400 AUTHENTIC HISTORY 



States. He was also a General in the war of 1812. He was born at Lancaster in 1741, 

 and died at Carlisle, in 1824. 



Muhlenberg, Fred'k Augustus, M. D., was born on the 14th of March, 1795. 

 He was the youngest son of Rev. Dr. Henry Ernest Mulilenberg, who was distinguish- 

 ed as an eminent Botanist, and was pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church from 1780 to 

 his decease in 1815. His son, Frederick A., the subject of this notice, studied medicine 

 with the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, and graduated with high 

 honors at the University of Pennsylvania on the 9th day of April, 1814. He com- 

 menced the practice of medicine when only nineteen years of age, having his office in 

 his father's residence, then the parsonage, now occupied as a law office by Newton 

 Lightner, esq. He followed his profession with success and distinction for a period of 

 over fifty years, and it is the testimony of all who witnessed his professional ministra- 

 tions that no physician better understood and exercised the duties of a physician and 

 friend in the sick room than he. When compelled by failing health to relinquish prac- 

 tice, many old families whom he had attended for years could hardly be prevailed u^ion 

 to give him up. 



Dr. Muhlenberg was always more or less prominently identified with the public in- 

 terests, though never allowing these duties to interfere with the practice of his pro- 

 fession. In 1821 he was appointed Prothonotary by Gov. Hiester, and in 1827 Gov. 

 Shulze appointed him Register of Wills. When Prothonotary, Judge Long, then a 

 mere lad, served as his clerk in that office, to whose memory we are indebted for most 

 of the data for this brief sketch. He served as Trustee and Treasurer of old Franklin 

 College for many years, and subsequently was one of the most active members of the 

 School Board. He was elected President of the Lancaster Bank, at a time when that 

 institution was on the decline, and to his excellent judgment, with the aid of the late 

 James Evans, as Cashier, the subsequent populai'ity of that old institution was due. 

 He resigned, and was succeeded by Mr. Bachman. He was appointed a Trustee of the 

 State Lunatic Asylum, when that institution was founded at Harrisburg, which position 

 he held until relieved at his own request. He also held many minor trusts, being one 

 of those men never seeking office, but always sought for to serve his fellow-citizens. 

 In 18 — he was nominated by the Democratic party as a candidate for Congress, against 

 Mr. Stevens, but popular as he was he could not overcome the strong majority of the 

 opposition. 



Dr. Muhlenberg was a patriot of the old school. He served as a volunteer in the war 

 of 1812, and so long as the Democratic party was the war party of the country, he held 

 its principles and enjoyed its confidence. But when that party arrayed itself against 

 the Administration of the Government, in its life-and-death struggle to crush the late 

 gigantic rebellion, he cut loose from his party organization, and stood shoulder to 

 shoulder with the thousands of patriotic war Democrats who preferred their country 

 to party. He took an active interest in the organization of the Union League, and 

 was its first President. Throughout the war he was firm and unyielding in his attach- 

 ment to the cause of Liberty and Union, and felt a deep interest in the reconstruction 

 of the Government on the basis of loyalty and equal rights — holding that in this he was 

 adhering to the true principles of the old Democratic party in which he had been schooled. 



But the most pleasant word to us remains to be said, because we know that in saying 

 it we do not fiatter the dead. Dr. Muhlenberg was a good man — nay, more, he was a 

 Christian, which, as Dr. Young has so tersely expressed it, is "the highest style of 

 man." During his long and eventful life he was warmly interested in the prosperity 

 of Trinity Lutheran Church, of which he was a faithful member and officer, and he 

 never failed to use his influence to promote the cause of Religion and Education among 

 the citizens of his native place : 



-A good man never dies; 



His life on Earth is but the infancy, 

 The opening bud, of an Immortal life! 



