In honor of America 250, Pennsylvania Postcards will focus on the people, places, and events that best commemorate this U.S. milestone and our Commonwealth's crucial role in it.
Peter Muhlenberg was a clergyman and soldier in the Revolutionary War, sometimes referred to as the Fighting Parson. He'd been a Lutheran minister, and although he was born in Pennsylvania, was working in Virginia when the war began.
Muhlenberg is known for a sermon he gave in 1776, at which he reportedly wore his military uniform underneath his vestments as he said, paraphrase here, There's a time for all things. There is a time to preach and a time to fight, and that time has now come. That sermon ultimately recruited parishioners to join the Continental Army.
After the war, Peter Muhlenberg returned to Pennsylvania and briefly served as a U.S. Senator. His statue is on display at the U.S. Capitol Building. Its replica stands at Muhlenberg College in Allentown.