Patriot Pastors in the Fight

Many conservative historians agree that had it not been for the Clergymen of the Colonies, the Revolution would likely have either been protracted or would have failed altogether. In fact the British and their sympathizers took to calling these brave Pastors "The Black Robed Regiment".

When General George Washington asked Lutheran pastor John Peter Muhlenberg to raise a regiment of volunteers, Muhlenberg gladly agreed. Before marching off to join Washington’s army, he delivered a powerful sermon from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 that concluded with these words: “The Bible tells us there is a time for all things and there is a time to preach and a time to pray, but the time for me to preach has passed away, and there is a time to fight, and that time has come now. Now is the time to fight! Call for recruits! Sound the drums!”

At the end of his sermon Muhlenberg removed his clerical robe to reveal the uniform of an officer of the Continental Army. That morning from his church and community he mustered more than 300 congregants to follow him into the war for independence. He would survive the many battles of the war and was actually with Washington at Yorktown when the British surrendered arms October 19, 1781.

Muhlenberg’s brother quotes John Peter as saying, “You may say that as a clergyman nothing can excuse my conduct. I am a clergyman, it is true, but I am a member of society as well as the poorest layman, and my liberty is as dear to me as any man. I am called by my country to its defense. The cause is just and noble. Were I a Bishop … I should obey without hesitation; and as far am I from thinking that I am wrong, I am convinced it is my duty so to do — a duty I owe to my God and my Country.”