Muhlenberg County was so called in honor of General John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, an officer of high distinction and patriotism in the American Revolution. 1

General Muhlenberg made two trips to Kentucky in 1784, but did not see any part of that section which fourteen years later was formed into a county and named after him. It is more than probable that he did not visit any section of the Green River country. His life, however, is part of the history of Muhlenberg County, not only because the county is a namesake of his but also because many of its pioneers fought under him in the Revolution. General Muhlenberg's career is woven into the history of the Revolution and into the history of the nation during the first quarter of a century following that struggle. A volume entitled "The Life of Major-General Peter Muhlenberg, of the Revolutionary Army," was published in 1849 by Henry A. Muhlenberg, a nephew of the distinguished soldier. From this work I gather the following facts.

Reverend Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, the father of General Muhlenberg, emigrated to Pennsylvania from Hanover, Germany, in 1742. He founded the Lutheran Church in America, and died at Trappe, near Philadelphia, on October 1, 1787. His son, J. Peter G. Muhlenberg, was born at Trappe, Pennsylvania, on October 1, 1746. At the age of sixteen Peter was sent to Halle, Germany, to be educated. While in Europe he incidentally gained a little knowledge of military drills that was, in later life, of great advantage to him. In 1767 he returned to America and became a minister in the Lutheran Church, serving as a pastor to various congregations.

Previous to the Revolution there was a union of Church and State in Virginia, where the Church of England was established by law; "and in order that the rector could enforce the payment of tithes, it was necessary that he should have been ordained by a Bishop of the English Church, in which case he came under the provision of the law, although not a member of the established church." To meet these difficulties Muhlenberg decided to be ordained in the official church. In 1772 he went to England, where he was "ordained by a Bishop of the English Church," and then returned to Virginia and preached at Woodstock until the Revolutionary War broke out. In the early part of 1776 he organized a regiment of soldiers, the Eighth Virginia, known as the "German Regiment." He participated in the fights at Charleston and Sullivan's Island. On February 21, 1777, he was made brigadier-general and took charge of the Virginia line under Washington, and was in chief command in Virginia in 1781 until the arrival of Baron Von Steuben. He was in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, and was also at the capture of Stony Point. He was second in command to LaFayette in resisting the invasion of the State by Cornwallis. He took part in the siege of Yorktown, and was present when Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781. On September 30, 1783, he was promoted to the rank of major-general. A few months later the army was formally disbanded, and he returned to his family in Woodstock. In November he moved to Trappe and shortly afterward made Philadelphia his home.

In 1784 he made two trips to the Falls of the Ohio, to superintend the distribution of lands in Kentucky granted to himself and other officers and soldiers of the Virginia army. His diary kept on these trips shows that he did not go down the Ohio below Louisville. In the fall of 1785 General Muhlenberg was elected Vice-President of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin being at the same time chosen President. He was re‰lected to that office every year until 1788, when he was chosen one of the members of the First Congress, to serve from March 4, 1789, to March 4, 1791. He also served in the Third Congress and in the Fourth Congress. His brother, Frederick Augustus, served as Speaker of the First Congress assembled under the Constitution. In February, 1801, General Muhlenberg was elected United States Senator from Pennsylvania. On the 30th of June, 1801, having been appointed Supervisor of Internal Revenue for Pennsylvania, he resigned his seat in the Senate. In July, 1802, he was appointed Collector of the Port of Philadelphia, which office he held up to the time of his death, October 1, 1807. He is buried at Trappe, Pennsylvania, where rest also the remains of his father.

His biographer, commenting on the career of General Muhlenberg, says:

He was one of those characters which in a revolution always find their level. He was by nature a soldier. ... He entered the church, doubtless, with as sincere and honest purposes as any of her ministry, but the agony of his country called him from the altar with a voice that touched every chord of his soul. The time for fighting had come--the time to try men's souls. His whole heart was with his country; rebellion against tyrants was obedience to God, and so feeling and so thinking, he went forth from the temple to the field. He was brave and generous to a fault, a proper brigadier to Greene, who loved him. Cool in danger, sound in judgment, indifferent to fame, zealous in duty: these were his distinguishing traits as a soldier. His virtues in private and political life were all cognate to these.

Such, in brief, was the career of General Muhlenberg. Many interesting incidents occurred during his life, the details of a number of which are recorded Statue of General Muhlenberg. Philadelphia, Erected in 1910 in his biography. Among them is the dramatie event that took place at Woodstock, Virginia, in the early days of "'76." Times, as Muhlenberg was wont to remark, had been "troublesome," and the colonies were preparing to declare and fight for their independence. Muhlenberg was appointed colonel of the Eighth Regiment, which was then far from fully organized. His acceptance of this office necessitated his resignation as pastor of his churches. The scene that took place when this "fighting parson" delivered his farewell sermon is thus described by his biographer:

Upon his arrival at Woodstock, his different congregations, widely scattered along the frontier, were notified that upon the following Sabbath their beloved pastor would deliver his farewell sermon. Of this event numerous traditionary accounts are still preserved in the vicinity in which it took place, all coinciding with the written evidence. The fact itself merits a prominent place in this sketch, for in addition to the light it sheds upon the feelings which actuated the American people in the commencement of the Revolutionary struggle, it also shows with what deep earnestness of purpose Mr. Muhlenberg entered upon his new career.

The appointed day came. The rude country church was filled to overflowing with the hardy mountaineers of the frontier counties, among whom were collected one or more of the independent companies to which the forethought of the Convention had given birth. So great was the assemblage, that the quiet burial-place was filled with crowds of stern, excited men, who had gathered together, believing that something, they knew not what, would be done in behalf of their suffering country. We may well imagine that the feelings which actuated the assembly were of no ordinary kind. The disturbances of the country, the gatherings of armed men, the universal feeling that liberty or slavery for themselves and their children hung upon the decision the colonies then made, and the decided step taken by their pastor, all aroused the patriotic enthusiasm of the vast multitude, and rendered it a magazine of fiery passion, which needed but a spark to burst into an allconsuming flame.

In this spirit the people awaited the arrival of him whom they were now to hear for the last time. He came, and ascended the pulpit, his tall form arrayed in full uniform, over which his gown, the symbol of his holy calling, was thrown. He was a plain, straightforward speaker, whose native eloquence was well suited to the people among whom he laboured. At all times capable of commanding the deepest attention, we may well conceive that upon this great occasion, when high, stern thoughts were burning for utterance, the people who heard him hung upon his fiery words with all the intensity of their souls. Of the matter of the sermon various accounts remain. All concur, however, in attributing to it great potency in arousing the military ardour of the people, and unite in deseribing its conclusion. After recapitulating, in words that aroused the coldest, the story of their sufferings and their wrongs, and telling them of the sacred character of the struggle in which he had unsheathed his sword, and for which he had left the altar he had vowed to serve, he said "that, in the language of Holy Writ, there was a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but these times had passed away"; and in a voice that re‰choed through the church like a trumpet-blast, "that there was a time to fight, and that time had now come!"

The sermon finished, he pronounced the benediction. A breathless stillness brooded over the congregation. Deliberately putting off the gown, which had thus far covered his martial figure, he stood before them a girded warrior; and descending from the pulpit, ordered the drums at the churchdoor to beat for recruits. Then followed a scene to which even the American Revolution, rich as it is in bright examples of the patriotic devotion of the people, affords no parallel. His audience, excited in the highest degree by the impassioned words which had fallen from his lips, flocked around him, eager to be ranked among his followers. Old men were seen bringing forward their children, wives their husbands, and widowed mothers their sons, sending them under his paternal care to fight the battles of their country. It must have been a noble sight, and the cause thus supported could not fail.

Nearly three hundred men of the frontier churches that day enlisted under his banner; and the gown then thrown off was worn for the last time. Henceforth his footsteps were destined for a new career.Relief on the Pedestal of General Muhlenberg's Statue, Philadelphia

This event occurred about the middle of January, 1776; and from that time until March, Colonel Muhlenberg seems to have been busily engaged in recruiting. After the great impulse already received, it is natural to suppose that his success was rapid; and such accordingly we find to be the fact. It was probably the first of the Virginia regiments ready for service, its ranks being full early in March. By the middle of that month he had already reported this fact to the Governor, and received orders to proceed with his command to Suffolk. On the 21st the regiment commenced its march for that place.

A little less than a half century after the death of General Muhlenberg, and about five years after his biography was written, a poem, based on the incident that took place at the church in Woodstock, was published by Thomas Buchanan Read. This poem, "The Rising," is printed in McGuffey's old Fifth Reader, where most of us have read it, and from which I quote a few lines: 2

Out of the North the wild news came ... And swelled the discord of the hour. ...

The pastor rose; the prayer was strong; The psalm was warrior David's song; The text, a few short words of might-- "The Lord of hosts shall arm the right!" ...

When suddenly his mantle wide His hands impatient flung aside, And lo! he met their wondering eyes Complete in all a warrior's guise. ...

The enlisting trumpet's sudden roar Rang through the chapel, o'er and o'er, ... And there the startling drum and fife Fired the living with fiercer life. ...

Who dares"--this was the patriot's cry, As striding from the desk he came-- "Come out with me, in Freedom's name, For her to live, for her to die?" A hundred hands flung up reply, A hundred voices answered "I!"

General Muhlenberg was less than forty years of age when he left Virginia and returned to Pennsylvania, where he spent the last twenty-two years of his life in the upbuilding of his native State and the new nation. Pennsylvania has expressed her appreciation of his great work by placing a statue of him in Statuary Hall, Washington, D. C. His memorial stands in the southeast corner of the Hall, and although a graceful piece of work, the sculptor, Blanche Nevin, evidently was not familiar with the stature and physiognomy of her subject. Muhlenberg's biographer and other writers describe him as "tall in person," which statement is verified not only by paintings now extant but also by tradition. Nevertheless the sculptor represents Muhlenberg's height as not much more than five feet. His face, in this marble statue, looks more like that of a poet or musician, and not like that of a preacher and still less like that of a soldier. On the base of the statue is carved the name Muhlenberg; the pedestal is marked Pennsylvania.

In October, 1910, the German Society of Pennsylvania erected a statue to General Muhlenberg in Philadelphia on the City Hall Plaza. It is a good likeness and a masterly piece of work by J. Otto Schweizer, of Philadelphia, one of the foremost sculptors in America. A portrait of this statue is here reproduced. Every detail of this fine work of art is true to its subject and is based on paintings and descriptions still preserved.

The relief on the face of the pedestal of this statue is by the same artist, and is probably the best work of that character in the country. The elevations are so delicately balanced that the depth of the church with all pews and people comes within a thickness or height of only an inch and a half. The scene represents Muhlenberg in the act of finishing his farewell sermon. The church depicted is the old one in Trappe, near Philadelphia, which has been preserved unchanged since the middle of the Eighteenth Century, and is the same in which General Muhlenberg and his father often preached.

In the Pennsylvania Capitol a large painting was recently finished by Edwin A. Abbey, symbolizing the "Apotheosis of Pennsylvania." Among the celebrities who appear in this large picture is General Muhlenberg.

Such, as I here give it, is a glimpse of the life of the man after whom Muhlenberg County is named, and also a glimpse of the esteem in which he was and still is held. As already stated, General Muhlenberg probably never visited any part of the county that now helps perpetuate his name, nor even saw any part of the Green River country. Nevertheless, pioneer Henry Rhoads, in 1798, very fittingly procured for the entitlement of the county the name of the man who was a friend, pastor, and general to many of its earliest settlers.