Page News & Courier
Heritage and Heraldry
Muhlenberg's revolutionary inspiration to Valley Germans
Article of October 5, 2000
"There is a time to every purpose under heaven . . . a time of war,
and a time of peace." With these inspiring words from Ecclesiastics, a
Lutheran minister spurned many Valley Germans to arms in January 1776 at
Woodstock, and supposedly in later weeks at both New Market and Rude's
Hill.
John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg was born the son of Henry Melchior
Muhlenberg (organizer of the first Lutheran synod in America) in Trappe,
Pennsylvania on October 1, 1747. Well educated, Muhlenberg first attended
the Philadelphia Academy (University of Pennsylvania) before being sent
to Germany as an apprentice to a merchant in Lubeck. Ill-treated, he
ran away and joined an English regiment that saw service in the French
and Indian War. By 1767 he had returned to Philadelphia where he was
discharged from the regiment.
Seeking a direction in his life, Muhlenberg was encouraged by his
father to study for the ministry and by 1771 accepted the call at a
ministry in Woodstock, Virginia. Muhlenberg first traveled to England to be
ordained in the Church of England. His work led him into politics, and he
served in the House of Burgesses in 1774.
History reveals that in 1775 General George Washington requested that
Muhlenberg raise a German regiment for service in the Continental Army.
Part of his "recruitment tour" through the Shenandoah Valley may have
inspired Virginia-Germans in the area later known as Page County.
Quickly raised to brigadier general, by the winter of 1777-78 at Valley
Forge, Muhlenberg was in command of a brigade (in General Nathaniel
Greene's Division) which included the German Regiment of Pennsylvanians, as
well as the 1st, 5th, 9th and 13th Virginia Infantry.
In the years that
followed Muhlenberg served conspicuously in several battles and was
noted for his administrative abilities. In 1783, Muhlenberg received a
brevet major generalship.
After the war he returned to Pennsylvania and was elected to the
Supreme Executive Council in 1784 and served as Pennsylvania's vice president
from 1785 to 1788. He was elected to the First Congress (1788-1789)
and served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1789-91,
1793-95, 1799-1801).
Elected to the Senate in 1801, he resigned shortly
thereafter to accept the appointment of supervisor of revenue for
Philadelphia. He served in this post until his death on October 1, 1807.
Having quickly cross-referenced the list of men in Michael Reader's
company with the "Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution"
(Gwathmey), there appears to have been actually relatively few who served
in the Virginia regiments of Muhlenberg's Brigade from east of the
Massanutten.
Additionally, as can be seen in reviewing Reader's list of
men, a true accounting of all of those that served from this area with
Muhlenberg's Brigade or other organizations may be more difficult to
evaluate considering the various ways that the surnames were spelled in the
muster rolls.
Interestingly, though certainly not German, the name
"Kelly" was even distorted as "Celly" in Reader's list. If performing a
personal assessment of Reader's list for your own family tree, be sure
to remember that basic phonetics will probably be the key.
For example
* Kuents = Koontz, Kepliner = Kiblinger, Overboker = Offenbacker, etc.,
etc.
Furthermore, it may be the case that Reader's Company was
actually organized early and/or was a local defense of sorts. Many of the men
are not listed in formal Virginia regiments of the Continental Army.
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