Dunmore County and some time thereafter was ap- 
 pointed a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. As a 
 member of the convention in Virginia in March, 1775, he gave 
 full support to Patrick Henry and the other patriots. And 
 when Mr. Henry, after his famous speech of " Give me liberty 
 99600 — 4298 
 
 or give me death," moved that the colony be immediately put 
 in a state of defense, Muhlenberg seconded the motion. 
 
 In December, 1775, a resolution was passed by the Virginia 
 House of Delegates providing for six new regiments to defend 
 the State. George Washington and Patrick Henry both urged 
 that the Lutheran pastor from Woodstock be commissioned the 
 colonel of one of the regiments. A short time thereafter Muh- 
 lenberg was commissioned the colonel of the Eighth Virginia 
 Regiment, which subsequently became the famous Gei-man 
 regiment of the Revolution. He immediately returned to his 
 home to recruit and organize the regiment. A few days later 
 the word was broadcasted through the Shenandoah Valley 
 that Pastor Muhlenberg would speak for the last time to his 
 congregation on the following Sunday. The last Sunday in 
 January, 1775, came and the little log church at Woodstock 
 was o\ercrowded with people from the surrounding country 
 who had come to hear the farewell sermon of their beloved 
 pastdr. The young minister came in, ascended the pulpit, and 
 in very plain and simple language told how the colonists were 
 being wronged and mistreated by the mother country. He told 
 of their sufferings and explained to them why he considered it 
 his duty to fight for the colonists and against the English Gov- 
 ernment. Then came an incident unparalleled in the history 
 of America, or in the history of any other country : There was 
 not a stir in the church, all were intent upon listening to what 
 the pastor had to say. Then suddenly he said : 
 
 111 tlie language of Holy Writ there is a time for all things, a time 
 to pipach and a time to pray; but there is also a time to fight, and 
 that time has now come. 
 
 When these words were uttered by him he threw off his robe 
 and stood before his congregation in the uniform of a Virginia 
 colonel. Pronouncing the benediction, he descended from the 
 pulpit and ordered the drums to beat at the church door for 
 recruits. Three hundred men enlisted that day in his regiment. 
 
 For seven years Muhlenberg served as an officer in the Ameri- 
 can forces, rising in rank from that of colonel to brigadier gen- 
 eral, and subsequently to major general. He and the troops 
 under his command were in the campaigns and fought numer- 
 ous battles in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South 
 Carolina. The military experience which he received in Ger- 
 many caused him to be selected by Baron Von Steuben to aid 
 in the creation of a disciplined and organized American Army. 
 After a battle on April 25, 1781, Baron Von Steuben wrote to 
 the Continental Congress commending the valor and the courage 
 of General Muhlenberg. In the last fight at Yorktown the Vir- 
 ginia P.rlgade was commanded by Muhlenberg. Washington, 
 Lafayette. Von Steuben, and other military men of the Revo- 
 lutionary War recognized the ability of General Muhlenberg 
 as a soldier and repeatedly commended him for his services to 
 the Colonies. Thus for seven years the pastor from Woodstock 
 gave his best service in time of war to the Colonies and helped 
 to lay tlie .ground plan for the American Nation. 
 
 General Muhlenberg though he received a call from his old 
 congregation at AVoodstock to become its pastor again did not 
 accept. And during the R'iuter of 1783 lie removed to Phila- 
 delphia and lived with his father. He was elected to the Legis- 
 lature of the State of Pennsylvania and became vice president 
 of the common council of which Franklin was the president. 
 He held this office for two years and then he and his brother, 
 Frederick Muhlenberg, both being members of the Constitutional 
 Convention in Pennsylvania, used their full influence for the 
 adoption of the Constitution of the United States. And it was 
 to a great extent through the influence of these two brothers 
 that Pennsylvania ratified the Federal Constitution. 
 
 In 17!tS, after the adoption of the Constitution, he and his 
 brother. Frederick, were both elected Members of the First 
 Congress from Pennsylvania. Frederick Mulilenberg was elected 
 in the !''irst Congress by the House the first Speaker of the 
 House of Representatives. In 1793 and 1795 Peter was again 
 elected a Representative in Congi'ess, and in 1799 was reelected 
 to the House. In 1801 he was elected United States Senator 
 from Pennsylvania but resigned in 1802. In 1802 President 
 Jefferson appointed him collector of the port of Philadelphia and 
 he served in this capacity until October 1, 1807, when'Sae died. 
 His death was on the sixty-first anniversary of his birth, and 
 his remains were conveyetl to Trappe and interred in tlie 
 Lutheran burying gTound by the side of the grave of his father. 
 
 This, in short, Mr. Speaker, is an account of the life of one 
 of America's great men. Though his services as a soldier in 
 time of war were great, yet his services in civil life preceding 
 the war and as an official of the Federal Government after the 
 war were equally as great. And in my opinion, sir, the appre- 
 ciation of Congress should be given to the Peter Muhlenberg 
 Memorial Association for the idea of erecting here, in the Capi- 
 tal of tiie Nation, a fitting monument to serve as a memorial to 
 one of the men who helped to found this Republic. 
 
 D.S. GOVEBNMENT PRINTING OFFICH : 192S 
 
♦