By: AH1 Tom
Who was the Black-Robed Regiment?
The Black Robed Regiment was the way the British referred to the American Clergy, a backhanded reference to the black robes they wore. For generations, the ministers had kept alive the doctrines of the seventeenth century and had presented them to their people.
The significance of this background of Revolutionary thought has never been adequately appreciated. Historians have sometimes believed that these theories were exotic and were foisted upon the people by a few book-learned political leaders when the Revolutionary unrest began… rather, a New Englander could not have helped thinking in terms of natural and fundamental law and constitutional right. Government by consent and the illegality of an unconstitutional act were to him as unquestioned as the divine law which gave them sanction. There is not a right asserted in the Declaration of Independence which had not been discussed by the New England clergy before 1763. (Baldwin, New England Clergy (1958), 170)
It was not just the British who saw American Clergy as largely responsible for American Independence. Our founding fathers agreed. John Adams exclaimed the pulpits had thundered in the awakening and revival of American principles and feelings that led to American Independence.
The early settlers who arrived in Virginia beginning in 1606 included ministers such as the Revs. Robert Hunt, Richard Burke, William Mease, Alexander Whitaker, William Wickham, and others. In 1619 they helped form America’s first representative government: the Virginia House of Burgesses, with its members elected from among the people.
In 1620, when the pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, their pastor, John Robinson, charged them to elect civil leaders who would not only seek the common good, but who would also eliminate special privileges and status between governors and the governed. Moving closer to the American Revolution, in 1750, the Rev. Jonathan Mayhew preached an election sermon where paraphrased, he stated resistance to tyranny is obedience to God. John Adams described Jonathan Mayhew as “the spark that ignited the American Revolution,” and Robert Paine called Mayhew “America’s Father of Civil and Religious Liberty. ” On April 19th, local pastors, such as the Rev. Phillips Payson and the Rev. Benjamin Balch had taken up arms and rallied their congregations to fight the British Regulars on their way back to Boston. When word reached Vermont, the Rev. David Avery promptly gathered twenty men and marched toward Boston, recruiting additional troops along the way, and the Rev. Stephen Farrar of New Hampshire led ninety-seven of his parishioners to the battle.
When the Rev. David Grosvenor heard the Battle of Bunker Hill had begun, he left his pulpit, rifle in hand, and marched to join the battle. The Reverends Johathan French, and Joseph Willard raised two full companies and led them to that battle. The Rev. Isaac Lewis helped lead the resistance to the British landing at Norwalk, Connecticut; the Rev. James Latta, when many of his parishioners were drafted, joined with them. The Rev. William Graham joined the military as a rifleman in order to encourage others in his parish to do the same. There were many more, this is but a small portion of the clergy that preached sermons on liberty, encouraged their congregations to support liberty, and participated in the fight for liberty.
One of the more prominent examples is that of the Rev. John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg. He pastored two churches in Woodstock, Virginia. One, was an English-speaking Episcopal church, the other a German-speaking Lutheran church. He was also a member of the Virginia legislature. After attending a legislative session in January of 1776, he returned home. War with Great Britain was looming on the horizon, the British Navy had established a blockade of Boston, Charlestown had been burned, Lexington and Concord attacked, public stores of gunpowder seized, and the Battle of Bunker Hill fought. On January 21st, 1776, he delivered what was to become his farewell sermon. He reminded his congregation of the crisis facing America. He spoke of America’s founding in pursuit of religious and civil liberties and how they were in danger of losing those liberties. His sermon concluded with these words:
In the language of Holy Writ, there was a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but those times have passed away (Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8). He raised his voice, and pointed to verse 8, declaring: There is a time to fight – and that time has now come.
He then bowed his head and offered a dismissal prayer. The usual custom at this point would be for him to move off to the vestry room. However, this time, he began to disrobe in front of the congregation. Under his clerical robes, he had on his full military uniform. He descended the pulpit, weapons in hand, and marched to the back of the church, reminding his parishioners that if they did not get involved and protect their liberties, they would have no liberties left to protect. Outside the church, Pastor Muhlenberg ordered drummers to beat for recruits. From his two congregations, there were about 300 men who joined him and became the Eighth Virginia Regiment. By the end of the war, Pastor Muhlenberg had been promoted to Major General.
Peter’s brother, also a minister, the Rev. Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, was critical of his brother’s involvement and strongly opposed Peter’s actions. He wrote to Peter telling him:
You would have acted for the best if you had kept out of this business from the beginning…
Peter responded:
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 to any man. Shall I then sit still? … Heaven forbid it!… I am called by my country in its defense – the cause is just and noble…and so far I am from thinking that I act wrong, I am convinced it is my duty so to do – and duty I owe to God and my Country.
In 1777, the British arrived in New York City. Of the nineteen churches in the city, they burned ten to the ground; they also drove Frederick from his own church and desecrated the building. As you may imagine, this caused Frederick to rethink his position, and he decided to get involved. Frederick was later elected the first Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was instrumental in framing the Bill of Rights.
These two pastor brothers understood there is indeed, “a time to fight“.