2. Ague, and Fever and Ague: archaic terms for what we now call malaria, transmitted by parasitic protozoa carried by infected mosquitos.

3. Rev. John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, ordained Lutheran and Anglican clergyman. In 1775 he was Rector of the Lutheran Church in Woodstock, VA, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Virginia Militia, and the Chairman of the Virginia House of Burgesses Secret Committee of Safety.

4. Rev. Charles Mynn Thruston, ordained Anglican minister; Rector of Frederick Parish [one church and seven chapels]; Chairman Frederick County Committee of Correspondence and Safety.

Chapter Two: Farewell and a Call to Duty

CHAPTER TWO

FAREWELL AND A CALL TO DUTY

Battletown, Virginia1

Sunday, April 23rd,1775

Father and I arose early to a bright and clear Sabbath dawn. Before the sun crested the Blue Ridge, we thanked the Casselmans for their generous hospitality, saddled our horses, and were headed west for Battletown. There we watered our steeds and headed three miles south for the Chapel at Cunningham’s Tavern where Rev. Charles Mynn Thruston was to preach.

We arrived a full half-hour before the service was set to begin, but the log structure was already packed to overflowing. Before we could even dismount, neighbors and others we did not know, surrounded Father and me.

Somehow, all around us had already heard about Joshua’s death in faraway Massachusetts. Along with sincere expressions of condolence, the word “murdered” was oft spoken. Also in the crowd were “Loyalists” muttering that my brother deserved what happened for having joined a “rebellion” against “King George, God’s appointed ruler.”

Rev. Thruston, garbed in his vestments, saw the commotion and rescued us from the crowd of mostly well-intentioned, sympathetic parishioners. He escorted us to the tiny vestry just off the chapel’s altar and sent one of his vestrymen to save us seats in the front row of benches.

The Chapel at Cunningham’s Tavern was in those days a fairly primitive place of worship. Unlike many of the city churches in places like Williamsburg and even Winchester, the chapel did not have a pipe organ. As we entered the nave, two men with fiddles and an attractive young woman with a flute played Charles Wesley’s hymn, “Love’s Redeeming Work Is Done” as the congregation sang the words:

Love’s redeeming work is done, fought the fight, the battle won.

. . . Death in vain forbids him rise; Christ has opened paradise.

Lives again our glorious King; where, O death, is now thy sting?

dying once, he all doth save, where thy victory, O grave?

Soar we now where Christ has led, following our exalted Head;

Made like Him, like Him we rise, ours the cross, the grave, the skies . . .