Revolutionary War Continental Army Brigadier General, US Congressman, US Senator. A pre-Revolution clergyman in the Anglican Church, he served first as Colonel and commander of the 8th Virginia Continental Infantry regiment, having been asked personally by General George Washington to join the war effort, then as a Brigadier General in the Continental Army. He led his brigade of Virginians in the 1777 Battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and during the Continental encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania during the 1777-1778 winter. He was commended by General Washington for his performance in the June 1778 Battle of Monmouth, and in the October 1781 Battle of Yorktown that secured the American victory over the British in America. He was brevetted Major General at the conclusion of the war. After the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788, he was elected as one of first eight Representatives from Pennsylvania to the United States House of Representatives, joining Declaration of Independence Signer George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Thomas Hartley, Daniel Hiester, Thomas Scott , Henry Wynkoop, and his younger brother, Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, who became the first Speaker of the House. He would go on to serve three separate House terms from 1789 to 1791, 1793 to 1795, and from 1799 to 1801. In 1800 he was elected as a Senator from Pennsylvania to the United States Senate, but he only served from March 1801 to June 1801 before he resigned. From 1802 until his death in 1807 he served as Collector of customs for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Muhlenberg County in Kentucky is named for him. A statue of him is in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC, one of the two that represents notable Pennsylvanians.
Revolutionary War Continental Army Brigadier General, US Congressman, US Senator. A pre-Revolution clergyman in the Anglican Church, he served first as Colonel and commander of the 8th Virginia Continental Infantry regiment, having been asked personally by General George Washington to join the war effort, then as a Brigadier General in the Continental Army. He led his brigade of Virginians in the 1777 Battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and during the Continental encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania during the 1777-1778 winter. He was commended by General Washington for his performance in the June 1778 Battle of Monmouth, and in the October 1781 Battle of Yorktown that secured the American victory over the British in America. He was brevetted Major General at the conclusion of the war. After the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788, he was elected as one of first eight Representatives from Pennsylvania to the United States House of Representatives, joining Declaration of Independence Signer George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Thomas Hartley, Daniel Hiester, Thomas Scott , Henry Wynkoop, and his younger brother, Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, who became the first Speaker of the House. He would go on to serve three separate House terms from 1789 to 1791, 1793 to 1795, and from 1799 to 1801. In 1800 he was elected as a Senator from Pennsylvania to the United States Senate, but he only served from March 1801 to June 1801 before he resigned. From 1802 until his death in 1807 he served as Collector of customs for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Muhlenberg County in Kentucky is named for him. A statue of him is in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC, one of the two that represents notable Pennsylvanians.
Bio by: RPD2
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