Brigadier Generals John Armstrong & J. Peter G. Muhlenberg @ the PA Columns - Valley Forge, PA
N 40° 05.315 W 075° 26.325
18T E 462596 N 4437681
There are four of these beautiful, bronze relief plaques on both sides of the two 32-foot PA columns which serve as Revolutionary War memorials. Each relief tablet serves as a memorial to a total eight Civil War officers.
Waymark Code: WMB3NT
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 03/31/2011
Views: 3
The inscription simply has their names and read: John Armstrong Brigadier General J. Peter G. Muhlenberg Brigadier General. This relief is on the front side of the right column if you are facing west. Basically, as you approach these columns, walk to the front of the right one and you'll see the relief, Armstrong is on the left facing forward and slightly angled to the right and Muhlenberg is on the right, facing forward, and slightly angled to the left.
This relief memorial pays tribute to Brigadier General John Armstrong and Brigadier General J. Peter G. Muhlenberg. John Armstrong was born October 13, 1717 in Brookborough Parish, Fermanaugh County, Ireland. He was among the many settlers of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and came to be one of the most capable surveyors along the frontier. rmstrong was a strong supporter of Washington and advocated his election as President of the United States. In the closing years of his life, General Armstrong was consulted frequently about affairs of Pennsylvania. He died in Carlisle, on March 9, 1795.
John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg (October 1, 1746 – October 1, 1807) was an American clergyman, Continental Army soldier during the American Revolutionary War, and political figure in the newly-independent United States. A Lutheran minister, he served in the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate from Pennsylvania. Muhlenberg died in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on October 1, 1807 and is buried at the Augustus Lutheran Church in Trappe, Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Columns were constructed in stages. The Pennsylvania Columns were started in 1909 but a lack of funds prevented its completion until 1912. The eagles and these bronze reliefs of Pennsylvania generals were added in 1910. The monument, which flanks Outer Line Drive, features two tall granite columns. At the base of each column there are two bronze plaques containing the bas-relief busts of two military officers--Colonel William Irvine and Adjutant General Joseph Reed; Major General Arthur St. Clair and Brigadier General John Cadwalader; Brigadier General John Armstrong and Brigadier General J. Peter G. Muhlenberg; Lieutenant Colonel Josiah Harman and Major General Thomas Mifflin. On the top of each column of course are the bronze eagles with outspread wings, standing on the two respective granite balls.
The sculptor Henry Bush-Brown of Newburgh, New York was the artist.