John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg

Muhlenberg, John Peter Gabriel. Son of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg; was born at the Trappe, Pennsylvania, October 1, 1746. He was sent to Halle, in Germany, with his two younger brothers, Frederick A. and Henry E., in 1762, for education. The three brothers were devoted to the Christian ministry. Peter was ordained Deacon in the Church of England, on April 21, 1772, by the Bishop of London; a few days after, Priest, in company with William White, afterwards Bishop. Returning to America he was settled over a charge in Dunmore, now Shenandoah County, Virginia. In 1774 he was elected to the House of Burgesses of that Colony. At the breaking out of the Revolution, his ardent sympathies with it carried him into the army. In his farewell sermon he told his people, "There was a time for all things,—a time to preach and a time to fight, and that now was the time to fight." He raised the Eighth Virginia Regiment, and was made Colonel of it. His first campaign was in South Carolina and Georgia. On February 21, 1777, he was made Brigadier-General, in which capacity he served with distinguished gallantry at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Stony Point, in Virginia, and at Yorktown, where he commanded the First Brigade of Light Infantry, in making the final assault with which he was wounded. In the last promotion he was made Major-General. After the war he was elected Vice-President of Pennsylvania; was a Presidential Elector in 1797; member of the First, Third, and Sixth Congresses, from Pennsylvania; and United States Senator in 1801, which office he resigned in 1802. He left the Senate in 1802, and was appointed Supervisor of Revenue for Pennsylvania in that year; Collector of the port of Philadelphia in 1809, holding which office he died, October 1, 1807.

Lanman, Charles. Biographical Annals of the Civil Government of the United States During Its First Century: From Original and Official Sources. Washington: James Anglim, Publisher, 1876, p. 305.

Submitted by Nancy.