Muhlenberg County was so called in honor of General John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, an officer of high distinction and patriotism in the American Revolution.
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.
Map of Kentucky Highlighting Muhlenberg County
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.
Statue of General Muhlenberg in Philadelphia - Erected In 1910
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-elected 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.
Notes
The pronunciation of the name of the county doubtless gave rise to the difference among early historians as to the correct spelling. Lewis Collins (1847) followed the pronunciation, and spells the name uniformly Muhlenburg; Richard H. Collins (1874) corrects the error when referring to the man but not when referring to the county, and this error has been repeated in his various editions. The name is also occasionally misspelled in some of the early maps and county records, but never in those of a later day. The proper spelling of the name is as here given.
Source
A History Of Muhlenberg County
By Otto A. Rothert, Member of The Filson Club, Kentucky State Historical Society. American Historical Association, International Society of Archaeologists, Etc.
John P. Morton & Company Incorporated
Louisville, Kentucky 1913
American County Histories Collection
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