John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg sat in the Moland House War Council on August 21, 1777. He commanded the 8th Virgina Regiment (the German regiment). John was born in Montgomery County and was a trained Lutheran minister. The legend goes that as he said farewell to his Woodstock congregation, Reverend Muhlenberg is said to have thrown off his minister garb to reveal his military uniform, saying “There is a time to pray and a time to fight, and that time has now come!” Muhlenberg took part in the fighting at Charleston, Brandywine, Stony Point and Yorktown as well as surviving the winter at Valley Forge. After the war, he felt he could not return to the ministry and served as Montgomery County’s representative to Pennsylvania’s Supreme Executive Council.
