On this day 250 years ago in the Lutheran Church in Woodstock, Virginia, Rev. John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg delivered his sermon from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 which starts with “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” After reading the eighth verse, “a time to love, a time to hate. a time of war, and a time of peace,” he declared, “And this is the time of war,” and threw off his clerical robe to reveal his Colonel’s uniform. That day, 162 men from the church were enrolled in his regiment and the next day he led 300 men from the county to join the Continental Army. At least that is what happened according to the biography of General Peter Muhlenberg written by his great-nephew in the mid-19th century. Although Muhlenberg was appointed Colonel of the 8th Virginia Regiment and recruited many of its soldiers from Woodstock and the Shenandoah Valley around this time 250 years ago, there is no contemporaneous account of the sermon, and many historians doubt his nephew’s story. Nonetheless, many popular histories continue to reference this dramatic sermon.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Muhlenberg; https://thehistoryjunkie.com/peter-muhlenberg-facts-biography/; https://www.nps.gov/york/learn/historyculture/muhlenbergbio.htm; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=73764; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=4279; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=112502

On this day 250 years ago in Virginia the British Navy again bombarded Virginia militia in the ruins of Norfolk. The Americans lost three men plus one man lost his arm.

On Saturday, January 31, 2026 at 11:00 am St. Paul’s Church in Norfolk, Virginia, there will be a commemoration of the destruction of Norfolk in the Revolution.

Sources: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1230676722457169; https://www.virginiasar.org/index.php?option=com_jevents&task=icalrepeat.detail&evid=2122&Itemid=126&year=2026&month=01&day=31&title=250th-commemoration-of-the-burning-of-norfolk&uid=3e6548d29c271de014fe303e4d4363d1