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The Story
Peter Miller was a minister in the German Reformed Church in his early life. "He was born in the district of Sautern, in the Palatinate (Chur-Pfalz) in 1709. He came to America as a minister of this church in 1730." He preached at various points. He served as pastor of Bethany Reformed Church, near Ephrata, and doubtless others in this section.
He withdrew from the German Reformed Church and joined the Seven Day Baptists at Ephrata. He moved to their settlement and became their pastor. He resided there during the American Revolutionary War. He was a man who had an extensive acquaintance and was widely known. He enjoyed the personal acquaintance of General Washington, who visited Ephrata and the Cloister during the war.
Peter Miller was a talented and highly-educated man. At the request of Thomas Jefferson he translated the Declaration of Independence into seven foreign languages, and helped in this way to explain to the world the reason for the American Revolution.
Michael Witman [Whitman] also resided at
Ephrata. He was a deacon in the German Reformed Church; the withdrawal of Peter
Miller from the church greatly incensed Witman, who now secured an unenviable
notoriety for his abuse of Miller and the Seven Day Baptists; on one occasion
he struck Miller in the face, and on another occasion, he spit in his face.
Miller endured it all with Christian fortitude. He never spoke a cross word to
or against Witman for his shameful conduct.
Witman kept one of the two hotels which were
then in Ephrata, about a mile from the Cloister or Seven Day Baptist
settlement. It was located on the site where the Eagle Hotel, in Ephrata
borough, now stands. The other was the house lately purchased by Mr. T. A.
Willson, and remodeled by him located, on West Main Street.
There were possibly ten houses in the present
limits of Ephrata borough at that time. On a winter evening two men came to the
hotel of Witman for supper and shelter for the night. He was ignorant of the
character of his guests, but was outspoken in his views in regard to the war,
and spoke freely in favor of the British. "He was a Tory. He had been to
Gen. Howard and offered his services." However, these two men were
American spies. Witman entered the dining room, where the men were partaking of
their evening meal. He sat on the window sill. He began to express his opinion.
After proceeding at some length, the men sprang up and said we have to arrest
you for treason to the American cause, or words to that effect. Witman escaped
through the window, and, most singular, indeed, fled to the Seven Day Baptist
settlement and hid in the Brothers' House, upstairs, behind a chimney, and
remained there until the next night. This house was not locked, but kept open
day and night, a fact possibly known to Witman. He then escaped to Zion's Hill,
where he remained until, famished from cold and hunger, he surrendered. He was
taken to General Washington. He was tried for treason, found guilty and
sentenced to be hung.
As before stated, Peter Miller was personally
acquainted with General Washington. Whether he was in communication with
General Washington in reference to this matter is not known. However, after the
death sentence was passed, Peter Miller arose early in the morning, took his
cane and set out on foot, through the snow, to visit General Washington at
Valley Forge, to intercede for the life of Witman.
He was told that his prayer for his friend could not be granted. "My friend!" exclaimed Miller. "I have not a worse enemy living than that man."
"What!" rejoined Washington. "You have walked sixty miles to save the life of your enemy? That, in my judgment, puts the matter in a different light. I will grant you his pardon."
The pardon was written, signed by General
Washington and handed to Miller, who at once set out for West Chester, fifteen
miles distant, where the execution was to take place on the afternoon of the
same day.
He arrived just as Witman was being carried to the scaffold, who, seeing Miller in the crowd, remarked: "There is old Peter Miller. He has walked all the way from Ephrata to have his revenge gratified to-day seeing me hung."
These words were scarcely spoken, when Miller waved the pardon and commanded them to halt.
We will not picture the scene that followed.
It is said they embraced each other. They walked home to Ephrata together and
remained firm friends. We will not attempt to describe the scene, tender,
loving, pathetic, when Witman entered the home and he was restored to his
family. His life was spared, but his property was confiscated and sold March
15, 1780, to Michael Diffenderfer, four tracts. The circumstances and
environments were such that Witman did not remain long at Ephrata, but emigrated
with his family somewhere to the West, where is not known.
Thus, the curtain drops as to Witman, but
Miller's noble act lives enshrined in many of the hearts and minds of the
people of Ephrata, yea, wherever the narrative is read, being published in
different works. Peter Miller died September 25, 1796, aged eighty-six years
and nine months, and is buried at Ephrata. The hotel property of Michael Witman
was sold by Michael Diffenderfer March 15, 1787. It was purchased by Col. John
Wright. It remained in the family almost a hundred years.
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The facts
1.Hiram E. Steinmetz (1854-1918) drew his story from an earlier version published in 1856 in a promotional pamphlet for the Mountain Springs Hotel issued by the proprietor, Joseph Konigmacher (1805-1861) and printed by Joseph P. Chandler of Philadelphia.[1] Konigmacher was a trustee of the Seventh Day Baptist church at the Cloister and a self-promoting entrepreneur. He claimed the Peter Miller/Michael Whitman story was written by William M. Fahnestock MD (1802-1854) who died two years before the story was published. A well-known writer, Fahnestock, wrote a detailed description of the Ephrata Cloister in 1835 which made no mention of Michael Whitman.[2] The author of the 1856 story is questionable and it may have been written by Konigmacher himself.
The 1901 story written by Steinmetz does not match the 1856 story. It claims Whitman went to Philadelphia to offer his services to General Howe after (not before) his encounter with the spies. Howe rejected his offer and sent him home. In his absence, his wife betrayed him and he was arrested at West Chester on his way home. The 1901 story says Whitman surrendered at Ephrata and was taken to George Washington for trial. Other differences and errors in these stories destroy the credibility of both versions.
2. Peter Miller was the pastor of the Reformed Church in the Tulpehocken area of what is now Berks County. He went to Ephrata and joined the Seventh Day Baptists in 1735 after Conrad Beissel traveled to the Tulpehocken and preached there.[3] He succeeded Conrad Beissel as leader of the Cloister and is known to have mastered four languages--German, Latin, (Holland) Dutch, and English. He translated the Martyrs’ Mirror from Dutch to German for the Mennonites. One twisted version of the story says Peter Miller emigrated to Pennsylvania as a child with his parents. He was a fully educated single adult when he arrived in Philadelphia.
3. Peter Miller was a friend of Benjamin Franklin and corresponded with him on various matters. There is no proof he was personally acquainted with George Washington. One retelling of this story claims Peter Miller and George Washington went to the same school. Peter Miller was educated in a theological seminary in Heidelberg, Germany. The Seventh Day Baptists were ordered to care for the sick and wounded after the Battle of Brandywine but there is no record George Washington personally visited the place. The Moravian Brotherhood in Lititz was also ordered to care for the sick and wounded.
4. There is a record of Michael Widman, tavern-owner, who
"absconded to the English from the county of Lancaster." His entire
estate was seized on May 1, 1778, and later sold for the benefit of the
revolution.[4]
Lancaster County deed Q-433 clearly recites the law regarding the estates of traitors and states that when Michael Whitman failed to appear for trial on charges of treason he was automatically convicted of High Treason. Therefore, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had the lawful right to claim and sell his estate. He owned four properties in Cocalico Township which were sold on public auction to Michael Diffenderfer on March 15, 1780. (Ephrata was in Cocalico Township at that time.) Diffenderfer sold two of the parcels of land to John Wright on March 15, 1787.[5]
5. That Peter Miller should arrive the moment the noose was
going on Whitman's neck is a great stretch of the imagination. Whitman did not
appear for trial and was not sentenced to be hung. In a letter to Timothy Matlack on July 27, 1781, Peter Miller wrote that Michael Whitman "received pardon without a previous trial." The penalty was confiscation
of his property. George Washington did not sign a pardon for him.
A pardon for Michael Witman is recorded in Lancaster County deed book R-527. It says Michael Witman, innkeeper, was held in the Lancaster County "goal" (jail), not West Chester, and petitioned the Council in Philadelphia to "take his case and that of his unhappy family unto our compassionate consideration and to extend mercy and pardon to him." The pardon was granted and signed by Joseph Reed, President of the Council (similar to governor), and sealed "with the seal of the State of Philadelphia" on January 21, 1779. The pardon granted Michael Whitman protection from harm but retained the fines and confiscation of his property for the use of the State.
6. Peter Miller and Michael Whitman walking home together
as friends ties a neat bow on the story but is also a stretch. There is no
evidence to suggest that Peter Miller or George Washington played any part in
Michael Whitman’s pardon.[6]
His petition and pardon moved through legal channels, was sent to Lancaster,
and recorded in the Lancaster County courthouse. The story originated in 1856,
seventy-eight years after Whitman’s arrest, was supposedly written by a man who
died two years before it was published, and contains too many errors to be
repeated as truth.
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This story has been retold and distorted so
often it begins to resemble the fables of the cherry tree and Washington
kneeling in the snow to pray at Valley Forge. As Mark Twain said,
"I remembered more than I knew at the time."
All that being said, it is true that the
power of love and forgiveness is the way to conquer enemies and turn them into
friends. There are many other true stories which can be told to teach that
lesson.
[1] Pencillings
About Ephrata, by A Visitor. (Philadelphia, J. B Chandler, 1860), p. 18-24.
[2]
William M. Fahnestock, “An Historical Sketch of Ephrata,” Hazzard’s Register,
vol. XV (Jan.-June, 1835), pp. 161-167.
[3]
History of St. Johns (Host) Church 1727-1975, (St. Johns (Host) Church, 1976),
149-150.
[4] Pennsylvania Archives Sixth Series
vol. 12, p. 289-97.
[5] Lancaster County deed FF-452.
[6] Der Reggebogge (The Rainbow), The Journal of the Pennsylvania German Society, Volume 36, no. 2 (2002).
